A Complaint

A Complaint

Language - This poem employs the conceit of waterin order to explore complex feelings about love.

                  - Initially, the love „was to flow/And flow it did‟. The repetitionof the word flow emphasizes the fact that, in the past, the relationship had felt natural and easy, just as it‟s a natural thing for water to flow.

                  - However, amid all the joy taken from this relationship, the narrator hints that trouble is inevitable. The flowing love did not „heed‟ the individuals or „its own bounty‟. This brings to mind the suggestion of excess, overflowing, flooding and drowning, which is why the relationship ultimately dissolves.

                  - In line 3, the narrator uses the image of a „fountain‟ as a metaphorfor the relationship.

                  - Fountain types can range from the mundane, yet lifegiving, drinking spigot, to spectacular, ostentatious ornamentation only found in the grounds of stately homes owed by extremely rich people. Therefore the metaphor of the fountain immediately tells the reader that the relationship was complex, it was as necessary as drinking water but also enriching and beautiful.

                  - The narrator then elevates and extends the fountain metaphorby calling it a „consecrated fount‟, suggesting the love was scared and divine.

                  - It is possible that the narrator feels baptised by the water from the „consecrated fount‟, and that the relationship has given him a sense of rebirth.

                  - The narrator personifiesthe water that…