Love Poems Robert Burns\' \"A

¶ … Love Poems

Robert Burns' "A Red, Red Rose," and Shakespeare's "Sonnet 130," are both poems of love. In addition, they are both poems that use hyperbole to highlight aspects of love. However, while both poems address the topic of love, they do so in dramatically different ways. Burns' poem approaches the topic of love in a stereotypical manner, using hyperbole and metaphor to emphasize the extreme nature of the romantic relationship. The result is a poem whose theme is supernatural love. Shakespeare's sonnet also uses hyperbole and metaphor, but to a very different effect, by highlighting the earthly nature of the woman in the poem. The result is a poem whose theme is love that is not supernatural. Oddly enough, though the poems approach love in very different manners, they both manage to convey a message that there is something unique and special about the relationships in the poems. However, the way that the poems make that clear is in two entirely different manners.

In order to understand how the theme of "A Red, Red Rose," is supernatural love, it is important to have a proper understanding of that term. The word "supernatural" is not used in its common manner, to convey some type of super power, but simply to convey something greater than nature. To establish this theme, Burns' begins by comparing his love to nature. He opens with, "O my Luve's like a red, red rose," establishing that his love is as beautiful as something easily found in nature, which is widely regarded as exceptionally beautiful. (Burns). Burns' then compares his love to something extra-natural: "O my Luve's like the melodie, That's sweetly play'd in tune." (Burns). One can see that he transitions from comparing his love to something found in nature to something that is beautiful but cannot be found in nature, which elevates his love beyond normal levels.

Such a transition is important because it sets the stage for the next part of Burns' poem, where he proclaims that his poem is greater than nature. Burns' proclaims that his love is so fair and he is so deep in love that he will love her, "Till a' the seas gang dry." (Burns). By making such a statement, Burns is asserting that his love will outlast nature. Obviously, it is not possible for his love to last until the seas go dry, which is how Burns' chooses to use hyperbole He reinforces this notion by proclaiming that his love will last when "the rocks melt wi' the sun," and while "the sands o' life shall run." (Burns). These statements make it clear that Burns believes his love is somehow greater than nature.

An additional theme of Burns' poem is lost love. He appears to be speaking to a woman from whom he is separated. In fact, the poem appears to be his attempt to convince the woman that, despite their separation, his love for her will continue. He states, "fare-the-weel, a while," which makes it clear that he intends for their separation to be short-lived. This notion of a short-term separation is reinforced by his statement that he "will come again...tho' twere ten thousand mile." (Burns). That last line, which ends the poem, shows how Burns' two themes intersect; Burns uses an almost supernatural example to demonstrate his desire to return to his love.

The extent of the hyperbole may not be clear to a modern audience, but ten thousand miles was an almost incomprehensible distance when Burns wrote the poem and would have taken a tremendous amount of time, regardless of method of travel.

In sharp contrast to Burns' poem, Shakespeare's poem makes it clear that he does not believe his love is supernatural. While many love poems, like Burns' "A Red, Red Rose," describe love as something greater than nature, Shakespeare celebrates the earthly nature of his love. Instead of using commonplace metaphors to exault his lover's beauty, Shakespeare uses these metaphors to demonstrate that his lover is not an exceptional beauty. Her eyes are "nothing like the sun;...her breasts are dun,...black wires grow on her head," and her breath reeks. (Shakespeare). In other words, Shakespeare acknowledges that his lover is simply a woman, not something greater than this earth. In fact, he specifically states that his lover is not a goddess. Compared with the over-the-top love sonnets of the day, it seems that Shakespeare has little affection for his lover.

However, the poem makes it clear that Shakespeare does have intense feelings for his lover. He loves "to hear her speak," even though her voice is not as pleasing as music. (Shakespeare). More importantly, he proclaims that his love is as rare "as any she belied with false compare." (Shakespeare). What Shakespeare makes clear is that he does not believe that his lover is anything more than human. He does not love her despite the fact that she is merely mortal, but because she is merely mortal. In fact, he seems to suggest that those who use extensive metaphors and hyperbolic language, like Burns, are not being honest with their lovers, but are using falsehoods to woe them.