American poet W.H. Auden is best known for poems surrounding political and social issues, as well as love. “The More Loving One” is a love poem that uses typical cliches of love, such as looking up at the stars, to portray the unstereotypical theme of unrequited love. The whole poem is a metaphor, as Auden talks about the stars not returning his love, although he is actually referring to the people who have not loved him back.
LITERARY DEVICES:
The most obvious poetic device used is a rhyming pattern. It follows one of the most common AABB rhyming patterns. This makes the poem sound more appealing to the reader’s senses as well as setting a nice rhythm. It also connects the lines and establishes a clear stanzaic structure.
WH Auden definitely does not generously over-use alliteration, however it does appear in the last stanza. The phrases “disappear to die” and “learn to look” are examples of alliteration as the first consonant sound is the same. This adds a rhythmic touch and places an emphasis on those select words.
In stanza two, the author says “How should we like it we’re stars to burn, with a passion for us, we could not return?” This is a rhetorical question as rather than looking for an answer, it makes a point. The audience is made to think deeper for themselves by leaving food for thought.
Last but not least, the poem in its entirety is an extended metaphor. W.H. Auden uses stars as a metaphor for human beings. He says “Admirer as I think I am, Of stars that do not give a damn.” The use of a metaphor here is effective as it portrays a more powerful feeling in comparing people to bright and lovely stars.
THEMES:
“The More Loving One” is a poignant and heart-warming love poem in which author W.H. Auden portrays the issue of unrequited love and being forced to “learn to look at an empty sky”, or to get used to not being loved back, although it may take him “a little time”. The use of a metaphor and other literary devices compares stars to people, which provides a powerful yet lamentable sense. Other literary and poetic devices such as alliteration and rhetorical questions enhance the rhythm and sound of the poem, as well as leaving the reader deep in thought.
Many people can relate to this very poem, through which W.H. Auden tells them “If equal affection cannot be, let the more loving one be me.” At the end of the day, wouldn’t loving someone even if unrequited be better than not loving at all?
Hi Charlotte!
ReplyDeleteI really liked the image that you put with your poem as it sets the tone for the blog post as well. Your analysis was really clearly structured and your use of bolded letters was effective in bringing out your main points. Your introduction of the author is nicely done but to improve on the structure I think you could have separated your conclusion from the themes section more, to give the analysis more of an impactful ending.
GOOD JOB
Allason
I adore the photo you placed at the beginning of the poem! It gives readers a brief introduction of the poet and sets the tone for your post. Good job on categorizing different parts of your post and bolding important key terms! You made very clear and concise points on the theme of the poem and the figurative devices used, as well as leaving readers with “food for thought!” However, I think that you could have used more images throughout the post to visually stimulate readers.
ReplyDelete-Angeline
Hello Charlotte, I really enjoyed reading your analysis and I found that last line to be very inspirational. I like how you described the poetic devices used and the detail that you included. Also when reading the poem I had the “deep thoughts” that you stated near the end of your analysis, but I also think this was caused because of the topic he was writing about not just the poetic devices.
ReplyDelete-Sophie