New York City, February 25th, 2014
The Love of the Poets
Love is one of the favorite subjects of poets and writers in the history of literature. Poets have the inspiration to write expressions that symbolize their feelings. They have the power to emphasize the beauty or ugliness in their poems. Readers may feel different emotions when they read their poems. People with high sensitivity can appreciate the wonderful world of poetry. Poets have the privilege of making sweet verses in bitter words or vice versa. The magic of the poems is that they can move to a scene without necessarily see a painting, without hearing a voice, without being in any specific place. The imagination of the readers when reading each of the poems, takes them to a world of feelings.
The poem "To Lucasta, going to the Wars" by Richard Lovelace, caught the attention because of its subjects matter, a soldier is living his sweetheart to go to war. This scene in this poem has happened many times throught out human history. Richard Lovelace chose the name Lucasta to write his poem, but we do not know what was the reason for choosing it. Maybe, she is a fictional character.
At the begining of the verse, Lovelace introduces the image of a man pleading to his lover to reporach him for going to the war as he has to leave alone. When he says, "Tell me not, sweet, I am unkind" (463). Lovelace tells us how the man feels about her when he refers to Lucasta as "sweet" (463). Another line says, "That from the nunnery" (463) indicate that she is a virtuos woman, not promiscuoss. Also, we know that Lucasta has peace in her soul when we read, "of the chaste breast and quiet mind" (463) In the fourth line, the use of word "I fly" (463), indicates that the speaker is bored and craves the excitement of battle. The poem shows that, more important that staying with his love, is his desire to go on a mission.
His desire to meet his foe in combat is described in the verse, "The first for in the field" (464). It is clear that to his "sweet" (463) Lucasta, his first determination is to go to war in terms of "faith" (464). The soldier wants to realize his love of honor when he figths for the king and country; if he doesn't, he would not be a good lover. This kind of love of honor of the country bring risks, because the soldiers could die in the war. Then, if that happens, Lucasta would lose her hopes and dreams to love the soldier who prefer to go to war and not love her. The poem is a contrast between love versus war.
The beauty of the youth is represented through a rose by many poets as the brevety of life. The poet Robert Herrick tells us the nature of a woman's life in his poem, "To the Virgins, to make much of time!." The idea of Herrick writes, "Gather ye rose-buds whil ye may," (459) is that the rose will be happy and beautiful when the sun is shining. He means youth. Also, he emphazies that the time passes, then he says, "Old time is still a flying" (459). When he refers to "dying"(459) he wants to say that the life and beauty are not forever inmortal. The poet also says that the flower must smile, "And this same flower that smiles today" (459). It's a tremendous methaphore because we cannot imagine a flower smiling, but it is a good comparasion that the best time in the life of a woman is when she is happy, young and beautiful. The meaning of this poem is that everyone has their own time to live it with intensity.
The sun is persofinied when the poet says, "The glorius lamp of heaven, the sun" (459). It's admirable how Herrick describes the sun to say that while we are more near to the sun, it is, the splendor of the life will not remain forever because the sun doesn't shine all the time. The youth deteriorates with the passage of time.
Many times we hear that the childhood is better than later ages. Herrick mentions it in his poem, "That age is best, which is the first," (459). The poet ends his verses telling the virgins’ life comes only once and they have utilize their choices wissely and appropriately.
Starting a poem by comparing the love to a red rose is great. Roberts Burns wrote a poem " A Red, Red Rose" . In it he expresses the notion that love is like a sweet melody to a lover. Burns says , "That's newly sprung in June O my luve;/ 's like the melodie" (lines 2-3). The lover chooses a beautiful rose of June when the weather is extremely beautiful, because he wants to be with his sweet love.
The second fragment says, "And I will luve thee still, my dear, / Till a ' the seas going dry" (lines 7-8). It gives us the image of his love lasting until the seas run dry and the rocks melt with the sun. The pictures are wonderfully poetic.
The third stanza becomes increasingly complex, ending with the metaphor of the "sands O'Life" (line12) or hourglass. Burns reminds us of the passage of time and the changes that result. That recalls the first stanza and its image of a red rose, newly sprung in June, which we know from experience will change and decay over time.
Last strophy complexity of the poem concludes with a farewell and a promise to return. The poem says, "And I will come again, my luve, / And I will come again, my luve" (lines 14-15). Definitely, this poem is a declaration of love expressed with an authentic poetic language.
In conclusión, this manifestation of poems collect a tiny sample of what has been said about love through the ages. The contribution of the poems of love or heartbreak, have been transmitted and felt by the authors of the 17th and 18th centuries, who expressed love and poetry precisely. By reading these poems always seem to reach the heart, without being necessary to analyze structures, rhetorical figures, or do a detailed analysis, but rather makes an exchange of feelings and emotions. The love of poets excites and teaches the beauty of poetry, especially those who believe in the magic of poetry, making them feel the unexpected but wonderful sensations that occur when reading their poetry.
Works Cited
Burns, Robert. “A Red, Red Rose.” Gardner, Janet E., Beverly Lawn, Ridl Jack, and Schakel Peter. 475-476.
Gardner, Janet E., Beverly Lawn, Ridl Jack, and Schakel Peter eds. Literature: A Portable Anthology. 3rd ed. Boston: Bedford/St Martin’s, 2013. Print.
Herrick, Robert “ To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time.” Gardner, Janet E., Beverly Lawn, Ridl Jack, and Schakel Peter. 459.
Lovelace, Richard. “To Lucasta, Going to the Wars.” Gardner, Janet E., Beverly Lawn, Ridl Jack, and Schakel Peter. 463-464.
