Love and Relationship Poems

• "I decide to do it free, without a rope or net."

This implies that the grandfather will catch him if he falls, this also suggest that the speaker is comfortable around their Grandfather.

This suggest there is an element of danger and excitement when the speaker is with the grandfather

First person provides a more personal tone. 

• "Finger is Smooth and Thick like warm ice."

Oxymoron implies that the Grandad life is never the same, and also has a danger element.

The child like simile shows affection for Grandfather

• "A smiling mouth to drink among teeth."

This implies that the Grandfather enjoys to spend time with the speaker

The metaphor is used to show that the speaker enjoys listening to what the grandfather has to say.

• "(soft and white at this altitude)"

 The grandfather is being compared to a mountain

Brackets imply that this is only the speaker view

• Context

It was believed that the writer was a geography teacher, or had some what interest towards geography, hense why he compares his grandfather to a mountain

• "I run just one ov my daddy's shops from 9 o'clock to 9 o'clock"

This shows he is not seen as trustworthy by his ‘daddy’ and that he is only entrusted           with running one shop.

Presentation of racial stereotypes.1st person implies that the speaker is talking directly  to his wife.

Use of pun immediately establishes a playful tone against some serious matter,                 highlights immaturity of the speaker

Enjambment makes poem sound happy and cheerful like a song, Also adds the rhythm.

• "vee share in chapatti vee share in di chutney"

Repetition shows unity or togetherness 

Loose use of playful rhythm and half-rhythm to heighten sense of exuberance

Juxtaposition of traditional Indian and English imagery 

• "in di worst Indian shop on di whole Indian road-"

Repetition of "Indian" suggest a society that conflicts 'Indian' with bad, highlights xenophobic idealism of our current society.

Exterior voice denoted typographically with italics to give a sense of interruption 

• "my bride"

Noun "bride" implies how new and pure their relationship is.

Triple-refrain creates the sense of a building image of an increasingly surprising nature of this   wife.

• structure:

Irregular stanza length and shapes suggest a hybrid of cultural influences.

• "each night I say, how much does dat come to baby? from di stool each night I say, is priceless baby-"

Implies that the narrator sees that love is more important than money.

Repetition of each night gives impression of mandatory to what may once have been a  spontaneous/romantic relationship.

Repetition also gives couple conversation rhythm which shows closeness of the couple

• Context:

Can be seen as a commentary on a immigrant experience in Britain and the hostility and   isolation that is felt from the 'indigenous' population.

 There is also an element to which we might think it's a comment on whether love requires or self-deception concerning the men’s relationship with his wife.

• "I'm ten years away from the corner you laugh on"

The present tense is used to talk about an event in the past. This creates an vivid image - she could be imagining it, or looking at photographs 

The stanza start with a reminder of the distance in time between the narrator's birth and the mothers youth.

• "Your polka-dot dress blows round your dress. Marilyn"

Image implies that the writer compares the mother to Marilyn Monroe, she was glamorous and desirable film star but also a tragic figure who committed suicide aged 36. This could hint at what is to come. Short Syntax emphasises this.

• "Before you were mine, your Ma stands at the close with a hiding for the late one. You reckon it's worth it"

Repetition of the title implies that the narrator see her Mother as having freedom before she was born, but she has also restrained by her own mother.

• “Now your ghost clatters towards me over George square”

Relics of scared religious object from the past – to the narrator, her mother’s glamour is precious, but ghost highlights how it’s in the past and won’t return

This also implies that her mother has died

• “That glamorous love last were you sparkle and waltz and laugh before you were mine”

Repetition empathises the difference between then and now. It also develops the possessive tone that’s caused by using the word ‘now’.

Repetition of ‘and’, plus the power of three emphasises how many energetic qualities the narrator thinks the mother had.

• Structure:

Written in 3 equal stanzas of 5 lines each structured around different phases in time.

• “His shoulders globed like a full sail strung”

Implies that the father was strong

Assonance of a long ’o’ sound implies how big his shoulders are

Enjambment suggest the following continuous nature of his father work nautical imagery shows strength and skill of his father

• “An expert”

Admiration presented as a simple statement of fact by using short syntax

• “Fell sometimes on the polished sod”

Oxymoron highlights the unusual image that is perhaps stressing the care his father took.

