Love's Philosophy 🌓💘 Flashcards
‘fountains’ ‘river’ ‘ocean’ ‘wind’
Hint: D- sexual love is essential.
D= By referring to water, Earth air it empathised how love is natural. But on a deeper level, the reference to the elements suggests that sexual love is as essential to life as is air, water, sunlight + Earth.
- The ocean is a normally feminised motif in poetry, so by the speaker using this image of an ocean, the speaker’s love for this woman could be inferred.
Fill in the gaps: ‘The _____ of heavens mix for ever With a _____ _______;’
Hint: L-semantic field, C-atheist, L, adjective.
‘The winds of heavens mix for ever With a sweet emotion;’
L= ‘the winds of heaven’- religious semantic field with a metaphorical reference to heaven.
- The speaker tries to persuade his love object by stating that God would approve of it, + it implies that their love is divinely sanctioned by God
C= But this is ironic, because Shelley was an atheist. Is the speaker being satirical or is he critiquing religion?
Fill in the gaps: ‘The _____ of heavens mix for ever With a _____ _______;’
Hint: L-semantic field, C-atheist, L, adjective.
‘The winds of heavens mix for ever With a sweet emotion;’
L= sweet- adjective implies that love is a pleasurable emotion and the connotations of sweet also imply that the speaker experiences tender affection.
Fill in the gaps: ‘The _____ of heavens mix for ever With a _____ _______;’
Hint: L-semantic field, C-atheist, L, adjective.
‘The winds of heavens mix for ever With a sweet emotion;’
- In the Bible, wind is used as a metaphor for spiritual truth but in Revelation 7, the four winds is also mentioned, which is usually referring to an event that is devastating.
- So although this first interpretation is linked to connection and everything being paired together (even the natural world), the use of referring to winds could suggest that this devastating event that is happening, might be unrequited love?
Fill in the gaps: No _____-flower would be ________ If it _________ ___ brother
Hint: L, I-love is natural, C
‘No sister-flower would be forgiven If it disdained its brother’
- innocent images to imply the young nature of the relationship I= but alternatively, Shelly suggests that their relationship is natural and they are destined to be with each other.
Fill in the gaps: No _____-flower would be ________ If it _________ ___ brother
Hint: L, I-love is natural, C
‘No sister-flower would be forgiven If it disdained its brother’
L= Although the speaker doesn’t want a platonic relationship, by using natural imagery he’s suggesting desire is natural.
C= This is contextually important because Shelley was a major romantic poet and romantic poets favoured natural and emotional themes in their poems.
‘And the sunlight clasps the Earth And the moonbeams kiss the sea’
- By repeating the verbs throughout the poem, the speaker wants to emphasise his desire to her because…
L= furthering of celestial imagery may suggest that the speaker cannot live without his object, similar to how the earth can’t ever survive without the sun.
I= Alternatively this deepens the theme of connection which is highlighted in this poem.
- D= On a deeper level, by referring to the son and moon, it suggests the speaker will love her all day and night.
I= But alternatively, the speaker is also dependent on her as the sun is dependent of the moon.
Fill in the gaps: ‘If ____ not ____ me?’
Hint: L, R, L- monosyllabes, speaker wants to make his love object question
‘If thou not kiss me?’
L= rhetorical question- the speaker wants to make his love interest question why she is single + has so far resisted him.
R= poem ends with a question so the reader is given no carthratis.
L= monosyllables used to reinforce the speaker’s argument.
- to emphasise the speaker’s desire, kiss is repeated throughout the whole poem.
Fill in the gaps: ‘_________ ______ with the river’ And the rivers with the ‘_____’
Hint: L, D
‘fountains mingle with the river’ And the river with the ‘Ocean’
- L= mingle is a euphemistic term for sex
- idea of fountains mingling together with river creates passive images which implies, it’s natural for the speaker and his love object to be together.
- D= Shelly may be suggesting that the benefit with mingling, rather than remaining singular is that they are greater together, than as individuals.
- But on a wider scale, love is also difficult?
Fill in the gaps: ‘_________ ______ with the river’ And the rivers with the ‘_____’
Hint: L, D
Hint: repetition of conjunction ‘and’.
‘fountains mingle with the river’ And the river with the ‘Ocean’
L= repetition of conjunction ‘and’ adds to the ever growing list of things which are connected- this is mostly natural images.
- perhaps a subtle comparison of man to nature- in this comparison we seem lonely, and unable to do-exist in the same ‘perfect’ ‘effortless’ way (that nature does).
- water is one of five basic elects that are believe to make up everything in the world; water is the considered element of the unconscious and is associated with emotion.
- cleans and purifies things, by washing away impurities.
Fill in the gaps: ‘_________ ______ with the river’ And the rivers with the ‘_____’
Hint: L, D, ancient cultures believed that water was _______ from and returns to the ______ __ ______.
Hint #2: the speaker can’t stop his emotions.
‘fountains mingle with the river’ And the river with the ‘Ocean’
- further flowing idea of connection is shown in this poem. However, throughout history, water has been a symbol of wisdom, power and chaos.
- This is because many ancient cultures believed that everything was birthed from and returns to the ‘waters of chaos’, which is through (substance of) water. However, water also plays a key/fundamental role in the maintenance of the (physical) world.
This is where it links to human emotions and the fountain because, in a fountain, water moves in a circular/cyclical way, similar to a constant continuous loop and this represents the flow of emotions.
- suggest the speaker can’t stop his emotions so he always feel the same- this is never returned/receipatated because the speaker is never loved back.
Fill in the gaps: ‘_________ ______ with the river’ And the rivers with the ‘_____’
Hint: L, D
‘fountains mingle with the river’ And the river with the ‘Ocean’
L= verb ‘mingle’ is personification- fuses the natural world with mankind.
In addition to this, the fusion of the two interconnects the speaker’s nature + desire- could be suggests that desiring someone is natural.
Fill in the gaps: ‘_________ ______ with the river’ And the rivers with the ‘_____’
Hint: L, D- sea is a symbol of harship and suggests this love is difficult.
‘fountains mingle with the river’ And the river with the ‘Ocean’
- idea of company is emphasised because water flows and merges together.
- capitalisation of Ocean, personifies it as the water elements seem to further in size from a fountain to a river, then to an ocean!
- Might this suggest that the speaker’s emotions are being too much but but on the other hand, the sea is usually a symbol of the hardships that life has, so maybe the speaker is implying that this particular love is difficult.
- But on a wider scale, love is also difficult?
Fill in the gaps about Love’s Philosophy structure: Love’s philosophy has ___, _______ stanzas which reflect the ________ desire for him, and his ____ object to be a ______.
Hint: regular
Fill in the gaps about Love’s Philosophy structure: Love’s philosophy has two, regular stanzas which reflect his desire for the speaker and his love object to be a couple.
Fill in the gaps about Love’s Philosophy structure:
Each stanza ends with a __________ question, this is because the speaker wants to make his love ______ question _______ of him.
Each stanza ends with a rhetorical question, this is because the speaker wants to make his love object question disdain of him.
