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The Definition Of Love Poem Analysis

1988 Words8 Pages
Paths we walk on define our lives. In reality, no path is well-footed or without obstacles, even if it seems so from outsider perspective. In literature, especially in poetry, what is written as a path may not be one in the most literal sense, but a metaphor for or an allegory to something not within grasp of the material world. To compare two pieces from different periods by different authors means not just to compare different styles and themes embedded in them, but different paths the authors, and by extension their characters, take. Moreover, how two different paths in entirely different contexts may, upon closer reading, seem as one path treated differently, becoming what it is because of the actions someone took. This essay brings forward the idea that Marvell’s path or lines as they are described in The Definition of Love “… so truly parallel, / Though infinite, can never meet.” and Spenser’s “… paths and alleies wide, / With footing worne, and leading inward farre:” in Faerie Queen, are two paths one can choose at a crossroads, depending on factors of Love and Fate - one leading to the absolute truth and the other to captivating crudeness. In The Definition of Love, Marvell presents two sides of this discourse in four short verses “As lines, so loves oblique may well / Themselves in every angle greet; / But ours so truly parallel, / Though infinite, can never meet.” The path of Marvell’s literary character, straight and infinite, as read in the quote, is parallel to
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