Suggest that Heaney was awkward and clumsy

•  “In his broad shadow round the farm”

Illustrates size and represents son living in his shadow”

• “it is now my father who keeps stumbling behind me, and will not go away.”

Slight tone of resentment

Roles reversal, his father has lost his strength and agility whereas Heaney has gained it.

• Structure:

Final 2 lines show that they have switched roles , his father has lost his strength and agility whereas Heaney has gained it.

• Context:

Heaney uses his poem to show that as the parental role switched as the ‘parents’ get older 

• “Eden rock”

Christen image of the Garden of Eden implies a state of happiness and bliss

• “Still two years old and trembling”

This implies that he is little and therefore might not be able to walk with confidence.

• “Crossing is not as hard as you might think”

This suggests that the child is scared to cross; this may mean that the child could be young. Parents are also showing encouraging comfort, which is the typical role for a good parent.

Child has overcome their fears/anxieties which includes, preparing for death and living without parents.

•  “The sky whitens as if lit by three suns”

Christian image of the trinity; father, son, holy spirit or; mother father and son.

Colour connotation, “white” is pure, heavenly colour.

• Structure:

final line separated from the stanza-emphasises narrator’s current separations from parents. Stanza 1 and 2 introduction of parents reflects each other shows close relationship.

• Context:

Poet’s father died when poet was 7.  Poet was an only child, and was never married, his loneliness is reflected in his poems. 

• “A sunny day with leaves just turning”

Reflects the change in the relationship, from easier times, to this initial ‘drifting away’

• “Like a  satellite Wrenched from its orbit, go drifting away”

Poet is uncomfortable about son’s independence.

The simile implies that he has found independent and therefore doesn’t need his dad anymore.

• “Into a wildness, the gait of one who finds no path where the path should be”

Pushing offspring to lead by themselves. Compares to a baby bird learning to fly.

Up to young people to find own path in life and succeed 

•  “That hesitant figure eddying away”

Unsure about leaving, maybe because he’s not ready

Simile shows the son is away from his parents, and highlights how natural this is.

• “How selfhood begins with a walking away, And love is proved in the letting go”

Only way to find his own path is to walk away from the safety and protection from his parents. His father has faith in his son that he will lead a good life.

• Structure:

Same line length for each stanza, suggest that the narrator is steadily walking away and creating distance.

• Context:

Speaker talks about part of loving is letting go, and sometimes letting go is for the best.

• “Three summers since I chose a maid”

The term ‘maid’ tells the reader something about the age of the girl – she is very young, as brides would commonly have been in those days. The fact that the farmers ‘chose’ the maid conforms to the idea of girls at the time.

• “When us was wed she turned afraid Of love and me and all things human;”

After getting married, she became anti-social. Maybe because of the realisation of being trapped.

The use of the pronoun ‘us’ instead of ‘we’ suggest of the colloquial nature of the farmer’s speech. This makes the poem feel more authentic and the narrator more believable.

The use of ‘humans’ qualifies the girl’s fear somewhat. Her anxiety is made specific – it is people, not animals or nature that frightens her.

•  “One night in the fall, she runned away”

The use of the made up verb ‘runned’ instead of ‘ran’ is another example of the colloquial speech of the farmer.

• “We chased her, flying like a hare”

Leaves a haunting image

The simile compares the girl to an animal, which implies he has no respect for her welfare

• Structure:

Written as a dramatic monologue from the farmer’s point of view, his new wife has no voice, like many other women during the early 1900s, where women were inferior. (links to context)

• “In February, digging his garden, planting potatoes”

This implies that her friend is working in the countryside

Personification implies that the writer is in a good and positive mood

• “You out there, in the cold, seeking the season’s Turning, me with a head full of headlines”

Semantic field of the cold winter weather

Alliteration provides a tone of jealousy maybe she’s frustrated that she is no longer out in the country and instead is stuck in an office.

• “Still, it’s you who sends me word of that other world”

Alliteration makes the speaker feel close to his world but reminds her that she is distance from it.

Implies that they are also still in communication and enjoys talking to each other.

•  “Watching the same news in different houses, our souls tap out messages across the icy miles”

Distances between them but by communicating it brings them together.

Watching the same news shows their lives aren’t so different therefore they feel closer

“Icey” implies she doesn’t like being away from him. This means that she feels cold without him.

