An Everlasting Anthology of Love Poems

“In and Out of Time”

by

Nicole Berrow-James

Table of Contents

Introduction ………………………………………. 1

Explanation of poems …………………………….… 2-8

Works Cited ………………………………………… 9

I Carry Your Heart

EE Cummings …………………………………... 10

Love is Enough

William Morris …………………………………. 10

Sonnet 116

William Shakespeare …………………................ 11

Petals

Amy Lowell …………………………….………. 11

Reluctance

Robert Frost …………………………………….. 12

Time does not bring relief

Edna St. Vincent Millay ………………………... 13

When You Are Old

William Butler Yeats …………………………… 13

In and Out of Time

Maya Angelou ………………………………….. 14

An anthology is defined as a collection of literary works, originally of poems. My

anthology consists of a collection of love poems. I truly believe people are always able to

express themselves through writing. Sometimes it is more difficult to say what you mean to say, therefore writing helps you express exactly what is on your mind. I chose love poems as the basis of my anthology because I feel as though love has many different forms and is not always understood. Most people believe the idea of love consists of two people in love, marriage, children and family, but there is so much more behind the idea of “love” than most people imagine or can see. Love is not always associated with happiness and I chose the collection of poems based on this idea. Poets have written about love as early as Shakespearean days and continue to present day such as Maya Angelou. Love has existed through all time and I believe an anthology of love poems would be very effective in demonstrating to readers that over generations of time, the same basic idea of love is sought out throughout time.

My true motivation for choosing the basis of my anthology was due to the fact that I

recently got married and a poem was read aloud at my wedding. I felt as though all the vows I

wrote could not explain how I really felt towards my husband. I researched some love poems and

I found a collection of poems I had to choose from. I based my anthology on the collections of

poems I read over and over again in order to choose the perfect poem for our vows. The

particular poem in which I honestly felt expressed exactly what I wanted to say to my husband

was “I Carry Your Heart With Me” by EE Cummings. In the poem, Cummings writes,

I fear no fate (for you are my fate my sweet)i want

no world (for beautiful you are my world my true)

and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

When I read these particular lines from the poem, my husband told me afterwards that they

meant the most to him. Cummings speaks of a fate in which most people fear because it is pre-

determined and the idea of a pre-destination fears many people. These lines of the poem help

relax the reader when they understand the relationship between the two lovers and the fear that

subsides with the idea of finding a fate that is meant to be. A fate that is comfortable and

reassuring. I think this particular poem is a wonderful beginning for two people in love to read

and enjoy together. It will help them to understand how one should feel if they are truly in love.

Love is Enough is a poem written by William Morris and is included in my anthology. I

chose this particular poem because it is a reflection of what love should demonstrate. Love is in

and of itself enough for a person to endure and experience without any explanation. I think this

poem demonstrates this very fact to a clear point. Morris writes,

And this day draw a veil over all deeds passed over,
Yet their hands shall not tremble, their feet shall not falter:
The void shall not weary, the fear shall not alter
These lips and these eyes of the loved and the lover.

I think Morris is trying to convey the idea that marriage should not be a time for two people to be

nervous or fear. When he writes, “draw a veil over all deeds passed over,” I think he literally

references the veil from a wedding as if a woman should pull over the veil and forget all the bad

that has come before the very day of her wedding. Instead of thinking of the parts of the

relationship that would make you question getting married, you should focus on putting those

behind you and worrying about what lies ahead. This is a perfect poem for a wedding or for a

couple to read prior to marriage. It is a prelude of what is to come in a relationship in a way.

Shakespeare was a poet who was very open in writing about love. In Sonnet 116,

Shakespeare writes about the strong and everlasting love between two people.

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove.

O no! it is an ever-fixed mark

I think Shakespeare is trying to convey the message that true love withstands all obstacles. He

says love is not true love if it changes through all the trials and tribulations of life. This poem is

reassuring for those in love who have already crossed the threshold of marriage. It is the prelude

to an ever lasting love trying to reassure all lovers that true love does exist and continues to exist

when it survives through the good and bad. It does and always will mark its place on the soul and

hearts of lovers.

Petals by Amy Lowell is a poem in which love is compared to that of a flower. Flowers

often die as does love at times, but the petals on a flower that live on are enjoyed for years to

follow.

Petal by petal the flower of our heart;

The end lost in dream,

They float past our view,

We only watch their glad, early start.

Lowell describes how we often look at love and are fooled by love because of the wonderful

beginning we all enjoy. At times we focus on how we feel at the beginning of love but not

enough about the journey of love over the years. Lowell describes this relationship keenly when

she writes, “we only watch their glad, early start.” Although the petals may drift away like that

of love, the “fragrance still stays.” Love can alter and drift at times but the long everlasting and

endearing love will continue to exist in the heart throughout eternity.

