love's philosophy Flashcards
synopsis
- initially, shelley uses assertions to declare that everything has a couple and then questions why he himself is not in a relationship
- in the second stanza, shelley fixates on examples of physical intimacy in nature and then asks why he doesn’t have the same experience
context
- was part of a group of poets known as the romantics
- romantic poetry is often associated with youthful passion and the natural world, which is evident in ‘love’s philosophy’
key themes
(unrequited) love, seduction
structure and form
- lyric poem - formal poetry in which personal emotions are expressed
- octave structure
- ABAB rhyme scheme
- conceit - overarching concept that poet uses to make a point - in this case nature
- trochaic tetrametre
- only two stanzas which enhances the idea that everything comes in couples + the rhyming couplets
- beginning ‘the’ is a catalexis that disrupts the metre with an extra syllable
“fountains mingle with the river”
“rivers with the ocean”
“nothing in the world is single”
“all things by a law divine”
- starts with a series of assertions/statements made as though they are facts to declare that everything is in a couple - CONCEIT
- “law divine” relates to philosophical academia
- suggests that everything in the world is interconnected, especially nature. semantic field of nature
“why not i with thine?”
“if thou not kiss me?”
- rhetorical question - questions why he is alone if everything comes in pairs
- motif of kissing - repeated throughout the poem in several different verb forms - polyptoton. this is to emphasise the speakers desire and craving for intimacy
- he believes that love is life and doesn’t see the point in it if his lover doesn’t kiss him
“the mountains kiss high heaven / and the waves clasp one another”
- personification of nature and increased physical imagery
- ‘clasp’ connotes a loving, intimate relationship
themes
passion, desire, longing, unrequited love, nature
love’s philosophy / when we two parted
+ both speakers are unsuccessful in romance
+ written by Romantic poets
+ intense emotions are expressed in both poems
- in “when we two parted” the speaker is looking backwards on a relationship whereas in “love’s philosophy’’ the speaker is looking forwards to a prospective relationship
- the language in “when we two parted” is centered on the two characters
whilst “love’s philosophy” is predominantly metaphorical
love’s philosophy/sonnet 29
+ shelley and barrett browning both use natural imagery as a metaphor for romantic love. shelley states that “The winds of heaven mix for ever” and that “the waves clasp one another”.
barrett browning similarly attributes physical intimacy to nature in her comparison of her thoughts to “wild vines, about a tree” and “bands of greenery”.
+ both poems are short and concise, showing the speaker’s emotions to
be highly intense. the two stanzas used in both could represent two
people as a couple.
- in sonnet 29, it appears that she realises the error of her ways
however, in Love’s philosophy the poem has no turning point and is a
continuation of the speaker’s lust
love’s philosophy / farmer’s bride
+ both speakers express frustration at their desire remaining unrealised.
shelley creates this impression through his use of sibilance in “single”, “kiss”, “clasp”, “sea” and “disdained”. Mew’s speaker is shown to be similarly dejected in “tis but a stair // betwixt us” and “what’s Christmas time without there be // some other in the
house than we!”
- in “the farmer’s bride”, nature becomes a symbol for the girl’s
oppression through the use of violent fricatives in “frightened fay”
and the prey-like connotations of “flying like a hare” and “shy as a leveret”. opposingly, shelley references nature to create beautiful images in the listeners mind through the personification in
“fountains mingle with the river” and “the sunlight clasps the earth”.
