LOVE ~ An EssayLove is an abstract emotion and can produce conflicting feelings
Love is an abstract emotion and is therefore very hard to describe. Perhaps the best examples of descriptions of love can be found in poetry. Everybody has different ideas about love and this can be seen in the poems I have studied. Whilst love can be expressed and interpreted in various ways, so can poetry. Perhaps this is why so many people express their views about love through poetry because only they truly know what they are trying to express through their love and their poetry. No two people feel exactly the same about love or write poetry in the same way, so every poem is unique and this is what makes love poetry so special. Love poetry is normally thought of in the sense of 'I love you, I want to spend my whole life with you, blah blah blah' but there are in fact many different kinds of love – platonic, controlling, unrequited, and, of course, romantic are all examples of love.
In 'When We Two parted' by Lord Byron, the poet is extremely upset by the loss of a loved one. This can be seen when he says
"When we two parted in silence and tears." This quotation shows that he is crying and this is frequently associated with sadness. This could however be interpreted as that they are silent because they don't know how to or want to say goodbye and the tears are not on show but are inside, as the lovers die inside, as their hearts are charred by their inevitable parting.
On the other hand, in 'My Last Duchess' by Robert Browning, the narrator of the story clearly isn't upset by the death of his wife. In fact he freely tells an envoy from another nobleman that
"I gave commands; then all smiles stopped together." This tells the reader that the Duke ordered his wife death and her smiling stopped. It would appear that the Duke was at first smiling once his wife had but then either greed, loneliness, a desire for power or some other negative emotion began to creep in until he could no longer live without a wife. A wife by his side to manipulate and do with as he pleased would in theory take away shred of guilt or remorse that he felt after having his wife murdered. Love is not all doom and gloom however. In 'First Love' by John Clare, the poet talks about how good it feels to fall in love for the first time. He says "
I ne'er was struck before that hour with love so sudden and so sweet," which shows that he likes this feeling and that it is sweet and sweet things have a tendency to be rather nice and unfortunately fattening, although that is thankfully not quite the case here. 'Villegiature' by Edith Nesbit simply mocks the traditional ideas of love and romance by comparing her lover to Romeo before declaring
"I listened to you till the dawn, and half forgot I did not love you." She seems to be more than a little unsure of how she feels about this mystery man. Perhaps it is that she normally cannot stand the traditional slushy-gushy romantic ideas of love. When she realises that what she is saying or thinking is compromising her beliefs so she begins to react to this realisation by making a mockery of everything that she has previously said.
There are many different moods in which people think of love. Byron is regretful and this is shown when he says
"In secret we met – in silence I grieve." It shows that he is regretful that nobody but his partner will ever know of the love that they share. Nobody knew they met each other because they met in secret and nobody will know how much it hurts for them to part because he grieves in silence and he is regretful because their love is so great and so special that it is hard to hide. He is, in effect, living a constant lie. In contrast to this, Browning writes from the point of view of an uncaring, selfish and controlling character – a stereotypical man of the house, Lord of his own domain, and general chauvinist. He says his wife was
"Too easily impressed,” and she,
"Ranked my nine-hundred-years-old name with anybody's gift." He is implying to the envoy with him that his first wife was a disrespectful slag who had no sense of what an honour it is to be married to such a gentleman of noble birth.
To be perfectly honest, I doubt the Duchess would have cared a toss if her husband were a king or a beggar, she would have still treated him the same as everyone else, just as she did with the Duke. He likes to have control of his wife and does not love her or accept her naivety and love of life. He also says
"I choose never to stoop," which clearly shows how set and unbending he is in his ways. Clare, by contrast, is not controlling but frightened. He says that
"My face turned pale as deathly pale," this is a common denotation of being scared by something. He is scared by this new feeling of love and doesn't know what to do. The mention of death might suggest that this new, scary, confusing feeling of love and his secret desire for this woman are killing him. Love is chewing at his heart, eating him up from inside and it will eventually leave nothing but an empty shell, like a skeleton. He is confused. Nesbit is also confused as she starts her poem by romantically talking about how
"You found this Romeo's way, and through the blossom climbed and kissed me," which is a reference to 'Romeo and Juliet' by William Shakespeare and in particular, the scene where Romeo climbs up to Juliet's window where they profess their love for each other. This scene is typical of what a lot of romantics think of when they imagine love. She then however goes on to say that
"I did not love you." She is being romantic and soppy about a man but then confuses herself when she realises that she does not actually like him. It is my opinion that in her desperation to be loved and to not be alone, her subconscious is feigning love in an attempt to end her loneliness.
The poet's use of language is also a good way to show how they feel. Byron uses quite straightforward language that is a little archaic. This suggests that the love was quite straightforward and speaks for itself. It does not need any poetic flourishes or difficult words to get the point across. In essence, it says that love is simple and straightforward and a basic human emotion. We can live without our creature comforts if we have love but without love, we are nothing. Nesbit on the other hand uses traditional images of love and then adds her own bizarre twist to it. This is shown when she says
"So, by the pear-tree to my room your ghost last night climbed uninvited," before adding
"Your solid self, long leagues away, deep in dull books, had hardly missed me." She conjures up images of her lover's spirit being connected to hers through space and time and then completely warps this image by saying that he has hardly missed her.
