Friday, December 23, 2011

In the poem "Love's Philosophy," what literary devices does Shelley use?

What is most notable about this excellent poem of love and
how the speaker views the world and uses the way that all of nature mixes together to
support his request that his beloved kiss him is the series of implied metaphors in the
second stanza that describe various aspects of nature as if they were lovers. Let us
examine this verse more closely:


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See! the mountains kiss high
heaven,


And the waves clasp one
another;


No sister flower would be
forgiven,


If it disdained it's
brother;


And the sunlight clasps the
earth,


And the moonbeams kiss the
sea...



Note the way that the
mountains "kiss high heaven" as if they were lovers. The waves "clasp one another" in
their embrace, just as the sunlight "clasps the earth." The moon, not to be outdone by
the sun, allows its moonbeams to "kiss the sea." These series of implied metaphors serve
to reinforce the central idea of the poem, which is the way in which all things are
shown to "In on another's being mingle." Since nature teaches us this lesson, why should
the speaker not be able to love his beloved?

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