Vanessa
Love Given ≠ Love Returned
Let’s
face it: love hurts.
“Looking up at the stars, I know quite well
That, for all they care, I can go to hell,
But on earth indifference is the least
We have to dread from man or beast.
How should we like it were stars to burn
With a passion for us, we could not return?
If
equal affection cannot be,
Let
the more loving one be me.
Admirer as I think I am
Of stars that do not give a damn,
I cannot, now I see them, say
I missed one terribly all day.
Were all stars to disappear or die,
I should learn to look at an empty sky
And feel its total dark sublime,
Though this might take me a little time.”
Narrative voice
What
distinguishes this poem from others is the authentic and unique narrative tone.
Auden keeps an edge to the otherwise romantic poem which grounds the reader in
reality. This is evident right from the first two lines, “Looking up at the
stars, I know quite well / That, for all they care, I can go to hell”. His
tone is not careless by any means; he portrays the unwanted side of love in an
abrupt and almost comical manner, which assists to engage the reader.
Balanced Love
Most
people assume right away that love travels it two ways, in equal amounts. They
aren’t wrong to think so, since all of us only want to see what we would like.
However, In the contrary, Auden proposes the notion that equal affection cannot
always be attained. Nonetheless, because of love, he would still rather the more
loving one be him.
Theme
It
is not very difficult to guess that The More Loving One about unrequited
love. Nevertheless, it also positions the reader to come to realise the role of
love itself, and how important it may be in our lives. He wonders “were all
stars to disappear or die / I should learn to look at an empty sky”,
indicating that he could potentially grow to live without love. However, it “might
take me a little time”, which implies that it could be more difficult to
learn to live without love rather than have his love unreturned.
Auden’s
poem is insightful and absorbing, allowing us readers to view the concept of
love from a wider perspective. So do not fear heartbreak; remind yourself that
that little bit of love could do a lot.
Good job Vanessa, I think you have done awesome job at illustrating what the author was saying. Your analysis is very inspiring as it enables the reader to think for themselves. This is an effective piece of analysis. GJ ~ Ryan
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ReplyDeleteInteresting that you mentioned the poem not being ‘cliche’ - the first sentence of the poem (“looking up at the stars”) is the type of sentence that would appear in many poems, I think. But yes, Auden turned that completely around in the second line. Have you considered what the narrator meant when he said “let the more loving one be me”? You only mentioned that line but didn’t analyse it. I love your pictures though. Good job! - Yukki
Good work Vanessa. I think that you have done an absolutely wonderful job of analyzing and breaking down the themes and techniques that the poet used. However, you should remember to bold key words in the blog post. Overall, awesome work! GGWP ~ Alvin
ReplyDeleteGreat work Vanessa. The poetic techniques chosen were analysed well. I think by separating the themes it makes the reader much more easier to read. ~Max
ReplyDeleteHi Vanessa, I really enjoyed your post, genuinely. I thought it did an amazing job of analysis the poem and also talking about how you viewed the poem. I think that you were spot on in your ideas about putting the edge on a romantic poem and I think he did this by the rhyme scheme. Also I think that love is really important in our lives, but I don’t think Auden’s poem met to create the idea that you can live without love, rather that you need to love, but also learn that sometime it is unrequited, but that doesn’t mean it’s not there.
ReplyDelete-Sophie