The effect of this is at first amusement for the reader because it is quite funny – this woman being incredibly romantic and then ruining it, just like your average male when he's incredibly sweet on Valentine's Day and then only buys you some flowers from the local BP station. Then the effect changes to confusion as the reader desperately attempts to work out whether or not she likes this mysterious man. Clare also uses traditional love imagery such as
"Her face it bloomed like a sweet flower." The flower is an important part of traditional love imagery but also one of death. Where red flowers suggest a deep and abiding love, white flowers suggest death. Perhaps what he is trying to say is that whilst he is falling in love with her face, his heart is dying from unrequited love. The aforementioned paleness of the poet's face is of course another suggestion of death. For whilst it is described as being
"deathly pale," it does not need the 'deathly' as the paleness automatically conjures up images of pale white lilies being laid out at a funeral. At least this is what is conjured up inside my head. Browning on the other hand does not use traditional love imagery. In fact his poem is full of veiled threats to the envoy. He is trying to find a second wife but at the same time as he is charming the envoy, he is telling him how he killed his first wife because she disobeyed him.
The way each of these poems is structured also varied. Clare uses the traditional rhyming pattern of ABAB CDCD and his poem has three stanzas. There is a change of tense in it also. This change of tense would suggest that his encounter with this woman is something that has deeply affected him and that it will stay with him throughout his life, from the moment it happened to the moment he dies. It starts in the present when he reminisces and says
"I ne'er as struck before that hour with love so sudden and so sweet." It then jumps to the past tense where he lists everything that happens to him when he sees this woman. It then ends with a couple of rhetorical questions such as
"Are flowers the winter's choice?" and
"Is love's bed always snow?"These questions challenge love and ask is everything determined by fate, such as flowers dying in winter, or do we have a choice? Byron also uses the ABAB CDCD rhyming pattern but has one more stanza than Clare. Perhaps the length of the poem and the amount of stanzas is a way of symbolising his love in that it can go on for longer than other poet's and that it is more plentiful than theirs. Nesbit also uses this rhyming pattern and number of stanzas to express her feelings about love. She also uses a very personal narration as it details an encounter which takes place between the hours of dusk and dawn, almost like a secret affair. Browning also uses narration although it comes in the form of a dramatic monologue, whereby the main character, the Duke, is talking to another character in the poem and not the reader. This makes you feel more detached from the story and also shows how disconnected the Duke was from his wife and how distant they were from each other.
In conclusion, while poetry may be the best way of expressing your thoughts and feelings on love, it is still a very conflicting emotion. Byron regrets it, Clare is scared by it, Browning is jealous of it and Nesbit is disappointed by the reality of it. As these poets and their respective works show, there are many views of love and none of them are wrong. It's just that certain views make for far more entertaining reading.
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“You’ll be the same five years from now as you are today, except for the people you meet and the books you read.”
– Charles T. JonesIf you look back five years, who would you say has influenced your thinking? To whom have you turned for inspiration? In our day of shallow thinking and tainted worldviews, who has motivated you to move forward to fulfill your dreams or to answer that subtle (or sometimes not-so-subtle) calling deep within? Better yet, whose thinking have you influenced? Who has turned to you for inspiration? And who have you motivated to fulfill their dreams or to answer that calling deep within?
We neither live nor thrive in a vacuum. We are neither rocks nor islands. It is our very nature to be influenced or inspired by others; it is our privilege to do the same.
To say that there is no one in your life who has been influential or inspirational, perhaps because you live in a spiritually, culturally, or even geographically deprived area is a poor excuse. You can be surrounded by extraordinary and ordinary people who, through their heroic actions or humble spirit have made a huge difference in this world—either in our day, or in days gone by; in our land, or on exotic soil. Reading books—good books, life-changing books—gives you the opportunity to experience life outside of your finite, limited world. You can bear the burdens, celebrate the triumphs, enjoy the experiences, and learn the lessons of real men and women, boys and girls whom you will never see with your eyes nor feel with your skin. What richness! What depth! What an opportunity to be influenced and inspired!
Many great people have made a difference in my life since I began to read. I particularly love the story about the boy who asked many questions. He asked so many questions that his father thought he was stupid and his teacher considered him a dunce and requested that he be removed from school. But his mother believed in him. She believed that God had a special plan for his life. She inspired him to pursue his dreams. Years later, he became a famous inventor. This is what he wrote:
“My mother was the making of me. She was so true, so sure of me; and I felt that I had someone to live for. I did not have my mother very long, but in that length of time, she cast over me the influence which has lasted all my life. If it had not been for her appreciation and her faith in me at a critical time in my experience, I should very likely never have become an inventor. Signed, Thomas Edison.”This glimpse into Thomas Edison’s life helped me to realize the power of influence. Note Edison’s own words—
“an influence which lasted all my life.” Sometimes all it takes to light the fire that idly simmers within hearts, all it takes to release the pent-up creativity, all it takes to soften the many-layered hard, crusty shell—is just the right person, or just the right book—carefully selected; carefully timed.
Topic: My Love of Writing (Read 1503 times)