What Does Love Mean To You

There are continuous ways in which love can be portrayed and occur. There are infinite types of love, whether it is physical, emotional, or romantic. Long as there has been poetry, there has been poetry on love. Many poets express their feelings through writing; therefore, these poets write about love and the emotions attached to it. Different poets have different and unique styles of writing, so how they see love always varies. Even though published in different eras, A Red Red Rose by Burns and To My Dear and Loving Husband by Bradstreet are two poems that express a deep and passionate love towards their lovers.

Love is more than a feeling you have for a specific person. Love can be pure, dreadful, sweet, and painful all at one time. But it is a necessity in everyone’s life because everybody needs to be loved to live a healthy life. Love is not nearly having a sexual desire toward another individual, but more about the emotional attachment involved. Love is really about a bond that you share with a special person in your life. In the late 1600s, there was not any emotional love because girls could be married at the age 12 and boys at the age of 14. In the late 1700s, marriages were more for money and the status you portrayed to the world. During these times, most marriages were arranged and were not based on love.

A Red Red Rose written by Burns was published in 1794 in a collection of Scottish traditional songs (Lit Charts). The speaker expresses his or her deep love for their lover, which promises their love shall last forever beyond human life. It shall remain fresh and constant if the world is circulating. As stated in lines 1-2 of A Red Red Rose, “O my Luve is like a red red rose, That’s newly sprung in June.” The speaker is emphasizing his or her lover’s beauty and youth. The speaker could be implying that the relationship is rarely new from all the excitement of a developing romance. The rose in this poem may symbolize love, especially since its color is red. Red is associated with the meaning of true love. This red rose could symbolize a short period because nothing is new forever.

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I feel that the speaker uses the rose to showcase his or her eternal feelings that have toward their beloved. The image from the rose is to let the reader imagine how the speaker thinks his or her beloved is uniquely beautiful and how strong the love connection will always be. The speaker also indicates how he or she will love their lover through other images besides the rose. In A Red Red Rose stanza three says,” Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear, And the rocks melt wi’ the sun; I will love thee still, my dear, While the sands of life shall run.” These images represent that it will take an eternity for the ocean to dry, rocks to melt within the sun, and sand running out but, it best explains the method of decay. Bradstreet’s poem To My Dear and Loving Husband, articulates the passionate love between the speaker and her husband. The love between them is described as redemptive and pure.

During, the time this poem was written in the late 1600s, love and sexuality was portrayed as sinful. Bradstreet takes a different approach showcasing her love for her husband was unifying and was powerful enough to outlive death. In To My Dear and Loving Husband, lines five and six states,” I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold, Or all the riches that the East doth hold.” These two lines show how she values the human feeling of love in connection to husband far more than she could value material wealth. A poem called, How Do I Love Thee (Sonnet 43) by Elizabeth Barrett Browning also shows how much she genuinely loves her husband. The last line in Sonnet 43, says “if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.” Just like Bradstreet states that her and husband love shall outlive death, Barrett Browning states the same perspective in a different way. These two poets are telling people that their love towards their husbands is strong enough that death could never destroy it. That is a powerful and passionate love that continues to grow as time passes along.

In summary, love is an exquisite feeling that makes individuals happy. Love has a different interpretation for everybody in the world. Love is an emotion we need in life to give it meaning and can teach us plenty of lessons. Although, love can get complicated every so often remember to never give up on it. Love gives you a genuine demeanor and makes you the perfect version of yourself. In both poems, A Red Red Rose and To My Dear and Loving Husband, show that love is a gorgeous thing to have with another individual and that true love is more about an emotional connection than a sexual desire.

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