Poetry is one of the most beautifully engineered mechanisms of communicating sorrow of say, a deceased significant other or gratifying the blessing of nature by the almighty Hands. But most importantly this unique technology of communication is superior in illustrating profound and esoteric love; of all different shapes and sizes. Linda Pastan and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, both use poetry in order to express their intense love for their significant others in their works titled “Love Poem” and “How Do I Love Thee”.
Both Pastan and Browning, use either metaphors or repetition, to depict a parallel theme of intense love, with a tone that flows like a calm and passionate stream. “Love Poem” expresses Pastan’s desire to write a love poem even as the love poem itself materializes before the audience’s eyes; the desire and the resultant poem exist side by side, and in reading the poem we seem to watch and hear the poet’s creative process at work in developing appropriate metaphors and means of expression (Booth and Mays, 442). Pastan primarily verbalized her intense love for her partner by metaphorically saying “I want to write you a love poem as headlong as our creek…” (Line1-3). Her love for this unknown partner seemed to be as intense, massive, and gargantuan as the size of a creek. While her love maybe intense, she once again metaphorically elucidates the intensity of love. “… When we stand on its dangerous banks and watch it carry with it every twig- every dry leaf and branch in its path…” (Line 5-10). Clearly, Pastan suggests that love straddles a border between safety and danger (Booth, 442). Instead of bringing passivity and peace, it requires activity and boldness and deep passion (Booth, 442). Everything- twigs, leaves, branches, scruples- is carried along by the powerful currents of love and the creek (Booth, 442). As Pastan and her lover view this turbulent creek, we as her audience view this creek in order to understand the true power and meaning of love. Now while Pastan brilliantly used metaphors to draw a picture of intense love to her audience, Browning used a sort of repetition known as anaphora to depict her intense love for her husband to be. At the commencement of four verses, Browning used the anaphora “I love thee”. These verses are: “I love thee to the depth and breadth and height”, “I love thee freely, as men strive for Right”, “I love thee purely, as they return from Praise”, and “I love thee with passion to use” (Line 2, 7-9). As Browning used repetition within these verses, she utilized metaphors to depict her intense love. Within these verses Browning explained to her groom to-be that her love for him is astronomical and without personal gain or expectations. Also, it is as strong and powerful as a person fighting for justice. Browning finally declared her intense love for this lucky groom to-be by delivering her mountain moving final verse. Within her final verse Browning declared “I shall but love thee better after death” (Line 14). What a powerful line that was! This line declared that the poet expects to love her groom to-be well after death!
Poetry as mentioned before is an intricate communicative mechanism. This mechanism is so intricate do to the rhythm, organization, and measurement of each word precisely placed within each verse, in turn formulating a stanza. Music shares this exact formula as well as purpose as poetry. One song in particular that shares parallel tone and theme as Pastan and Browning’s poems is, All 4 One’s (R&B group) melodious single, “I Swear”. All 4 One, delicately and with the most profound passion, professes their intense love for an imaginary woman that they have done wrong, through repetition and metaphors. Throughout the song, All 4 One repeatedly said “I Swear”; disserting that they were making deeply rooted promises. Such promises included loving their special somebody with every beat of their heart and even after death do them part. They also used this metaphor: “I Swear, like the shadow by your side, I will be there.” This metaphor signified All 4 One’s promise to indefinitely remain at the side of their significant other no matter what. Music and poetry are basically the same, they just have different names.
Not only are both poetry and music the most brilliantly engineered forms of expression, they are powerful! It takes great skill and most importantly, power, to communicate similar messages but through different viewpoints. Linda Pastan, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and All 4 One, although very different from each other, with skill and uniqueness, brilliantly declared their powerful universal message of intense love.
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