Love Poem

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2005

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Form and Meter

“Love Poem” is composed of twenty-three lines of free, unrhymed verse in one continuous stanza. It employs no formal meter; that is, its lines are not measured in poetic feet (a poetic foot is a unit of stressed and unstressed syllables). Lines themselves are fairly short, the longest four with six syllables each, and twelve with only three. Visually, the column of short lines allows the reader’s eye to fall down the page, mimicking the running, “headlong” (Line 2) creek. Sonically, however, the short lines (particularly the three-syllable lines) slow the reader down. The lines,

when we see it

so swollen

with runoff (Lines 12-14)

encourage the reader to stop, briefly, at the end of each line to allow for the completion of the hard t in “it,” the n in “swollen,” and the double ff in “runoff.”

The speaker may profess a desire to write a poem that rushes like the creek, but the poet makes choices that show she is very much in control.

Repetition

Two examples of repetition in “Love Poem” are the repeated use of the word “every” (Line 8), and the phrase “we must grab / each other” (Lines 16-17). Repetition is a poetic device that contributes to the rhythm of a poem, as well as encourages the reader to consider how the meaning or intention of the word or phrase changes with repeated use.

From her perch on the creek’s “dangerous / banks” (Lines 6-7), the speaker and her companion observe as the water carries “with it every twig / every dry leaf and branch /

in its path / every scruple” (Lines 8-11). The repetition gives the event a sense of the absolute: If everything is swept into the current, then nothing is secure. The speaker uses a progression to build tension. First, twigs and leaves, then branches (or limbs), and finally, scruples. The placement of the abstract “scruple” (Line 11) next to the concrete tree parts provides a thrilling leap. Truly, nothing is strong enough to resist the current—in this all-grasping flow, one’s ethics are as unstable and vulnerable as the shrubbery.

The repetition of “we must grab / each other” (lines 16-17) is complicated by the poet’s use of enjambment, or the continuation of a phrase from one line or stanza to the next. It first appears with the line break coming between grab and each. The second occurrence has “we must grab each” (Line 19) followed by “other or” (Line 20). The final use of the phrase is in the last two lines—“soaked we must” (Line 22) followed by “grab each other” (Line 23). Each division says something a little different, with the last line offering not a suggestion, but a command.

Point of View

As are many love poems, Pastan’s “Love Poem” is written in first-person. In contrast to more traditional love poems, “Love Poem” only addresses the “you” (Line 1) of the poem once. For most of the poem, the speaker speaks from the first-person plural, or “we” (Line 5). With the mention of “our creek” (Line 3), the speaker positions herself as part of an existent union. This is not a love poem of courtship, but one reflective of a relationship well on its path.

In choosing first-person plural, the poet binds the speaker to her beloved in a way that becomes absolute. Although the speaker has a clear individual voice, after the first line, “I” and “you” are only “we” and “our.” The two lovers stand together, watching and seeing the waters rise together. The poet gives this union dimension in the way she uses line breaks and enjambment—“each other” (Line 17) defines more than one body, as does “other or” (Line 20). In the act of grabbing one another, the speaker and her companion go beyond the textual “we”—it is only a word—to give physical weight and force to the third-person plural.