The title “A Red Red Rose” further implements Burns messages that the course of true love does run smoothly. The red rose is a typical symbol of love and therefore Burns is suggesting, perhaps naively, that love is a clear and simple path to follow in life. The title also suggests that Burns feels love should be celebrated and life should be lived to the full. The title also alerts the reader to the fact that Burns is addressing the traditional aspects of love.
The poem has a regular structure throughout and strong rhyme. Burns has written the poem in this way in an attempt to portray love as a strong force, which can be depended on. Burns has also included alternate line rhyme throughout the poem. This poetic feature emphasises that love is a solid foundation for any relationship and this shows that love is predictable and trustworthy can be relied upon. It is therefore clear that Burns does not agree with Shakespeare’s statement “the course of true love never does run smooth.”
In the poem “Love Philosophy,” by Percy Bysshe Shelley, love is compared to several natural elements, “The winds of heaven mix forever.” Shelley manages to portray love as a great and dynamic power through this comparison. The poem implies that love is found everywhere, “the fountains mingle with the river,” and due to this love is shown as an impressive power that has control over the entire natural world. This portrayal of love as a great power is similar to that of “A red red rose,” in which love is also depicted as having power over the elements.
This poem is once again similar to a “red red rose” as throughout the poem, love is revealed as a binding power. Shelley suggests that love is found everywhere, land and sea, “the mountains kiss high heavens and the waves clasp one another.” Shelley is implying that love holds the world together and without it the world would breakdown. Furthermore, Shelley suggests that those who flout the laws of love will be punished, “No sister flower will be forgiven.” This implies that love is such a great power that it will be able to punish those who disobey. Shelley’s main motive is to show that love is a unifying force that the world cannot live without.
In “Love’s Philosophy”, Shelley suggests that love is a lasting influence. He uses strong words such as “nothing” along with “and,” continually. This gives the reader the impression that the poet is continually adding to his abundant evidence that love can be relied upon. In a way Shelley is presenting the poem as if he is justifying questions and criticisms of love. Once again similarly to “ a red red rose” love is portrayed as a dependable emotion.
While Shelley continually refers to love as a great power, he also hints that love can also be unpredictable and may fade with time. At the end of the first stanza Shelley includes a question, “in one spirit meet and mingle. Why not I with mine?” This is Shelley openly voicing his insecurities about love and admitting that he does not feel the power of love at the time of writing the poem. It is therefore evident that Shelley has seen the power of love manifest in a negative manner but he has not experienced love’s forceful strength and thus leaves the reader with a slight sense of the unpredictability and frailty of love.
Shelley’s love poem is entitled, “Love’s Philosophy,” and similarly to a Burn’s poem the title is used to reinforce the poem’s message. The word “philosophy” is a set of beliefs that a person lives by and this poem is Shelley’s attempt to create a set of rules that love follows. Shelley gives this impression so that more people will understand what a mighty force love is and in future will not reject love in turn for human advice.
Like “A Red Red Rose,” “Love’s philosophy has a regular structure with the same number of lines in each stanza. This regularity in structure and rhyme scheme mirrors the poet’s insistence that love is a law and regulation by which all human beings should live. The poem is written in two stanzas. This is to emphasise that the poem is made up of a pair, in the same way the poet claims nature is full of elements existing in pairs.
“Valentine” by Carol Ann Duffy creates a very different image of love compared to that of the previous two poems. Duffy compares love to an onion, “I give you an onion.” The reader immediately realises that this is not a typical love poem. The comparison used has no connection with love and an onion is not a very momentous gift to give someone to show your love for him or her. It is therefore clear that Duffy intends to give the impression that love is an insignificant emotion.
In Duffy’s poem she uses the extended metaphor of an “onion” to express her views on the emotions that love creates. Firstly, she states that an onion makes a person’s eyes water, ”it will blind you with tears.” Duffy’s aim is to imply that love will make a person feel severe pain that will make them want to shed tears of anguish. The poet also suggests that an onion will leave a strong taste on the lips, ”its fierce kiss will stay on your lips.” Through this stage of the metaphor the poet is once again suggesting that love can be an overwhelming force that will take over your life in a “possessive” way. Duffy also compares the onion to a wedding ring, “Its platinum loops shrink to a wedding ring.” Here she is commenting how marriage can be constricting and not the happy state that it is generally perceived to be. The final stage of the metaphor states that the smell of an onion lingers on the skin, “Its scent will cling to you fingers.” Duffy’s opinion that the lasting pain that love brings remains even after a relationship has ended is suggested through this metaphor. It is clear that love is painted in a destructive and negative way throughout this poem.
In the same way as Shelley hints at love being unpredictable in “Love’s Philosophy”, Duffy also suggests a sense of instability in connection with love in her poem “Valentine.” Duffy associates love with sadness and grief, “it will blind you with tears.” Throughout the poem Duffy continually infers that love is a not a strong power and will only cause misery and despair in the lives of those who experience it.
Duffy’s choice of title for this poem is extremely ironic. When we hear the word “Valentine,” we associate it with a day solely dedicated to the celebration of love. However, the fact that Duffy is openly criticising love during this poem shows that the title is ironic. By use of the ironic title Duffy is attempting to show the reader that love is also fickle. She suggests that while love is portrayed to be a celebratory emotion in the end it will cause copious amounts of pain for those who have felt it. This technique, the use of the title of the poem to reinforce the poets’ message, is also used in the previous two poems where both titles emphasise the main points within the poem.
Unlike “A Red Red Rose,” and “Love’s Philosophy, ”Valentine” has a very irregular fragmented structure. The use of this irregular structure shows how love is once again considered to be unreliable and unlikely to last forever. The uneven stanza length shows how love is perceived to be disjointed and a weak force. Duffy has placed several words and lines on their own, “lethal,” and “not a cute card or a kissogram.” The aim of this is to draw attention to these important words and phrases, which allow the reader to be aware of the main message of the poem.
In my opinion I feel that the two poems that are most closely related are “A Red Red Rose,” by Burns and “Love’s Philosophy”, by Shelley. This is because both poems highlight the optimistic aspects of love to some extent. Both poems also compare love to natural elements that create the feeling that love is an amalgamating force. However “Love’s Philosophy” and “Valentine” also share some similar traits. Both poems mention the negative characteristics of love but Valentine does address these issues more forcefully and in greater depth. Carol Ann Duffy wrote her poem nearly 200 years after Burns and Shelley. This means that a negative opinion of love would have been more accepted in society. Duffy may also have experienced a particularly painful relationship that may have ended on bad terms. My personal favourite out of the poems is Valentine as I feel it does show a very true side of love but achieves this in an original and exciting way. In connection with Shakespeare’s statement, it is clear that Duffy most definitely agrees with it while Burn is in no doubt that the course of true love does run smoothly. Shelley, however, does not agree or disagree with the statement and I would personally agree that in some case love does run smoothly while in other relationships it does not.
Hannah Boyd-Carson 5K
