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.