ANALYSIS - A love song for Lucinda

Considering the title, the reader may probably imagine the poem to be a love declaration addressed to Lucinda, so the song is adressed to a definitive person. The reader might be curious to find out who is Lucinda, and what is the reason why the poet has to write her a letter.

Looking at the layout, the poem is made up by three stanzas of six verses. The poet can easily notice the regular pattern the song displays; What strikes in the reader's mind is the first line of each stanza that is made up by a single world, moreover, the reader notices the fourth line of each strophe that is terribly shorter than the others. This makes the reader attention to focus on these exploited lines, they are the most important lines of the text, mostly the first one that repeats the world Love as a refrain, Love is in the title too, so it will probably be the subject of the poem.

Reading the poem, the intelligent reader understands the function of each stanza is to compare love to different things in nature.

Taking the first stanza in consideration, the simile the poet makes is with a plum, indeed, he says the plum with his taste and sweetness will totally take you and the spell of its enchantment will never let you be. This is also what the love does, a sentiment you will forever feel as you feel it for the first time.

In the second comparison the poet uses a bright star, however he might not be quoting the sun because of the indeterminate article, so the reader will be led to imagine that star is not the sun. However, this time the simile is not totally positive as imaginable, the shining star, indeed, hurts your eyes if you will look at it for too long. It follows that this comparison has a negative connotation (or not totally positive), even if the stars have a positive one, and considering the sun, they are even vital.

In the third stanza, there is a quotation of the high mountain stark, and it has a similar meaning to the second one, you don’t have to climb to high if you want to survive, because of the rarefaction of the air that become higher with the altitude.

The general meaning of the poem is not to be too passionate.

The figures of speech the reader can notice are the similes and the enjambments that compare in all the text.

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