tennos

[HopperWolf]

How do you love me? Let me count the ways.

You love me in the sorrow, dispair and strife

Your soul can feel, when feeling in your sight,

For the comfort used and thrown away.

You love me to the limit of keeping hopes

Necessity, by hand and pitiful.

You love me partly, divided by all;

You love me barely, nothing below.

You love me with no passion, that I use

In my new griefs, and lose my childish needs.

You love me with a love that seems untrue;

An after-thought - when I give all of me;

You, the hope of all my life, and you choose

To doubt all that I lay for you to see.

 

 

"Inspired" by: Sonnets from the Portuguese, XLIII by: Elizabeth Barrett

[Gyrfalcon]

*Gyrfalcon applauds*

 

It sounds to me like the writer of this poem (whether yourself or the person it is meant to be written by) had truely sat down to remember all the ways his (or her) love returned that love... and discovered that while s/he was giving his/her heart and soul, the other barely returned those affections, and had indeed, turned away from the author.

 

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Yes, I've gotten into the habit of writing my own interpretation. Perhaps not a critique, but it allows the author to see how the message was viewed. *grin*

[HopperWolf]

I'm glad you do! I alwyas love to see how people interpret my poetry. I tend to think that a poem is highly personal for poet and reader and each person's interpretation is just as valid and I'm glad when people find meaniung in my work

 

And you were spot on with this one . did you notce the title? *g*

[Guest Xradion]

        "Each person's interpretation is just as valid." Hmm...an interesting topic for debate. If by this you mean that there are certain things that a poet may not see in their own poetry that are there, then I would agree. I think that while it is an interesting topic of conversation whether or not Shakespeare could have possibly seen all the different meanings of certain phrases of his poems/plays when he wrote them, I think that it is ultimately not all that important. I believe that the best works often grow and acquire new meaning over time. If you can empirically prove that something is in a work/poem (taking everything in the work into account, which is time consuming of course), it's there.

 

        However, it is also very possible to completely misinterpret someone else's work. Sometimes, this is a flaw of the poet, in their choice of words for conveying their message. It can also be (more often than not if the poet is any good) the fault of the reader. I don't like it when people claim that poetry is purely a personal thing, and that everyone will have a different response to a poem (not that this is what you were saying, of course, but I felt like bringing this up anyway). Poetry makes use of various natural tendencies of language (rhythm, syllabic structure, stress, double entendres, etc.) to convey a particular feeling, theme, or message. A poem can be abstract, but I do not believe that any poem is open to any interpretation, as some people would have you believe. Even poets like Archibald MacLeigh who claims that "poems should not mean, but be" have a central meaning or message in their poems. Poems like the Jabberwocky are the exception that proves the rule (the use of nonsense becomse necessary in NOT conveying a message, and it can be argued that the Jabberwocky does have message, though I'm not sure I'd agree).

 

        Anyway, enough of my harangues. I greatly enjoyed the poem. I'm glad you stated the inspiration for this poem, because it sounded familiar to me (even though I knew I couldn't have read it before) and I wasn't sure why until I saw your footnote. I got much the same impression that Gyrfalcon expressed, so if we're all in agreement, then the poem gets its message across very well. Nicely done.

 

 

 

 

Xradion,

The Horny Druid,

Scholar of the Ancient Arts,

Holder of the Eye of Odin.

 

"The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream."

-Wallace Stevens

 

"When at home, do as the Homans do." –Xradion

[Falcon2001]

Heck yeah, keep up the good work Justin!