Problem:
Metaphors for love analysis in poetry
Read six poems on love
Shakespeare, "Let me not to the marriage of true minds"
Anne Bradstreet, "To my Dear and Loving Husband"
e.e. cummings, "somewhere i have never travelled"
Wislawa Szymborska, "True Love"
Sharon Olds, "True Love"
Susan Minot, "My Husband's Back"
As you read these poems be thinking about which one comes closest to describing your perspective of "true love."
Examine the metaphors in the poems you have just read. What comparisons do the poets make between their love and other images?
Write a list of metaphors from the poems, for a total of 10 metaphors, from any combination of the six poems, and stating in a few sentences for each metaphor how they relate to the theme of "true love." Cite the line numbers of the quotes using MLA format. For example, "The bulb was hot. It burned my hand" (15).
Model: "It is the star to every wandering bark" (7). The metaphor is a comparison between love and a star that guides you home just as a star will help a ship navigate that is out to sea. The metaphor distinguishes true love from a false love by stating that true love provides spiritual and emotional direction.