The Passionate Shepherd to His Love

Poet: Christopher Marlowe
Year Published: 1599

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The Passionate Shepherd to His Love



Come live with me and be my love,


And we will all the pleasures prove

That valleys, groves, hills, and fields,

Woods, or steepy mountain yields.



And we will sit upon rocks,

Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks,

By shallow rivers to whose falls

Melodious birds sing madrigals.



And I will make thee beds of roses

And a thousand fragrant poises,

A cap of flowers, and a kirtle

Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle;



A gown made of the finest wool

Which from our pretty lambs we pull;

Fair lined slippers for the cold,

With buckles of the purest gold;



A belt of straw and ivy buds,

With coral clasps and amber studs;

And if these pleasures may thee move,

Come live with me, and be my love.



The shepherds's swains shall dance and sing

For thy delight each May morning:

If these delights thy mind may move,

Then live with me and be my love.


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This poem is among the most famous and controversial pieces during the Renaissance period. It manifests the pastoral style of writing, which is an early example of its kind during that era.  
 
Written by the English poet Christopher Marlowe, the poem was published six years after the poet's death. It tackles about a young shepherd who falls in love and courts his beloved.
 
In the first stanza, you can already see the lover's desire to be with his beloved. The first line is an invitation to the beloved to live with him and share his lifestyle.
 
The following stanzas further talks about the sweet promises of the shepherd just to make the beloved come with him. He promises to make her a gown, slippers and buckles out of materials from the field.
 
As you may have noticed, the poem is on the style of romanticism, and idealism. The persona promises to do everything for the beloved even to the point of exaggeration.

A Nadie

Composer: Liliana Felipe
Source: "The Law of Love" by Laura Esquivel
Year Published: 1995

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A Nadie


What kind of thing is love, it seems so much
like pain,
It never touched me, never touched you,
Never knew how to, or wished to, or tried to.
That's why you aren't with me...


Because we never even met
And in all the time we lost
Each one of us lived his part
But each one always apart.
Because you can't extinguish
What has never been ignited,
Because you can't restore to health
Something that never has languished.
Because you'd never understand
My weariness, my manias,
Because to you it'd be just the same
If I fell into the abyss.
This love you've scorned so long
Because you never even looked for me
Where I wouldn't have been anyway,
Nor would you have loved me.


That's why you aren't with me.
That's why I'm not with you.


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Taken from Laura Esquivel's "Law of Love", this is actually a song rendered by Liliana Felipe. It shows the sadness and pain of unrequited love.


In the first stanza, the persona compares love to pain. The persona here understands that love is very much like pain. Something that he/she haven't grasped for he/she know nothing about it yet because the beloved doesn't see her/him and is not with him/her.


The second stanza makes us understand the real situation of the persona. The persona here loves someone whom he/she hasn't even met. It's loving from a distance. Like loving a celebrity - you know the person but that person doesn't even know that you exist. Thus, the persona can't even say that he/she is in pain for he/she was not even rejected by the beloved. And, how can he/she be rejected if there's not even anything going on between them.

Because you can't extinguished

What has never been ignited,

Because you can't restore to health

Something that never has languished.

At the end, the persona doesn't even say that he/she is hoping for the beloved to love him/her back. And yet somehow there's like a hint that if only the things on the second stanza would happen then perhaps they would have been together.

Trees

Poet: Joyce Kilmer
Source: "Trees and Other Poems"
Year Published: 1914

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Trees


I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.


A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;


A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;


A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;


Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.


Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.


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This poem is the very famous piece created by Joyce Kilmer. In fact, there were even some commercials and posters using the verses from this poem to tell us how beautiful and important a tree is.


In the first stanza, the poet states that it is quite impossible to see a poem whose beauty is comparable to a tree. And from there, he started to enumerate the lovely qualities of the tree in the following verses.


