Love's Philosophy

• "fountains mingle with the river/And the rivers with the ocean"

  • Personification
  • Semantic field/ imagery of nature
  • Context: romanticism- expressing feelings through nature as a metaphor for perfection & harmony, a reaction to the Industrial Revolution's destruction of nature.
• "All things law divine", "Why not I with thine?"

  • regular rhyme maintains easy rhythm, reinforces idea of harmony
  • 'divine' - semantic field/ imagery of religion
  • 'law' - rule that must be followed
  • direct address - convincing her to be in a relationship with him
• 'mingle', 'mix', 'kiss', 'clasp'

  • semantic field of mixing/love
• 'rivers', 'oceans', 'mountains', 'earth', 'sea', 'moonbeams', 'sister-flower'


  nature imagery- love is a part of nature
• "No sister-flower would be forgiven/if it disdain'd its brother:"

  • reinforcing theme of unity
  • demanding tone
• Poem has 2 stanzas --> all things come in pairs 


  ABAB rhyme scheme /rhyming couplets - theme of unity