loves philosophy

• Love's Philosophy'


  Content: Literally means 'love of wisdom' is a way of thinking which aims to make sense of reality and the meaning of life. In this poem, the narrator is trying to come to an understanding about love.
• "The fountains mingle with the river"

  Language about nature: Imagery of flowing water in natural springs shows that everything is connected to everything else.
• "river", "ever"

  "heaven", "forgiven"

  Form: Half rhymes, reflects how the couple are not united.
• "And the rivers with the ocean"

  Language about nature: from the fountains, river, shows an increasing scale of imagery, showing water joining larger and larger bodies hints that loving someone makes you part of something bigger yourself.
• ""The winds of heaven mix for ever"


  Content: Indication of the length of time and the holy connotations in regards to the love. The idea that love is natural and pure.
• "With a sweet emotion"

  Language about nature: Personification suggests that nature enjoys and benefits from this union.
• "Nothing in the world is single,"

  Structure: This line sums up the narrator's argument. The narrator uses the majority of each stanza to build up evidence to support his argument that everything in nature is supposed to come together.
• "All things by a law divine"

  The narrator thinks it's God's law that everything
• "In one another's being mingle - "

  Language device: Repetition of "mingle" emphasises how everything in nature is united. This is what the poet wants.

  The dash at the end of the line creates a pause which emphasises the question at the end of the stanza.
• "Why not I with thine?"


  Structure: In both stanzas, the first 7 lines are confident assertions, which contrasts with the rhetorical question. The poem is tightly structured to be persuasive.
• "See the mountains kiss high heaven"


  Language device: Repetition from lines 9, 14 and 16.

  Content: Use of physical language hints at his frustration that he's can't "kiss" or touch his lover.
• "And the waves clasp one another."


  Content: Image of water mingling and mixing and the personification of the waves gives a sensual image.
• "No sister-flower would be forgiven"

  Religious imagery: The narrator claims that his loved one's lack of love towards him goes against God's law and is therefore unforgivable.
• "If it disdain'd its brother;"


  Content: Hints that the woman the narrator is addressing has rejected him. This word means looked down on or scorned.
• "And ..."

  "And ..."

  Repetition: Anaphora at the start of these lines highlights just how many examples he can show her of unity in nature.
• "And the sunlight clasps the earth

  And the moonbeams kiss the sea

  What is all this sweet work worth"


  Language about nature: The narrator questions the point of the world if his lover doesn't love him - this suggests that love gives life meaning. This question can also be seen as hyperbole - he might be deliberately exaggerating to try to persuade her.
• "sunlight clasps the earth"


  Language about nature: Personification of the sun holding the earth. Imagery of the natural world benefiting from love. The idea that love is essential for life.
• "moonbeams kiss the sea"


  Language about nature: Personification of the moonbeams on the water, which also returns the image of water from the first image of the "fountains". Natural world is giving, showing that love itself is natural and necessary.
• "If thou kiss not me?"

  Structure: Final line of each stanza is monosyllabic and only has five syllables - this increases the impact of the rhetorical questions and makes them stand out. They are separated from the rest of the poem, just as the narrator is separated from his lover.
• Form


  The poem is short and apparently simple - the narrator believes that what he is saying is a simple truth.
• Rhyme scheme


  ABAB, but two lines in each stanza don't fully rhyme. This reflects the way that all of nature is in harmony except for the narrator and his loved one.
• Feelings and attitudes: Longing


  The narrator longs for love. He is frustrated that his love is not returned when he sees all the bonds that exist in nature around him.
• Feelings and attitudes: Playfulness


  The poem can be read in a playful way, the narrator is oversimplifies the idea that because things in nature come together, he and the woman he wants should also come together.
• Key Themes: Natural imagery


  Used to express love. Similar to 'Winter Swans'.
• Key Themes: Sense of longing


  Comparison to 'Porphyria's Lover' and 'The Farmer's Bride'.
• Poet


  Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) wrote this poem in 1820. He was a Romantic poet - Romanticism was an artistic and literary movement in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries which put an emphasis on emotion and nature.
• Addressing


  A woman, trying to persuade her to be with him romantically.
• Nature


  Gives examples to show how everything in nature is connected in an intimate and loving way He believes this is God's law "law divine" and should be obeyed.
• Relationship


  He asks the woman he's addressing why she is ignoring God's law by refusing to have a loving relationship with him. he finally questions what all the bonds in nature are if he can't be with her.