Friday, September 28, 2012
What is Love?
The main theme of the poems we've discussed so far is love. Different poems describe different types of love. John Donne writes about love between souls and another clever piece about sexual attraction. Marvell focuses on a sexual relationship in his poem. Shakespeare's sonnets describe love between two men and an inter-racial love. So taking all these poems into consideration, what do you think makes "true love"? Sexual attraction, compatibility of souls, or a combination of the two?
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I definitely think that sexual attraction is a factor of "true love", in that it can trigger love and relationships. However, another major theme in the poems is the notion that "true love" overcomes the materialistic world. Perhaps sexual attraction triggers relationships, but "true love" develops over time and overcomes the physical, materialistic world and transforms into something transcendent. This theme is found in John Donne's poem A Valediction: Forbidden Mourning in which he states "But we by a love so much refined, That our selves know not what it is, Inter-assured of the mind, Care less eyes, lips, and hands to miss." He argues that truly special love, what we consider "true love", is between souls and minds, and not physical bodies.
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