Love’s Philosophy and Sonnet 29
Themes- romance, desire, nature
Similarities:
● Natural imagery used to convey points about love to another person
● Show obsession/infatuation with another person
● Written as if they are directly addressing lover
● Use nature to exhibit their desires for intimacy
Differences:
● Sonnet 29 resolves as the couple come together in typical sonnet form (Manipulation
of first line “I think of thee” to “I do not think of thee - I am too near thee”) while Love’s
Philosophy has no resolution
● Love’s Philosophy ends in the same questioning tone that it began (ending of
stanzas “Why not I with thine?” and then “What are all these kissings worth//If thou
kiss not me?”) → no progression romantic pursuit
Language:
● Natural imagery as metaphor for romantic love - LP → “the winds of Heaven mix for
ever” and “the waves clasp one another” S29 → “wild vines, about a tree” and “bands
of greenery” - attributing physical intimacy to nature
● Religion - LP “law divine” → significance of religion (Shelley was atheist) showing
importance of coming together S29 “palm tree” → addressee offers her Christ-like
salvation
Structure/form/metre:
● Both short and concise - speaker’s emotions are intense
● LP - two stanzas - two separate people?
● S29- one stanza - out of control?
● LP - trochaic tetrameter (first word stressed, four syllables) → every fourth line in
trochaic trimeter to make it shorter and mirror how love is always cut short
● S29 - iambic pentameter (line 11 has six stresses instead of 5 - newly impassioned
state of desire can’t be contained in normal sonnet structure)
● S29 - Petrarchan sonnet → Italian=connotations of love
Techniques:
● LP enjambment - conversational tone - authentic
● S29 caesura - frequently in middle of lines to give Robert chance to think about her
words - real conversation
, When We Two Parted and Neutral Tones
Themes - loss, distance, death, memory
Similarities:
● Fixate on memory of a failed relationship
● Seem to possess blame towards partners to some extent (“They name thee before
me//A knell in mine ear” and”Your eyes on me were as eyes that rove”)
Differences:
● Tone of NT is more bitter/resentful while WWTP is more passionate about speaker’s
feelings
● NT suggests the pain dulls over time (“a pond edged with greyish leaves” - hurt
becomes blanketed by greyness) while WWTP presents it as fresh every time it is
revisited (harsh verbs like “sever” and still actively addressing lover with “How should
I greet thee?” suggesting he hasn’t moved on)
Language:
● Morbid references to express sadness - WWTP → auditory imagery of “A knell in
mine ear” and lack of in “In silence I grieve” NT → metaphors “the smile on your
mouth was the deadest thing//Alive enough to have strength to die”
● Phonetics to show sadness - sibilance of “Silence and tears”, “share in its shame”
and “bitterness swept thereby”, “keen lessons that love deceives”
● NT - Hardy reflects speaker’s feelings through negative description of surroundings
→ natural imagery normally has positive connotations but this is subverted with
syndetic listing “Your face, and the God-curst sun, and a tree//And a pond edged with
greyish leaves”
● WWTP - speaker reflects on internalised feelings → “In silence I grieve”
● Effects of heartbreak as overwhelming - WWTP=affecting speaker → “sunk chill on
my brow” - weighing him down NT=reflected in setting → “starving sod” - images of
deprecation reflect how he is starved of love
Structure/form/metre:
● Both have cyclical structures - inability to move on from relationship or repetitive
nature of grief and memory (can’t escape)
● WWTP - ABAB rhyme scheme → trapped in thoughts
● NT - ABBA rhyme scheme → typical of love poems so included with bitterness as it is
about loss of love/separation of A lines could allude to separation of lovers
Techniques:
● Alliteration to show feelings - WWTP - “They know not I knew thee” → hard to read
so shows they were uncomfortable in relationship
NT - “We stood by a pond that winter day” → draws out line length as his suffering is
drawn out
Themes- romance, desire, nature
Similarities:
● Natural imagery used to convey points about love to another person
● Show obsession/infatuation with another person
● Written as if they are directly addressing lover
● Use nature to exhibit their desires for intimacy
Differences:
● Sonnet 29 resolves as the couple come together in typical sonnet form (Manipulation
of first line “I think of thee” to “I do not think of thee - I am too near thee”) while Love’s
Philosophy has no resolution
● Love’s Philosophy ends in the same questioning tone that it began (ending of
stanzas “Why not I with thine?” and then “What are all these kissings worth//If thou
kiss not me?”) → no progression romantic pursuit
Language:
● Natural imagery as metaphor for romantic love - LP → “the winds of Heaven mix for
ever” and “the waves clasp one another” S29 → “wild vines, about a tree” and “bands
of greenery” - attributing physical intimacy to nature
● Religion - LP “law divine” → significance of religion (Shelley was atheist) showing
importance of coming together S29 “palm tree” → addressee offers her Christ-like
salvation
Structure/form/metre:
● Both short and concise - speaker’s emotions are intense
● LP - two stanzas - two separate people?
● S29- one stanza - out of control?
● LP - trochaic tetrameter (first word stressed, four syllables) → every fourth line in
trochaic trimeter to make it shorter and mirror how love is always cut short
● S29 - iambic pentameter (line 11 has six stresses instead of 5 - newly impassioned
state of desire can’t be contained in normal sonnet structure)
● S29 - Petrarchan sonnet → Italian=connotations of love
Techniques:
● LP enjambment - conversational tone - authentic
● S29 caesura - frequently in middle of lines to give Robert chance to think about her
words - real conversation
, When We Two Parted and Neutral Tones
Themes - loss, distance, death, memory
Similarities:
● Fixate on memory of a failed relationship
● Seem to possess blame towards partners to some extent (“They name thee before
me//A knell in mine ear” and”Your eyes on me were as eyes that rove”)
Differences:
● Tone of NT is more bitter/resentful while WWTP is more passionate about speaker’s
feelings
● NT suggests the pain dulls over time (“a pond edged with greyish leaves” - hurt
becomes blanketed by greyness) while WWTP presents it as fresh every time it is
revisited (harsh verbs like “sever” and still actively addressing lover with “How should
I greet thee?” suggesting he hasn’t moved on)
Language:
● Morbid references to express sadness - WWTP → auditory imagery of “A knell in
mine ear” and lack of in “In silence I grieve” NT → metaphors “the smile on your
mouth was the deadest thing//Alive enough to have strength to die”
● Phonetics to show sadness - sibilance of “Silence and tears”, “share in its shame”
and “bitterness swept thereby”, “keen lessons that love deceives”
● NT - Hardy reflects speaker’s feelings through negative description of surroundings
→ natural imagery normally has positive connotations but this is subverted with
syndetic listing “Your face, and the God-curst sun, and a tree//And a pond edged with
greyish leaves”
● WWTP - speaker reflects on internalised feelings → “In silence I grieve”
● Effects of heartbreak as overwhelming - WWTP=affecting speaker → “sunk chill on
my brow” - weighing him down NT=reflected in setting → “starving sod” - images of
deprecation reflect how he is starved of love
Structure/form/metre:
● Both have cyclical structures - inability to move on from relationship or repetitive
nature of grief and memory (can’t escape)
● WWTP - ABAB rhyme scheme → trapped in thoughts
● NT - ABBA rhyme scheme → typical of love poems so included with bitterness as it is
about loss of love/separation of A lines could allude to separation of lovers
Techniques:
● Alliteration to show feelings - WWTP - “They know not I knew thee” → hard to read
so shows they were uncomfortable in relationship
NT - “We stood by a pond that winter day” → draws out line length as his suffering is
drawn out
