Variations on the Word Love - Essay Example

The holes here are not literal holes in the ground, but figurative emotional gaps, such as those which occur when we are too full of emotion to speak out clearly about what we are thinking.
The section of the poem that deals with “red heart-/shaped vacancies on the page” (lines 3-4) reminds the reader of the commercialized kind of love that is promoted as part of the St Valentine’s day tradition. This idea is reinforced by the phrase “Add lace/and you can sell/ it.” (lines 5-7)
The author’s disillusionment with these empty decorations is shown by her sudden shift to a striking reference to “cool/debaucheries of slugs under damp pieces of cardboard.” (lines 14-16) This is an oblique reference to the sexual side of love, but it is deliberately shocking to contrast with the pretty decorations of commercial love.
The truest imagery of all, in my view, is that of “a finger/ grip on a cliffside” (lines 35-36) which represents the powerful and life-changing effect that love can have on people, and also the element of danger in it, at the possibility of terrible loss which can happen when love fails. Read More