An Ode to Self-discovery
Discovering and learning to love oneself is often a challenging adventure. It can be a sweet and quiet awakening or a loud and abrupt revelation. Realizing who you really are and who you want to become is a truly bittersweet journey, but when opening our hearts to this riveting experience we might find how wonderful it is. The poem "Love after Love" by Derek Wallcott expresses how exciting it could be to simply discover ourselves. In the poem, Wallcott directs himself to a “you” in distress, the “you” confused about life and self. "Love after Love" represents the times in life where we feel lost and have to learn, accept and embrace who we are.
To learn who we are is to knock on a stranger's door. Previously to meeting
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At times, some of us are raised in environments where it might be dangerous to be ourselves. Taught to believe that we are not good enough, worthy or accepted, we fear being ourselves. Other times we create our own insecurities and fears, convincing ourselves that we have to meet other people’s illusive standards. Despite the fact that we accept ourselves, we believe that our imperfections will stop others from loving us. To embrace who we have to acknowledge that not everyone will accept it and that the only one that has to love our persona is us. Realizing that our intrinsic worth is greater than anything superficial means understanding that who we are will always be more valuable and powerful than the mask we wear in public. Once we embrace ourselves we can start living a good and wholesome life, appreciating the “little things” in life because a weight that was preventing us from holding our head up has been removed from our shoulders. As Wallcott writes, “Sit. Feast on your life”, because when we embrace who we are we can finally enjoy life to the fullest extent.
Derek Wallcott’s poem “Love after Love” is an ode to the self. He assures the reader, a lost “you” in distress, that at a future moment you will come to "greet yourself arriving /at your own door, in your own mirror /and each will smile at the other's welcome, ". Wallcott’s poem about self-discovering, and coming to love oneself helps the reader understand the importance in accepting and authentically being ourselves. "Love after Love" represents the times in life where we feel lost and have to learn, accept and embrace who we
Love is not always an easy adventure to take part in. As a result, thousands of poems and sonnets have been written about love bonds that are either praised and happily blessed or love bonds that undergo struggle and pain to cling on to their forbidden love. Gwendolyn Brooks sonnet "A Lovely Love," explores the emotions and thoughts between two lovers who are striving for their natural human right to love while delicately revealing society 's crime in vilifying a couples right to love. Gwendolyn Brooks uses several examples of imagery and metaphors to convey a dark and hopeless mood that emphasizes the hardships that the two lovers must endure to prevail their love that society has condemned.
With todays’ advancement of technology and social media, the prominence of the individual has greatly increased. Self-portrayal has essentially become a way to express the significance of an individual. However, many believe that the newfound importance of the individual is constantly walking the line of narcissism. Yet in a world where it’s so easy to follow the crowd, I believe it’s important to celebrate the individual and praise one for being who he wants to be.
“Love Poem” by John Frederick Nims is an excellent of example of an author using many types of literary terms to emphasize his theme of a love that is imperfect yet filled with acceptance. In, this poem Nims uses assonance, metaphor, and imagery to support his theme of “Imperfect, yet realistic love”.
In conclusion, the poem points the inevitable cycle of natural and emotional events and the power that love has to go beyond that cycle. This is why the speaker assures that the way he has loved is something that
Since the beginning of human existence love has earned a meaning of pure bliss and wild passion between two people that cannot be broken. Through out time the meaning of love has had its slight shifts but for the most part, maintains a positive value. In the poem “Love Should Grow Up Like a Wild Iris in the Fields,” the author, Susan Griffin expresses that this long lost concept of love is often concealed by the madness of everyday life and reality. In the poem, Griffin uses many literary elements to help convey the importance of true love. The usage of imagery, symbolism, and other literary techniques really help communicate Griffins’ meaning
Throughout “Love Should Grow up Like an Wild Iris in the Fields” Susan Griffin provokes the readers to think twice about why they consistently enslave themselves with the burden of daily monotony, instead of enjoying the simplicity of love. Griffin uses two metaphors in her poem when describing love, as a flower, as well as the iris of an eye. Her comparisons are both interesting as well as accurate.
