IF THOU
MUST LOVE ME, LET IT BE FOR NOUGH

Reading the
title I expect the poem to be about love.

The first
quatrain introduces a dialogue between the poetess and her lover; the use of
"let it be" makes me understand that there is an invitation (expressed by the
imperative form) : it is about loving her in a certain way, not for her
esthetic qualities but for her intelligence.

The sonnet
follows the structure of the Elizabethan model, because there are three
quatrains and a couplet. The poet uses words like "smile", "look" and "way of
speaking" to describe the semantic feel of the way a woman approaches a man.

The title
creates curiosity to the condition of love. It is not a coincidence if the
title is the same as the first line: it reinforces the same curiosity. Indeed
all the sonnet is a lyrical investigation about the conditions of love on the
part of the speaking voice.

Not only
the first line repeats the content of the title but it puts the message itself
into a better focus, inviting the lover to love just for love. Since the 2^nd
line the exclusive thought about love (signaled by the word "only" at the
centre of the line) is remarked and the expression "for love's sake" becomes
the condition justifying the whole sonnet . All the remaining sonnet part provides
the argumentation for that choice.

The message
that is immediately clear even to the common reader is reinforced by the direct
invitation of the speaker to her beloved not to use mechanical words like the
ones covering lines from 3 to 6 in direct speech. The speaking voice seems to
tell her interlocutor that in her opinion love is not love when you love
somebody for "her smile, her look, her way of speaking gently". Love implies
something different going beyond attitude, love does not bring in simply "a
sense of pleasant ease".