• Structure:

written in three verses, this reflects neutral speech stanza length feeling between them don’t change even though there is distance between them.

• Context:

Lives in Yorkshire for a few years before moving to London, she writes about the struggles of having a long distance friendship. 

• “And the sun was white, as though chidden of God, And a few leaves lay on the starving sod;”

The sun is drained of warmth and colour this reflects how the love has been drained from their relationship.

Image that God has scolded the sun. This adds to the bleak mood of the poem and hints that the narrator views everything negatively

Alliteration emphasises how the leaves are still, adds to negative tone.

• “Your eyes on me as eyes that rove”

In traditional love poems, eyes are traditionally shown to be a positive feature, but this implies that they are shown negatively

Enjambment mimics how her eyes move over his face

•  “The smile on your mouth was the deadest thing”

The oxymoron contrast the idea that similes should be positive, however here a simile is portrayed as lifeless, this emphasises her complete lack of feelings towards him.

• “Like an ominous bird a-wing”

Imerg of bird flying away suggest the end of the relationship

Ellipsis represents the time when the relationship came to an end.

• “And a pond edged with greyish leaves”

Poem begins with the pound this shows how the memory of that day still affects him.

The “t” in “crust “is a sound harsher that “chidden” in the first stanza. This hints the narrator has become bitter over time.

• Context:

Famous for the pessimistic tone in his writing, this is shown throughout this poem. Hardy faced many disappointments in his personal relationships. It is unclear whether this poem refers to a specific relationship he had or whether it is a more generalised feeling about his associations with women.

• Structure:

The rhythmic pattern of the poem is not consistent. This maybe echoes the uncomfortable feeling which existed between the two people 

The overall structure of the poem is circular rather than linear as it starts and ends in the same geographical place. One interpretation of this is that the speaker has not come to terms with what has happened and revisits the memory.

• “It tore the elm-tops down for spite”

Wealth is personified to create anger love; this means that he killed her so that no one will have her

• “She shut the cold out and the storm”

Porphyria seems to be a powerful, positive force in the speaker’s life.  Her action contrast to the weather.

Sibilance emphasises how positive she is to him.

• “And give herself to me forever. But passion sometimes would prevail”

This implies that she is still willing to give herself to him.

The oxymoron in the sexual imagery suggest that he may of taken her virginity however he wants her to be pure again.

• Structure: Regular thyme reflects his calmness.

• “That moment she was mine, mine, fair, perfectly pure and good”

She’s come to be with him tonight and he’s convinced she loves him, so he wants her to preserve that moment

Repetition of “mine” is disturbing and suspicious it emphasises how he wants to have her and he won’t give up on her.

• “And yet God has not said a word”

Writer suggest that God approves of his actions or he is surprised that he hasn’t been punished, or perhaps he doesn’t believe that he’s committed a sin at all.

• Context:

Porphyria is a disease that can result in madness. This suggests that this may have contributed to his madness.

• “I think of thee! My thoughts do twine and bud”

Addresses lover directly, making it more personal

The exclamation mark makes an exciting tone implies whenever se thinks of him se is happy

Caesura implies that the thought of him last for a while

Semantic field of nature implies that thoughts and feelings for him are constantly growing and developing

• “Drop heavily down- burst shattered, everywhere”

She thinks about him a lot her thoughts weighs her down

His present replaces her thought

The caesura emphasises her excitement 

•  “Deep joy when I see and hear thee”

This implies that when he is around she is filled with joy and happiness.

The repetition of ‘thee’ show's obsession with him. 

The enjambment shows emphasises her close relationship.

• “I do not think of thee – I am too near thee”

She doesn’t have to think about him when she’s with him. He’s better than she ever imagined

Caesura emphasises her excitement and adds to their dramatic effect. 

Repetition shows her obsession with him.

• Structure:

All one stanza perhaps show her close relationship.

• "When we two parted"

He address former lover directly, which makes the poem feel more personal

This contrast the use of ‘they’ that is used in stanza 3, this hints at a bond between the narrator and his lover which keeps them separated from others.

