Love's Philosophy- Percy Bysshe Shelly Flashcards
What is it about?
Speaker tries to persuade his beloved that they should have a relationship. Love and sexual desire are presented as natural. Argues that nature is full of ‘unions’ so love is natural.
“The fountains mingle with the river”
Establishes theme of nature from the outset
‘mingle’- it is only natural to be together
“All things by a law divine”
Natural law- the plan God set out
Use of religious imagery to convince the woman
“Why not I with thine?”
Rhetorical questions throughout are persuasive and invites a response
Audience learns that the speaker is experiencing unrequited love
“Mountains kiss high Heaven”
Personification
Love is sacred, natural and simple
Pairs across stanzas show that it is natural to be together
“And the sunlight clasps the earth, And the moonbeams kiss the sea”
Masculine and feminine suggests pairs mirrors a 2 person intersexual relationship
Celestial imagery suggests pairs exist beyond earth and that love is everlasting
“If thou kiss not me?”
No catharsis
Rhetorical question is a persuasive technique
2 stanzas
Represents a couple