You will then notice that a tree here is not just an ordinary thing. With the dominant use of the figure of speech, persoification, the tree has somewhat transformed into an animated object. A creature full of life. An example from which personification added color to this poem are the following lines:

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

Of course, a tree cannot move. But with the writer's imagination and through personification, we can now have an image of a leafy tree raising its stems as if it is really praying.

At the end of the poem, the writer then tells us that the existence of a lovely masterpiece such as the tree is something that only God can create. And even if poets and fools can write beautiful verses, no one can still be at par with God who created all things.

Men

Poet: Maya Angelou

Source: "The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou"

Year Published: 1994

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Men

When I was young, I used to

Watch behind the curtains

As men walked up and down the street. Wino men, old men.

Young men sharp as mustard.See them.

Men are always

Going somewhere.

They knew I was there. Fifteen

Years old and starving for them.

Under my window, they would pause,

Their shoulders high like the

Breasts of a young girl,

Jacket tails slapping over

Those behinds,

Men.

One day they hold you in the

Palms of their hands, gentle, as if you

Were the last raw egg in the world. Then

They tighten up. Just a little. The

First squeeze is nice. A quick hug.

Soft into your defenselessness. A little

More. The hurt begins. Wrench out a

Smile that slides around the fear. When the

Air disappears,

Your mind pops, exploding fiercely, briefly,

Like the head of a kitchen match. Shattered.

It is your juice

That runs down their legs. Staining their shoes.

When the earth rights itself again,

And taste tries to return to the tongue,

Your body has slammed shut. Forever.

No keys exist.

Then the window draws full upon

Your mind. There, just beyond

The sway of curtains, men walk.

Knowing something.

Going someplace.

But this time, I will simply

Stand and watch.

Maybe.

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This poem titled "Men" is somehow a glimpse of what has happened to the poet in the past. As we all know, every poem depicts a moment from its writer's past. This is the same for this poem because if you would notice, its verses reflects the deep emotions that Maya had experienced when she was raped way back when she was a child.

But, apart from the poet's background, Men also tells us how a young girl's view about the opposite sex has changed. If you'll carefully read the first stanza, it shows the innocence of a girl -curious about men and what love is all about. The age when there was very little knowledge about the pains that men and relationship could bring.

Moving on to the second stanza, it is when the persona (the girl) started to discover more about the nature of man. She has welcomed a man in her life, perhaps she fell in love with him and enjoyed the feeling of having someone caring for you. This is very much evident with the lines:

"They tighten up. Just a little. The
First squeeze is nice. A quick hug."

Yet, as we move on to the poem, you'll notice that the persona has also come into a realization that the man has started going beyond and takeing advantage of her being defenseless. It is then when she learned (in the hard way) that a man could not only give sweetness but also pain. In her case, the pain she experienced was really bad: "Your body has slammed shut. Forever. No keys exist." This reminds us of how Maya has reacted to the abuse she had experienced during her childhood. It was very traumatic for her. We recall that she became mute for years.

In the third stanza, the persona seems to go back from where it all started - watching men as they passed by. However, this time there's a difference because now she had experienced how cruel men could be.

The last stanza shows the persona's reluctance whether she'll just let the world go on with what they are doing and watch the men passing by or let go of what had happened and try to fall in love again. With the word "Maybe", it is clear that despite everything she had experienced, she has decided to move on and welcome new possibilities in her life -like falling in love again.

In the end, we have come to know that this poem isn't really about its title "Men". In fact, it is never the subject of the poem. The real focus of the poem is the woman. How she first wondered about her opposite sex, discovered new emotions such as love and passion, got hurt and importantly, moved on. Her struggles and triumph over them were perfectly presented in the verses of this inspiring poem. Truly, Maya Angelou knows how to empower women through her craft.