While years hurry on,

The flower fared forth, though its fragrance still stays.

Reluctance by Robert Frost is a poem included in my anthology due to its reference to the

end of love. Frost describes love as a season. We undergo seasons each and every year but

seasons end and Frost describes this to that of love. At times love ends by death and Frost

describes this death as the end of a season. The reader can imagine the approach of the death of a

season.

The leaves are all dead on the ground,

Save those that the oak is keeping

To ravel them one by one

Frost describes the season ending and the beginning of another season. When love ends it is not

always the death of love altogether. Another season begins love often does. Frost compares

accepting the end of a season to accepting the end of love. To some, it may seem as though life

has ended when a love ends, but Frost does a phenomenal job in showing that new beginnings

arrive just as seasons do.

Ah, when to the heart of man

Was it ever less than a treason

To go with the drift of things,

To yield with a grace to reason,

And bow and accept the end

Of a love or a season?

Time does not bring relief by Edna St. Vincent Millay is a poem written by a woman

scorned from love or saddened because of the death of a loved one. I chose this particular poem

to include in my anthology because it demonstrates the strength of love. We are often times

blurred by the vision of everlasting and “perfect” love, but it is clear from this poem that love

also ends at times. I thought by including this poem in my anthology it would show that love is

just as effective through the highs and lows. Millay writes of a love that ended but left a scar on

her heart.

Time does not bring relief; you all have lied

Who told me time would ease me of my pain!

I miss him in the weeping of the rain;

I want him at the shrinking of the tide;

Millay speaks to all readers who have ever said the pain would go away after a love has ended in

heartache. It is not clear if the love has ended due to separation or ended due to death. In the end

the same heartache is felt because you miss a love that no longer exists. Either way, the poet

demonstrates how difficult the memory of a terminated or lost love can be. Time does not heal

the pain.

When You are Old is a poem written by William Butler Yeats which explains the love

between a man and woman over years of life. Yeats writes to the deceased as if she is still alive.

He explains how many have loved this individual but one particular man loved her more than

anything else. This is a perfect addition to this anthology because it demonstrates the longevity

of love between two individuals.

How many loved your moments of glad grace,

And loved your beauty with love false or true,

But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,

And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

Yeats describes this endearing love between two people which existed on a level beyond the

surface of love. These two individuals were connected as soul mates and the love existed passed

that of life. This particular poem is a prime example of an everlasting love that ends due to death

but continues on in the spirit and soul of two individuals.

As I try and put an end to my collection of poems, I thought of an ending love poem I

heard and was most inspired by one day. A poem I was most intrigued by was, “In and Out of

Time” by Maya Angelou. When I read this poem, I felt as though it was an ending to a long and

enduring love; an ending that came about by death, but not by separation. Angelou writes,

The sun has come.

The mist has gone.

We see in the distance …

our long way home.

I was always yours to have.

You were always mine.

We have loved each other in and out of time.

In the lines, “the sun has come. The mist has gone,” I believe the sun symbolizes the beginning

of love, while the mist symbolizes the idea of love coming to an end although it can and will live

on in your heart. She writes, “I was always yours to have. You were always mine. We have loved

each other in and out of time,” as if she is no longer his to have or he is no longer hers to have. I

believe this references the fact that one of the lovers has died and the love continues to live on

despite death. When Angelou refers to the persons loving each other in and out of time, this

references loving a person while they are still alive yet loving them just as much when they die.

Works Cited

1. Cummings, E.E. “I Carry Your Heart With Me.” Poem Hunter.<http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/i-carry-your-heart-with-me-2/>.

2. Frost, Robert. “Reluctance.” Poem Tree. .

3. Lowell, Amy. “Petals.” Poetry Online. .

4. Madea’s Family Reunion. Dir. Tyler Perry. Perf. Tyler Perry, Blair Underwood. Twentieth Century Fox. 2006.

5. Millay, Edna St. Vincent. “Time does not bring relief.” Sonnets. .

6. Morris, William. “Love in Enough.” Poem Hunter..

7. Shakespeare, William. “Sonnet 116.” Shakespeare Online..

8. Yeats, W.B. “When You Are Old.” PotW.org. <http://www.potw.org/archive/potw12.html>.

I Carry Your Heart With Me by EE Cummings

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

Love Is Enough by William Morris

Love is enough: though the world be a-waning,
And the woods have no voice but the voice of complaining,
Though the skies be too dark for dim eyes to discover
The gold-cups and daisies fair blooming thereunder,
Though the hills be held shadows, and the sea a dark wonder,
And this day draw a veil over all deeds passed over,
Yet their hands shall not tremble, their feet shall not falter:
The void shall not weary, the fear shall not alter
These lips and these eyes of the loved and the lover.

Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

               Admit impediments. Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

               Or bends with the remover to remove:

O no! it is an ever-fixed mark

               That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

It is the star to every wandering bark,

               Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.

Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

               Within his bending sickle’s compass come:

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

               But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

If this be error and upon me proved,

               I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Petals by Amy Lowell



Life is a stream

On which we strew

Petal by petal the flower of our heart;

The end lost in dream,

They float past our view,

We only watch their glad, early start.



Freighted with hope,

Crimsoned with joy,

We scatter the leaves of our opening rose;

Their widening scope,

Their distant employ,

We never shall know. And the stream as it flows

Sweeps them away,

Each one is gone

Ever beyond into infinite ways.

We alone stay

While years hurry on,

The flower fared forth, though its fragrance still stays.

Reluctance by Robert Frost

Out through the fields and the woods
And over the walls I have wended;
I have climbed the hills of view
And looked at the world and descended;
I have come by the highway home,
And lo, it is ended.

The leaves are all dead on the ground,
Save those that the oak is keeping
To ravel them one by one
And let them go scraping and creeping
Out over the crusted snow,
When others are sleeping.

And the dead leaves lie huddled and still,
No longer blown hither and thither;
The last lone aster is gone;
The flowers of the witch-hazel wither;
The heart is still aching to seek,
But the feet question 'Whither?'

Ah, when to the heart of man
Was it ever less than a treason
To go with the drift of things,
To yield with a grace to reason,
And bow and accept the end
Of a love or a season?

Time does not bring relief by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Time does not bring relief; you all have lied
Who told me time would ease me of my pain!
I miss him in the weeping of the rain;
I want him at the shrinking of the tide;
The old snows melt from every mountain-side,
And last year's leaves are smoke in every lane;
But last year's bitter loving must remain
Heaped on my heart, and my old thoughts abide.
There are a hundred places where I fear
To go - so with his memory they brim.
And entering with relief some quiet place
Where never fell his foot or shone his face
I say, 'There is no memory of him here!'
And so stand stricken, so remembering him.

When You are Old by W.B. Yeats

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,

And nodding by the fire, take down this book,

And slowly read, and dream of the soft look

Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,

And loved your beauty with love false or true,

But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,

And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,

Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled

And paced upon the mountains overhead

And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

In and Out of Time by Maya Angelou

The sun has come.
The mist has gone.
We see in the distance...
our long way home.
I was always yours to have.
You were always mine.
We have loved each other in and out of time.
When the first stone looked up at the blazing sun
and the first tree struggled up from the forest floor
I had always loved you more.
You freed your braids...
gave your hair to the breeze.
It hummed like a hive of honey bees.
I reached in the mass for the sweet honey comb there....
Mmmm...God how I love your hair.
You saw me bludgeoned by circumstance.
Lost, injured, hurt by chance.
I screamed to the heavens....loudly screamed....
Trying to change our nightmares to dreams...
The sun has come.
The mist has gone.
We see in the distance our long way home.
I was always yours to have.
You were always mine.
We have loved each other in and out
in and out
in and out
of time.

Approaching the edge of Sentimentality

I found this weeks poems more effective than previous poems we have read for the very reason of sentimentality. I think too many writers lose sight of their emotion when writing and sometimes that very emotion is what makes writings, especially poetry, so very effective. When a reader sits down and begins to read a poem that is calling out for attention and compassion, they are drawn to that poet on a different level than any other type of poetry. A particular poem I was fond of in this weeks collection of poems was Plath’s, “Daddy.” I was partially drawn to this poem for personal reasons and personal feelings I have towards my father. I don’t think Plath was successful in avoiding sentimentality in this particular poem. Certain stanzas and lines of her poetry speak to the reader as if she was saying them directly to whoever is reading the poem at that very instance.

Daddy, I have had to kill you.
You died before I had time---

I think Plath was very unsuccessful at avoiding sentimentality and pours her heart out on a personal level when she writes:

Bit my pretty red heart in two.
I was ten when they buried you.
At twenty I tried to die
And get back, back, back to you.
I thought even the bones would do.

In order for a writer to successfully avoid sentimentality, they have to be effective at keeping the reader out and not letting the reader in his/her state of mind emotionally. Plath had a personal relationship with the reader and connected with the reader.