Through the use of poetic devices such as repetition or alliteration, the author originally describes what love is not capable of providing and defines love as unnecessary but by the end of the poem, the author reveals that love has some value.
One of the most obvious advantages of being true to ourselves is that people will see us, perhaps for the first time, without a mask. People will see what we are really like on the inside. They will see our talents, imperfections, and preferences. Then they will have the opportunity to accept us on our own terms. As we work to show our true selves to society, we may discover things about ourselves we did not already know. If we want to be great, we can safely assume that we must be willing to be misunderstood. However, we cannot be misunderstood if we conform to the standards of society. If we act and think and talk exactly as everyone else, we will never run the risk of being taken the wrong way.
A quote by the author that highlights this idea of not being able to be who you are is, “I wanted to be a princess and a prince; but I would never have said so, then”. This emphasizes the underlying fear many have of being judged by the outside world. It is very unfortunate that so many are still unable to say the things they wish to say and dress the way they want to dress because society perceives it to be unacceptable or wrong.
Unlike other forms of literature, poetry can be so complex that everyone who reads it may see something different. Two poets who are world renowned for their ability to transform reader’s perceptions with the mere use of words, are TS Eliot and Walt Whitman. “The love song of J Alfred Prufrock” by TS Eliot, tells the story of a man who is in love and contemplating confessing his emotions, but his debilitating fear of rejection stops him from going through with it. This poem skews the reader’s expectations of a love song and takes a critical perspective of love while showing all the damaging emotions that come with it. “Song of myself”, by Walt Whitman provokes a different emotion, one of joy and self-discovery. This poem focuses more on the soul and how it relates to the body. “Song of myself” and “The love song of J Alfred Prufrock” both explore the common theme of how the different perceptions of the soul and body can affect the way the speaker views themselves, others, and the world around them.
Two things can happen when we are required to base our definition of “self” on others. One can take others’ ways of living and thinking, process them, and formulate his or her own definition, independent of anyone else. Or, one can use the relationships he or she has with other people on which to base their own definition of self, thus making him or her dependent on those other people. As young people, we learn and take in all we can through the world, our experiences, and relationships with other people. From there, we grow and establish our own identities, our own “selves”, in response to those interactions with others. This definition is continually growing and progressing as we evolve as people, interacting with different people in different environments and
Finally, in relation to the present day, there is a sense of the immense possibilities (“anything can be made, any sentence begun”). This is contained in the words that may inspire others to action that may bring such a love closer toward reality. From disunity (“walking past each other”) to blindly “walk[ing] into that which we cannot yet see,” this poem now suggests the alternative of “walking forward in that light” guided by a new vision of a love that may unite us.
In the poem, The Love song, written by T.S. Elliot, J Alfred Prufrock is a man who is very lonely and insecure. He goes throughout his life wishing for a change, but never stepping up to the plate and actually making a change. The title of the poem portrays to the reader that the poem is going to be full of love and romance. The reader soon found out later that the poem is just the opposite from the title, a sad, lonesome man who is not only lacking love, but also lacking self confidence and self esteem.
W.H. Auden’s “The More Loving One” is an intriguing poem that touches on the topics of love and humanity in the form of astrology. Auden uses a number of poetic devices to portray this message clearly to his audience. He doesn’t however write a direct translation of what he thinks of love but instead uses metaphors in order to challenge the readers’ imagination.
“Learning to love yourself will be the hardest thing you’ll ever do in life”. The 21st century, the era of perfection. The era where you are told how to look or else you are not considered beautiful to the world. The era where people like myself go through extremes to be beautiful even just feel beautiful. The extremes that I took were, looking for “love” anywhere with anyone, not caring about my health, and putting my academic career in danger, all of that just to be and feel beautiful.