The Theme Of Valentine By John Fuller
Fang Xiangning
Prof. Qu
15 March 2015
12300120182
The Theme of Valentine by John Fuller
The poem Valentine by John Fuller depicts a man’s unrequited but intense love and passionate desires for a lady in the first person.
First of all, by “unrequited,” I mean that even though the man confided his profound love for the lady in the poem, the lady does not seem to feel for him in the same way. Secondly, by “intense,” I mean that his love for this lady is so strong and great that he cannot help observing her body closely, continuously complimenting her on her physical features and movements, and using many words of endearment to describe her throughout the poem. Thirdly, by “passionate desires,” I mean that the man is sexually attracted to the lady and has strong sexual longing for her.
Reading between the lines, it is plausible to infer that even though the man loves the lady so profoundly, she does not feel the same for him. The lady’s gestures and actions throughout the poem seem normal and indifferent to the readers though they mean much to the man, and there is no sign of her love for him. For example, “The way they focus on me gives me twinges. Your upper arms drive me berserk.” (4.2-4.3) Possibly the man feels painful because he cannot see either affections or tenderness in the lady’s eyes, and berserk because her upper arms are so beautiful but he is not able to caress or even touch them. Besides, the man uses “I’d like to” instead of “I like to” all the time, which probably means that everything he “would like to do” has not been done yet, and that everything is just his own fancies. Particularly in the last stanza, he says, “I’d like to be your preference / … / The final name in your appointment book, / Your future tense,” (11.5, 11.9-10) indicating that at present, he is not the lady’s preference yet. Another evidence is in the first stanza, where the man says, “Sometimes I feel it is my fate / To … make you cower / By asking you to differentiate Nietzsche
Prof. Qu
15 March 2015
12300120182
The Theme of Valentine by John Fuller
The poem Valentine by John Fuller depicts a man’s unrequited but intense love and passionate desires for a lady in the first person.
First of all, by “unrequited,” I mean that even though the man confided his profound love for the lady in the poem, the lady does not seem to feel for him in the same way. Secondly, by “intense,” I mean that his love for this lady is so strong and great that he cannot help observing her body closely, continuously complimenting her on her physical features and movements, and using many words of endearment to describe her throughout the poem. Thirdly, by “passionate desires,” I mean that the man is sexually attracted to the lady and has strong sexual longing for her.
Reading between the lines, it is plausible to infer that even though the man loves the lady so profoundly, she does not feel the same for him. The lady’s gestures and actions throughout the poem seem normal and indifferent to the readers though they mean much to the man, and there is no sign of her love for him. For example, “The way they focus on me gives me twinges. Your upper arms drive me berserk.” (4.2-4.3) Possibly the man feels painful because he cannot see either affections or tenderness in the lady’s eyes, and berserk because her upper arms are so beautiful but he is not able to caress or even touch them. Besides, the man uses “I’d like to” instead of “I like to” all the time, which probably means that everything he “would like to do” has not been done yet, and that everything is just his own fancies. Particularly in the last stanza, he says, “I’d like to be your preference / … / The final name in your appointment book, / Your future tense,” (11.5, 11.9-10) indicating that at present, he is not the lady’s preference yet. Another evidence is in the first stanza, where the man says, “Sometimes I feel it is my fate / To … make you cower / By asking you to differentiate Nietzsche