A poem in which the poet was able to successfully avoid sentimentality, in my opinion, is Anne Sexton’s, “The Truth the Dead Know.” In this poem Sexton was able to convey an emotion to the reader, yet not overdo it causing and she was able to avoid the use of sever emotion to make her connection with the reader. She writes to a dead figure, although it is a broad reference. I think she was able to keep her distance from the reader yet still get her point across. In my opinion this was especially apparent in the third stanza.

My darling, the wind falls in like stones
From the whitehearted water and when we touch
we enter touch entirely. No one’s alone.
Men kill for this, or for as much.

To some level she connects with the reader emotionally and by reading these words, I almost felt as if I was there experiencing the touch as she did. However, she does not have that personal sentiment that Plath had all throughout her poem. Plath invited the reader into her mind while Sexton explains her feelings and almost gives the reader the opportunity to connect with her and experience her poem on a different level. The reader can become part of the poem, while Plath draws the reader to her mind and her sentiment as if the reader enters Plath’s mind and can understand her thoughts directly.

There is a direct and indirect difference between the two poems in the way in which they connect with the reader. Plath is more direct while Sexton uses an indirect way of connecting.

Beats vs. NY School

The poem from the Beats period which particularly interested me the most was Gregory Corso's "Marriage." I think the poem was a bit long, but the lines ran together as if the writer was telling a story about a man contemplating the thought of marriage. It was very interesting and the I was able to completely understand it by reading through the poem once. The first three lines of the poem grabbed my attention and from the beginning I was intrigued. Being a married woman, I think I was easily drawn to the poem because of the first stanza.

Should I get married? Should I be good?
Astound the girl next door with my velvet suit and faustus hood?
Don't take her to movies but to cemeteries
tell all about werewolf bathtubs and forked clarinets
then desire her and kiss her and all the preliminaries
and she going just so far and I understanding why
not getting angry saying You must feel! It's beautiful to feel!
Instead take her in my arms lean against an old crooked tombstone
and woo her the entire night the constellations in the sky-

It was as if the writer was insisting that getting married means you are doing the right thing and being good. I particularly enjoyed the first line because it made me want to read the answer to the mentioned question. The lines of the first stanza and throughout the poem ran together smoothly mostly because they were not divided by commas as most lines are. To the reader it was a continuous line or story.

The poem that intrigued me the most from the New York School Poets selection was John Ashbery's "Paradoxes and Oxymorons." What drew me to this poem was the first stanza just like Corso's poem "Marriage." The first stanza of Ashbery's poem spoke of the poem and it was a very interesting way of drawing the reader.

This poem is concerned with language on a very plain level.
Look at it talking to you. You look out a window.
Or pretend to fidget. You have it but you don't have it.
You miss it, it misses you. You miss each other.

Ashbery lets the reader know what he or she is about to read within the first line of his poetry. I thought this was an interesting way of catching the readers attention by getting straight to the point. Corso's poem was similar to this by drawing the readers attention by asking a question. The question was not directed towards the reader but it was still able to catch the attention of the reader because he/she wants to find the overall answer to the proposed question. I think Ashbery and Corso were both very experienced by using a strong first stanza to grab the readers attention and follow through with the remainder of the poem. I enjoyed both poems particularly because they were easy to understand and used "plain" language to convey their thoughts. Plain language is best understood, in my opinion, because I can easily interpret the writing.

The Poetics of PlainSpeech

Free verse is defined as a term that describes various styles of poetry that are not written using strict meter or rhyme but is still recognizable as poetry. At times, poets deviate from the "normal" scheme of poetry by writing freely. I think most readers and most people in general have the idea that poetry consists of rhyming patterns and a style recognized as Modernism. Upon reading the poems of this week, I noticed there are many more poems than I previously thought that consist of free verse. I can relate to these poems much more than other poems for the mere fact that they are easier to understand and the style of writing is to the point.
For instance in Philip Larkin's poem, "This Be The Verse," Larkin uses a rhyme scheme and alliteration to emphasize his use of poetic elements. He tells a short story and writes in stanzas with the last stanza consisting of metrical variation. Any reader will be able to read his work and understand it is a poem because of the poetic elements he incorporates into his writing. His poem was to the point and much easier to interpret than previous poems I have read that consist of the Modernism style of poetry.
I think when poets write of what they feel without using a hidden meaning, it makes their poetry all the more effective and comprehensible. I think most readers would agree that it is more effective to get to the point than to have a message that most people cannot understand. On the other hand, part of what makes poetry so effective is the fact that each individual reader can make his or her own meaning of the poem. A poem can mean anything you want it to mean when it is not straight to the point. I enjoy free verse more than any other style of poetry because I find more meaning from the poetry when it is straight forward and to the point.

