The lyrics of the song “If tomorrow never comes” remind me that we should live and love as though tomorrow will never come. We should let our loved ones know how much we love them and treasure them before it’s too late. Sometimes, it’s just so hard for us to stand in front of our loved ones to tell them just three simple words “I love you.” But such expression of love can be shown beautifully and romantically via the words from poems or songs. Interestingly, Edmund Waller did a wonderful job in writing the poem “Go, lovely rose” as a song from a young man to his lover. He commands a rose to go and deliver his love message to his sweetheart as quickly as possible as if he was scared that it was too late.
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Usually, when a man wants to confess to his sweetheart, he will use roses as romantic presents for her. But in this poem, a rose is used as a love messenger. A repetition of the phrase “tell her that” shows that the rose is sent to deliver a message for the man. This young guy is trying to tell his sweetheart that their time is too short for such petty things as hiding. The poem begins with “Go, lovely rose” (1). The author uses short, firm words to show that it’s a command, not a request for a rose. I believe the command shows that the man is afraid that another man may take her away from him. When people are in love, they are always anxious and afraid of losing the person they love. Moreover, she is so pretty in his eyes. He “resembles her to [the rose]” (4), and discovers “How sweet and fair she seems to be” (5). He uses the rose as a symbol of her beauty. He compares her to the rose because roses are beautiful things that last only for a certain time. By this comparison, he wants her to see the evanescence of her outward beauty. He is trying to tell her indirectly that he wants her to understand his eagerness and he encourages her to forget about the society, letting her feelings lead the way for her to come to him to enjoy their momentary love.
The main figure of speech used for this poem is simile comparing the woman with the rose. He uses the word “resemble” (4). The first feature of comparison the poet mentions is how “sweet and fair” the lady, like the rose, “seems to be.” The author uses the word “seems” rather than “is,” which attracts my attention. The word “seems” shows an uncertainty. Perhaps, he is just sure about the beauty of her appearance, but he is not too sure about her inner beauty. Amongst all the nice words used to praise her, the word “wastes” (2) may surprise the readers. This word belongs to a lower diction-level compared to other words such as “lovely,” “sweet and fair.” This aggressive word shows the author’s bluntness and it inserts into the poem a hint of decay. However, opening of the second stanza “Tell her that’s young” (6) seems to be a bit out of the main figure of speech of the poem, simile. The comparison takes a little twist in the lines “shuns to have her graces spied” (7) and “in desert where no men abide.” Instead of saying the woman is like the rose, the poet says that she ought to be like it. At the end of the second stanza, death is mentioned, adding a rather threatening note: “Thou must have uncommended died.”
Edmund Waller has damped the eroticism of the situation with his understated language. The fate of the rose, if it were to bloom in a desert, would be to live and die “uncommended”; her would-be lovers, well-bred and polite, “admire” her. The poem seems to be quiet until the start of the final stanza “Then die!” This command marks the intrusion of harsh reality into the world of wondering lovers and blushing girls. Waller soon retreats to the cover of precieux diction, closing with the hyperbolic description “so wondrous sweet and fair”; but he has made his point, the swift passing of beauty in all its forms.
The author uses assonance technique quite often in the poem. In the first stanza, there are words such as “me,” “thee,” and “be.” In the second stanza, he uses “spied,” “abide” and “died.” In the third stanza, they are “retired,” “desired” and “admired.” And in the last one, he uses “rare,” share” and “fair.” This assonance technique adds more rhythm to the poem and it makes it sound more like a song than just a poem.
The lines 1, 3, 6, 8, 11, 13, 16, 18 have equal number of syllables and most have the same metrical pattern. This pattern is: May read | in thee. The meters of the longer lines in the poem such as lines 4, 5 are:
When I | resem | ble her | to thee,
How sweet | and fair | she seems | to be.
I think the author uses these meters to stress his admiration of her beauty. It makes his words seem to be more real and sweet to her ears so that she will convince herself to come to him more easily.
After reading the poem a few times, I sense that the poem only focuses on the similarity between the woman and the rose, but it neglects the difference between them. A woman is a human with a soul while a rose is just an object without a soul. I believe this poem has a particular purpose: a poem of seduction and desire. So the poet focuses on the woman’s body instead of her soul to make her remember only that her body is mortal. So it will die one day, and therefore she only has a limited amount of time in which to enjoy it while she has it.
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In conclusion, this poem is a sweet song of love from the young man to his lover. However, if I were the woman, I would not accept his love until I can trust him. It is because I can sense from this poem that the man desires more of the body of the woman than her real love for him. And definitely this relationship will not last long since it’s not really out of sincere love because in my opinion, a relationship should be built based on love, not lust.
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