what thing is love? george peele. george peele 1558-1596 george peele earned his b.a. in 1577 and...
TRANSCRIPT
What Thing is Love?
George Peele
George Peele 1558-1596
George Peele earned his B.A. in 1577 and his
M.A. in 1579 at Oxford. When he returned to
Oxford on business in 1583, two years after
his departure for London, he managed the
performance of two Latin plays by William
Gager for the entertainment of a Polish
prince. The rest of his life was spent pursing
varied literary efforts, some of which met
with moderate success. Peele, however, seems
to have been given to excesses, so he spent
much of his life in debt. He died before he
reached age 40 and remains today a relatively
unknown author.
WHAT THING IS LOVE by George Peele
What thing is love? for sure love is a thing.It is a prick, it is a sting, It is a pretty, pretty thing;It is a fire, it is a coal,Whose flame creeps in at every hole; And as my wit doth best devise,Love's dwelling is in ladies' eyes,From whence do glance love's piercing darts,That make such holes into our hearts;And all the world herein accord, Love is a great and mighty lord;And when he list to mount so high,With Venus he in heaven doth lie,And evermore hath been a god,Since Mars and she played even and odd
Content
❤The poem examines the various forms of love. A rhetorical question opens the poem—”What thing is love?”—and an answer is expected, but the speaker explains “for sure love is a thing.” The choice of the word “thing” infers something simple, yet mysterious. Eventually, the speaker describes love as a gradual thing from a prick to sting, which stresses the pain of love.
❤ In contrast, the third line views the soothing aspect of love as something pretty, but the repetition of the word casts some doubt on that truth.
Content
❤ The fourth line reveals the real intent of the
ironic beauty to describe love as a fire and coal.
Thus, Love is uncontrollable, passionate and
destructive. This destructiveness is so pervading
that it destroys the whole being of any man who
falls under its spell.
❤ Line six, however, presents the limitation of the
speaker’s knowledge in describing love— “And,
as my wit doth best devise.”
❤ He continues with his description of love in line
seven by identifying its location in ladies’ eyes,
where men are made to fall in love. The poem
concludes with the permanent impact of love on
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Theme
• This poem is about love's impact. The speaker notes that love ("a pretty, pretty thing) is accompanied by pain (“a prick…a sting.”)
• Men are being warned of the subtleties of love as it "creeps in at every hole." Men should be careful of "ladies' eyes." Once a man has been snared by "love's piercing darts," he will have his heart broken because love is so strong, even comparing it to a "mighty lord."
• Men must be careful because they will think "With Venus he in heaven doth lie" when they place love (or a woman) on this pedestal or "mount so high." However, “Mars and she,” will play games of "even and odd" with men to confuse them and to take advantage of their lovesickness.
• The dominant theme relates to the perils of being in love, including its destructiveness.
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Form and Structure
❤ What Thing is Love is lyrical fifteen-line poem.
❤ It uses its title to build the rhetorical question applied in the first line to define love. This is subsequently followed by various attempts to describe the various forms and nuances of love.
❤ The first four lines use anaphora to begin each definition (“it is”); then, the definition of love becomes more complex as the speaker identifies its destructive nature. laugh.blogspot.com
Poetic Devices
❤ The poem is metaphorically compares love to “a prick, a sting, a pretty thing, a fire, a coal, flame” to portray the complexity and destructiveness of love.
❤ The uncontrollable nature of love is accented as it “make[s] such holes into our hearts.”
❤ Love is personified several times—in “ladies’ eyes” and as a “great…lord.”
❤ There is an allusion to Cupid’s darts, which cause men to fall in love.
Tone
The rhetorical questions initially convey a doubtful voice on what exactly love is. The various scenarios listed by the speaker reveal an inquiring tone that is embittered by the symptoms of love.
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Sound Devices
❤ The rhetorical question launches the variations of love listed, and this sets the speculative tone of the poem in motion.
❤ To further accentuate the simplicity and yet the complexity of what love is, repetition is used in a very simple sentence structure. This is followed by a complex exploration of love in lines 5 to 10.
❤ The repetitive alliteration of p in prick, pretty presents love as simple so as to complement the thing in line one.
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Sound Devices
❤ The sense of doubt of what love is,
which pervades the poem, is marked
by caesuras .These are also used to
contrast some key symbols of what love
is such as ”…fire [and]…coal.”
❤ The same effect is what the end-stops of
the poem tend to achieve as they draw
attention to the caution that love
demands.
❤ The use of couplets
(AAABBCCDDEEFFGG) attempts to
capture what love is to depict a more
precise definition of love.
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Diction
❤ Monosyllabic words comprise the poem, making it easy to understand.
❤ One of the strengths of the poem is its symbolism with words such as prick, sting, coal, which also have metaphorical implications.
❤ Ironically, Cupid is the blind son of Venus in ”love’s piercing darts.”
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Works Cited
http://literatureencore.net/?p=74
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/george-peele