Figurative Language

This week's selection of poems focuses on the Black Arts Movement as well as the Harlem Renaissance Era. I particularly enjoyed reading the poem "Harlem" by Langston Hughes. His entire poem is focused on metaphors, however he clearly gets his point across to the reader. Hughes poem focuses on the definition of a dream in his perspective. He writes,
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
In this line Hughes is comparing a deferred dream to a raisin in the sun by asking the question if it dwindles and becomes smaller over time. It is as if he is saying that a dream deferred will over time become less and less of a dream and not be as big of a dream if it continues to be deferred and not followed through with.
He then compares a deferred dream to a sore that festers and then runs. By this I think he is directly comparing the deferred dream to something that worsens or becomes more aggravated over time and then suddenly takes off.
Hughes asks, Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over - like a syrupy sweet? Hughes gives the upside to a deferred dream by comparing it to a syrupy sweet which the reader can interpret to be a positive ending to a deferred dream or a dream accomplished. His previous comparison followed by the "syrupy sweet" is that of rotten meat. I believe that Hughes views a deferred dream as either a positive obsession in which you can make the best out of by following through with it or a negative obsession in which the dream will continue to be just a dream that is never fulfilled.

The Influence of Others

I believe many poets obtain their ideas and thoughts from previous poetry. Many literature pieces today are "inspired" or "influenced" by literature of the past. In reading the poems of this week, I focused much attention to Robert Frost and his theme of "Nature." In his poem, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," he references nature indirectly throughout the entire poem. He writes about the frozen lake, the woods filling up with snow, a house in the village. All of these references are directly related to the theme of nature. Much like that of Blake from the previous poems we read such as, "From Songs of Experience," where Blake writes about evening dew, dewy grass, ancient trees, "O Earth O Earth return!" Frost like Blake express their writings and thoughts with reference to nature and the "natural world." I think Frost like other peots realized the effectiveness of previous poets works and was directly influenced by it.
Another poet who seems to reference the theme of nature in his poem is E.E. Cummings in "All in Green Went My Love Riding." Cummings writes of the silver dawn, white water, a gold valley, riding the mountain down and a green mountain. I noticed when reading this poem that Cummings referenced the "silver dawn" more so than any other thought of nature. The last line of the first, fifth, ninth, and thirteenth stanza reads, "into the silver dawn." It is a direct reference to the theme of nature once again. I think Cummings like Frost was influenced by previous poets writings of nature. The nature theme seemed to be popular in poetry and many poets from the later years were able to pick up on the popularity of this "natural world" theme and started to write about it after seeing its effectiveness.
I think in all writing it is hard not to be influenced by the writings of others. I first became interested in writing because of authors I have been fascinated with. To say a poet or a writer becomes a writer/poet just because they feel like it, is injust. Most thoughts and ambitions come from somewhere and for writers, in my opinion, it is safe to say they are definitely influenced by the works and writings of others.

Interpretation of The Snow Man by Stevens

The poem I chose to write about this week is “The Snow Man” by Wallace Stevens. The audience is specifically directed to the cold-hearted individuals who tend to focus on the outside beauty rather than the beauty that lies within.

The language is casual which makes it easier for the audience to understand and interpret. I think the tone of the poem is rather melancholy. The writer focuses on the beautiful aspects of winter that the naked eye tends to view and pay attention to rather than the underlying pain of the damage caused to the land. The poet seems to be writing in the midst of emotion rather than at some distance. It seems as if he is angry with those who look at winter and see nothing but the images of frost and trees crusted with snow rather than the underlying hurt of it all. It is as if he has a personal vendetta against those who focus on the outside rather than the inside. I don’t think the poem warrants two readings. It is well written and one reading is enough to understand the content of the poem, however a second reading might help the reader understand the true meaning a little more.

The images truly advance the meaning of the poem. When the poet writes the descriptive details of the images of the pine-trees crusted with snow as well as the junipers shagged with ice and spruces rough in the distant glitter, it gives the reader a sense of being a part of the poem. It helps the reader visualize the beauty of winter and nature. At the end of the poem, the poet explains how all of the visions he previously described are just images alone. He writes of how images of beauty are just that, images of beauty but they do not show the underlying truth of it all and the sorrow that lies underneath.

My initial reaction to the poem was confusing at first because I was so intrigued by the beginning descriptions and images that started off the poem and then turned to such melancholy when I realized the message the writer was trying to convey. I was able to completely understand the poem without having to re-read it, however I was taken aback by the ending and the overall meaning. I think the writer did a very good job in connecting with the reader.