• “Half broken hearted”

This could imply that they weren’t really in love. However it is clear that the narrator has been clearly effective by their parting in a negatively way, so perhaps he’s accusing his lover of only being half in love with her

Alliteration implies that they were never in love

• “I hear thy name spoken, and share within its shame”

He hears people talking about the former lover is having, this is painful for him to hear.

Alliteration of the ‘sh’ sound, links to silent.

•  “Why wert thou so dear?”

Rhetorical question emphasises how deeply he felt for her, he can’t bear to hear that she’s having affairs with other men

• “Long, long I shall rue thee, Too deeply to tell”

Narrator repeatedly addresses his former lover, creating the impression that he’s still preoccupied by her. This shows how her actions continue to upset him.

Repetition emphasises how long he will regret the relationship.

• Context:

Byron was known to have the reputation of having scandalous affrays. Although he had concealed the identity of the woman, it was rumoured he may have written about Lady Webster

• Structure:

Written in four equal stanzas, this implies that the upset and anger is neutral  

• “And the rivers with the oceans”

Increasing scale of imagery implies that the water joins to make larger bury of water. This implies that loving someone makes you part of something bigger.

• “In one another’s being mingle-“

Caesura creates a pause, this implies that the narrator thinks it's God's law that everything joins together.By a woman not being with the narrator is going against God.

Repetition of mingle throughout the poem implies that everything is united

• “And the sunlight clasps the earth, And the moonbeams kiss the sea”

Repetition of the noun “And” emphasises the amount of unity in nature

This implies that he wanted to love her but cannot, and therefore is frustrated by this.

The semantic field of nature implies that he believes that humans should fool nature.

• Context:

He wrote the poem in the 1820s, throughout the poem Bysshe-Shelley puts emphasis on emotion on nature.

• Structure:

Regular ABAB rhyme scheme, however the last line is different this implies that the love in the relationship isn’t the same.

The poem is a monologue of a male towards a female recipient, asking for love

The final lines of both stanzas are interrogatives - questions being posed by the narrator

• “Gulping for breath at our feet”

This suggest that they are keeping distance from each other, perhaps because they are avoiding to talk about their problems

• “Icebergs of white feathers, pause before returning again, like boats righting in rough weather”

Icebergs have more below the surface then they do on the top. This implies that the metaphor may suggest that the couple keep things hidden from each other and aren’t communicating, or it could imply that their relationship has a strong foundation.

Simile implies that they have gone through a rough time in their relationship, but things have become more stable 

• “Slow-stepping in the lakes shingle and sand”

Sibilance in this stanza creates a tone of softness

This suggest they’re moving in unison like the swans did

• “Like a pair of wings settling after flight”

This implies that they’re no longer separated but part of one whole

Swan imagery to describe them holding hands this reflects how there following the example of the swan

Full stop emphasises that all there trouble have been forgotten.

• Context:

In his poetry Sheers often writes about places, landscapes and the people who live in them, this poem highlights this.

• structure 

Winter Swans has seven stanzas, the first six of which are three lines each - though the final stanza has two. This emphasises the final stanza and also suggests that the couple are now, like the lines, a reconciled pair.

“Mother any distance greater than a single span”

Alliteration shows the distance between his outstretched hands, this implies that he needs two people to measure anything that is larger than this. It’s a small distance, which suggests that his mother’s support is still important to him.

“You come to help me measure windows, pelmets, doors, the acres of the walls, prairies of the floor”

“Doors and floors” rhyme; however “hand” and “span” only half rhyme- this shows dislocation between him and his mother

Metaphors and hyperbole creates image of vast, open spaces this hints of adventure and exploration, but also suggest that he feels daunted

“Anchor. Kite.”

He’s a kite starting to fly, but his mother is the anchor keeping him safe and secure. Short syntax slows the pace of the poem, this suggest that he feels apprehensive throughout. 

•  “To breaking point, where something has to give”

Image of powerful bond between mother and son is breaking because he wants freedom and independence

Enjambment creates a conversational tone.

• “Your fingertips still pinch the last one-hundred of an inch…”

Use of verb “pinch” implies how desperately she doesn’t want to let him go. However it also suggest pain, if she doesn’t let him go it will hurt him.

The ellipsis could reflect how the tape is being stretched out.

Difference in measurement perhaps shows different generations and ages.

•  Structure:

First and second stanzas are the same length, third stanza is different, this could imply that when he moves, his life is no longer the same.