Among all the love poetry that I’ve read so far, I don’t have a specific poem that I dislike or like the most. Even though most love poems are created by authors who either try to persuade their lovers to have sexual intercourse with them or propose that women should have fun with men when their youth and beauty maintain, there are two poems that brought me a deep impression, which was To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell and since feeling is first by E. E. Cummings.
To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell is the poem that I like best. It is the longest yet most romantic poem in the poetry collection. Similar to other love poems, Marvell attempted to use the same format to propose that his lover should respond to his love and accept his invitation to do “the sports of love”. Although its intended outcome was sex-related, I am impressed by the romantic atmosphere created by the author’s use of the word and literary devices.
“Thou by the Indian Ganges’ side
Shoulds rubies find; I by the tide
Of Humber would complain.” (ll. 5-7)
In these 3 lines, the author utilizes a river in India, the Ganges, and a river in England, which is represented by “the tide of Humber” to show that they could travel around the world and slowly walk by these attractions and spend their long love’s day together. From his writing style, we can define him as a romantic person.
“An hundred years should go to priase
Thine eyes, and on thy foreheaad gaze;
two hundred to adore each breast,
But thirty thousand to the rest” (ll. 13-16)
From the above 4 lines, it clearly shows that the author used hyperbole to emphasize his love for his lover’s body and soul. The use of exaggeration did enhance the overall romantic atmosphere that appeared before this phrase because no one would spend two hundred years standing still, doing nothing but just adoring a woman’s breast, besides, a human doesn’t have the ability to live more than 100 years in general. Therefore, the author is overstating his love for his lover for an impossibly long period of time and shows that it is unstoppable for the in-loved author to express his love for the woman that he desires at any second in his life.
“Had we but world enough, and time,
This coyness, lady were no crime.” (ll. 1-2)
“The grave’s a fine and private place,
But none, I think, do there embrace.” (ll. 31-32)
Apart from including the romanticism movement in the choice of words, the feeling that the author is trying to convey to his lover is sincere but not only wanting and demanding to do “the sports of love” with his lover. From the above phrase, he indicates that it is fine for his lover to be shy and prudish and wants their relationship to be developed at a slow pace because the author thinks that they would have long enough time in the world. In other words, the author is willing to spend his whole life staying with the same woman because the hyperbole evidence above, shows that the author is deeply obsessed and attached to his lover. In comparison with other poems that mainly persuade women to have sexual intercourse with men while their beauty maintains and to have fun while they are young but none of them mention staying together forever after they enjoy “the sports of love” together. Most authors are only aware of their lover’s beauty and bodies instead of souls which is apparently lust, not love. However, Andrew Marvell, a man haunted by mortality, uses different poetic devices and a wide range of diction to show his true heart to his lover and secondly, attempts to propose having sexual intercourse with his lover before they both die.
since feeling is first by E. E. Cummings is the poem that I dislike the most. Although it was categorized as a contemporary love poem, it is not really a love poem because of a lack of romantic atmosphere in the writing style and the diction.
“since feeling is first
who pays any attention
to the syntax of things” (ll. 1-3)
By scrutinizing the diction and meaning of the above lines, the author tends to argue and inquire about the relationship between feeling and thinking by analyzing life as a piece of syntax with different grammar rules and further foreshadowing these analyses into different real-life events. The way he wrote this first few lines made it become the “thesis statement” of the poem and has offered the poem a more philosophical beginning than a romantic beginning and further affect the atmosphere of the ongoing stanzas, even though the author did mention words, such as “kiss”.
“we are for each other: then
laugh, leaning back in my arms
for life’s not a paragraph
And death i think is no parenthesis” (ll. 13-16)
Although its use of words or simple, when the author group it together, the phrase is too hard to interpret and understand because the meaning is too deep that requires you to use a lot of background knowledge to figure out the actual author’s message. Due to this, the poem is not straightforward in convincing its idea, especially in line 16 which was the last line of the poem, which makes the author’s idea confusing sometimes. Therefore, the lack of a romantic atmosphere and the deep hidden message, especially in line 16 which was the last line of the poem, made the poem less convincing and less related to love poems. Nevertheless, proved that the use of metaphor, in this case, is not convincing at all. Using grammar rules and syntax to refer back to life is a new and unique idea compared to other poems but made it less love-related at the same time.
“lady i swear by all flowers. Don’t cry
-the best gesture of my brain is less than
your eyelid’s fluutter which says” (ll. 10-12)
Another reason that I dislike this poem was the ideological differences between the author and me. Refer back to the first sentence:
“since feeling is first” (l. 1)
It is clear that the author stated he believes feelings are the most important things in developing a relationship and that he starts to encourage people to stop overthinking details in love and they should simply enjoy the joy brought by love by ignoring the reality.
“for life’s not a paragraph” (l. 15)
This quote indicated the author thinks that life is short and they should live their life with only feelings and joy. This is not a possible idea because life is bittersweet at all times, the same as love. Love is not only about joy, passion, and enthusiasm, it is more about dullness. Love is when the relationship between couples is not passionate anymore but they still decide to stay and stand by each other’s side. If the author was deeply attached to a woman, it is impossible for their relationship to stay passionate forever, instead, passion will slowly fade away throughout the time the author spends with her. Furthermore, when the passion fades away, their relationship will be more realistic which requires planning and thinking about their future.
“wholly to be a fool
while Spring is in the world
my blood approves,” (ll. 5-7)
The thought that the author believes feelings can conquer reality and thinking is extremely naive and brainless, just like how he mentioned he is perfectly delightful in being a complete fool in the above lines.