I Have Fallen In Love With The Same Woman Three Times

Poet: former Sen. Benigno "Ninoy Aquino Jr.
Trivia: written for his wife former Pres. Corazon Aquino; turned into a song by Jose Mari Chan

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I Have Fallen in Love with the Same Woman Three Times


I have fallen in love
With the same woman three times;
In a day spanning 19 years
Of tearful joys and joyful tears.

I loved her first when she was young,
enchanting and vibrant, eternally new.
She was brilliant, fragrant,
and cool as the morning dew.

I fell in love with her the second time;
When first she bore her child and mine
always by my side, the source of my strength,
helping to turn the tide.

But there were candles to burn
the world was my concern;
while our home was her domain,
and the people were mine
while the children were hers to maintain;

So it was in those eighteen years and a day,
till I was detained; forced in prison to stay.

Suddenly she's our sole support;
source of comfort,
our wellspring of Hope,
on her shoulders felt the burden of Life.

I fell in love again,
with the same woman the third time.
Looming from the battle,
her courage will never fade.

Amidst the hardships she has remained,
undaunted and unafraid.
She is calm and composed,
she is God's lovely maid.

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Rest in peace our beloved former President Corazon Aquino... You shall remain always in our hearts. Your legacy will never be forgotten.

Remember

Poet: Christina Rossetti

Source: "Goblin Market and Other Poems"

Year Published: 1862

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Remember

Remember me when I am gone away.

Gone far away into the silent land;

When you can no more hold me by the hand,

Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.

Remember me when no more day by day

You tell me of our future that you plann'd:

Only remember me; you understand

It will be late to counsel then or pray.

Yet if you should forget me for a while

And afterwards remember, do not grieve:

For if the darkness and corruption leave

A vestige of the thoughts that I once had,

Better by far you should forget and smile

Than that you should remember and be sad.

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This poem is about a woman who is dying and is requesting her lover to remember her. In the first five lines, you would notice the coming separation of the couple. The persona here requests that she be remembered when time comes that she no longer exists here on earth. When she can longer be held.

In the following lines, the persona further stresses that their time together is really getting shorter. Then there comes the tension.

There are lines where you would notice that the persona realizes that the lover will somehow forget her. And if that happens she is also certain that the lover will be sad. So at the end, she tells the lover that its better for him to smile and forget her than remember her and be sad.

This poem not only tackles parting but it also reflects the poet's way of handling her own dilemmas in life. We see here how her Christian devotion affects her decisions. Truly, this poem deserves all the fame it has till now.

You Tell Me

Poet: Marra PL. Lanot
Source: "One Hundred Love Poems"
Year Created: 1984
Year Published: 2004
Publisher: The University of the Philippines Press

You Tell Me


You tell me if you had a wife
You wouldn't mind her falling
In love with another, especially
If you left her crying in the night.

You ask me if I want you
To think of no one but me
For you say you'd gladly spend
Your life unraveling a mystery;
Thinking of me, you say,
Is like deciphering a distant star.

And you wouldn't mind
Being used in a poem,
For art you can't refuse.
To err is human
But "human" is no excuse.
To love is natural, the heart
Has its reason, but
The heart is unreasonable
And I am left confused.

So I'd rather cry over him
Than be happy with you;
I'd rather end up
Dreaming and remain a star
You'll always seek and remember
Than sink down and regret
You're like other men
Who make their women cry.


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Here's a poem of a woman talking to her suitor. As you can see in the first stanza, the suitor tells the persona that it is fine for a wife to fall in love with another man if the husband doesn't make the wife happy anymore. From here, we start to have a glimpse of the character of the suitor.

In the second stanza, the suitor continues to court the persona, offering her more flattery. He compares her to a star, something far and always remains a mystery.

The third stanza tells us of how the woman feels about the man. Certain sayings like "To err is human" and "The heart has its reason" has been used too.

On the last stanza, the woman finally makes a choice. She tells the man that she'd rather cry over someone she loved and lost than spend time with this man who has a sweet tongue. After all, she realized that she might even regret if she would give him a chance because he might be just like other men.

