In the poem “The Forms of Love,” written by George Oppen, there seems to be a love story about a couple in search of a lake. When a person rereads the poem and begins to break down the poem stanza by stanza they will realize that the poem is not an ordinary love story. After breaking down the poem the reader can conclude that the setting is conveyed though imagery, the speaker is searching for love, and the theme is portrayed through the diction.
In the first stanza the reader can instantly begin to paint a picture of the setting of the poem:
Parked in the fields
All night
So many years ago,
We saw
A lake beside us
When the moon rose.
I remember
Imagery helps the reader to convey an image of what the poem is about. The image in this stanza is a couple sitting in a car, parked in fields at night, looking at what they think is a lake beside them.
In the second stanza of the poem continues to use imagery for the setting:
Leaving that ancient car
Together. I remember
Standing in the white grass
Beside it. We groped
Our way together
Downhill in the bright
Incredible light
The first and the second stanza both use imagery to help paint a setting. In these two stanzas the reader is now able to see the setting as a couple sitting in a car, in the fields at night, thinking that they see a lake. They both decide to get out of the car in search of the lake. Walking through the fields frosted grass the couple began to travel downhill, using the moon as a light.
The third stanza of the poem unites with the other two stanzas and concludes the setting:
Beginning to wonder
Whether it be a lake
Or fog
We saw, our heads
Ringing under the stars we walked
To where it would have wet our feet
Had it been water
Now that the whole poem has been broke down the reader can paint a picture of the entire setting. The poems story is about a couple sitting in a car, in