Free «Poem Analysis Essay» Essay

I was truly impressed by this poem, which tells about love’s true identity and the person’s attitudes toward it. The poem uses rhymes, structure, word play such as pun, and figurative language in order to create vivid pictures in the person’s mind and strongly influence readers.

The poem has a sonnet structure with three and four-line stanzas; and the last stanza consists of two lines. The rhyme is also typical for Shakespearean sonnet: ABAB rhyme scheme is used in the first three stanzas, and AA in the last one. Thanks to it, it is possible to emphasize and strengthen the most important point in the last part of the poem.

The poem is also satiated with puns such as a play of double meanings of various words and sentences. The author used contradictions and rhetoric questions very often in order to show love questioning the truth and vice versa.

When it comes to the meaning of the poem, it is rather simple. The main idea of the poet was that the love often hid truth. People in love, especially those who are already experienced and have had many relations before, often hide truth and lie pretending not to know the reality simply because they want to save the relationship and do not want to break it. As a result, love in this situation is very untrue because people do not tell many things to each other; but interestingly, such love can still exist because both sides get what they want and are satisfied with the little lies, which keep the relationship.

The first stanza talks about the speaker’s inner conditions. He knows that his love is deceiving him, but he is still happy making himself believe in the lies his love tells him. He thinks that his love views him as somebody unexperienced who cannot tell the truth from the lies, and who is deceived easily.

In the second stanza, the speaker thinks about his love’s position. The speaker knows that his love is well aware of his age and experience. Hence, he understands fully what she is thinking; he knows that they both enjoy the little lies they share because they prevent them from admitting reality, which may be harsh. This way, he accepts her perception of him as young and unexperienced, and she keeps on lying.

The third stanza is about the inner thoughts of the speaker questioning the reasons for the lies. He asks himself: why do I agree with the lies of my love and accept her statements of me being young, and her being faithful. The author comes to the conclusion that it is the main idea of love to deceive and be deceived in order to create a beautiful illusion and balanced reality. This way, it is possible to be happy when both sides hear and accept something that makes them happier.

The last stanza unites the main idea of the author: both parties lie, but these lies only flatter and benefit the relationship. Interestingly, Shakespeare made the last stanza rather tricky using a pun. He wrote about lovers lying without implying whether they are in bed or telling lies. Due to this poem’s double meaning, one can also find the irony Shakespeare used to describe love: people often let lies go unnoticed as long as one who lies makes feel another satisfied. In this case, love serves both purposes because it helps people to get physical satisfaction as well as moral flatters. That is why people often let lovers lie and say many dishonest things simply because they are happy with having them around and do not want to lose them. As a result, they end up lying to themselves, but this is the main and beautiful deceit of love.