Truly, this poem is a nice composition suitable for ladies who want to get rid of annoying suitors. Perhaps, it's the same reason why Lanot wrote this poem.

Sonnet 14

Poet: Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Type: Poetry
Source: "Sonnets from the Portuguese"
Year Published: 1850

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Sonnet 14

If thou must love me, let it be for nought
Except for love's sake only.
Do not say 'I love her for her smile—her look—her way
Of speaking gently,—for a trick of thought
That falls in well with mine, and certes brought
A sense of pleasant ease on such a day'—
For these things in themselves, Beloved, may
Be changed, or change for thee,—and love, so wrought,
May be unwrought so. Neither love me for
Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry,—
A creature might forget to weep, who bore
Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby!
But love me for love's sake, that evermore
Thou mayst love on, through love's eternity.

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A classic and one of the commonly used poems in schools. Elizabeth here shows in her verses what true love is really all about.

In the first few lines, the poet tells her beloved to love her not because of her smile or other things that could easily be changed, or might even fade. She even said that those kind of things could be changed to suit the beloved's likeness. Which is why if you understand clearly, it suggests that the beloved, with these reasons, could fall for another girl who could make her smile or look likeable to the beloved.

The next verses, she says that she wishes to be loved for love's reason. That it is great if you love someone because that's how you feel and not because of reasons that could easily be changed. For if this so, then an eternal love is definitely possible.

l(a

Poet: e.e. cummings
Type: Poetry
Year Published: 1958


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l(a


l(a


le
af


fa
ll
s)

one
l
iness

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There are no rhymes in this poem but as you could see, the form justifies the entire composition. "l(a" talks about being one and alone. The image of a leaf has always used by writers to suggest loneliness and you could very well see it also in this peace. The division of letters or characters also highlights parting.

Tonight I Can Write

Genre: Poetry
Author: Pablo Neruda
Translator: C.S. Merwin
Source: "Veinte poemas de amor y una cancion desesperada" (Twenty Poems and a Song of Despair)
Year Published: 1924

Tonight I Can write

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.

Write, for example,'The night is shattered
and the blue stars shiver in the distance.'

The night wind revolves in the sky and sings.

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.

Through nights like this one I held her in my arms
I kissed her again and again under the endless sky.

She loved me sometimes, and I loved her too.
How could one not have loved her great still eyes.

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
To think that I do not have her. To feel that I have lost her.

To hear the immense night, still more immense without her.
And the verse falls to the soul like dew to the pasture.

What does it matter that my love could not keep her.
The night is shattered and she is not with me.

This is all. In the distance someone is singing. In the distance.
My soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.

My sight searches for her as though to go to her.
My heart looks for her, and she is not with me.

The same night whitening the same trees.
We, of that time, are no longer the same.

I no longer love her, that's certain, but how I loved her.
My voice tried to find the wind to touch her hearing.

Another's. She will be another's. Like my kisses before.
Her voice. Her bright body. Her inifinite eyes.

I no longer love her, that's certain, but maybe I love her.
Love is so short, forgetting is so long.

Because through nights like this one I held her in my arms
my soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.

Though this be the last pain that she makes me suffer
and these the last verses that I write for her.
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This is a very sad poem of a man for his beloved. The poet here expresses his sorrow now that woman he loves will be getting married. Look at the 12th and 14th stanzas. They give us a hint there that the woman will now be leading a new life. A life without him.

The line "Love is so short, forgetting is so long" suggests that the persona doesn't seem to be satisfied with the time they had with one another. And that even if love between them has finally vanished, the memories of their moments together shall continue haunting him. Reminding him of a precious love he lost.

At the end, the persona then decides that the poem will be the last one dedicated to his beloved. And also, it shall be the last time he'll hurt because of her.

Thus, this makes the poem a highly recommended piece for those who are "emo" and those who still suffer the loss of a loved one but want to go on already.