Love's Loneliness Comments

P.S. My response is No duplication, pleas, since my response hasn't appeared yet till now, so I repeat my original response.This is my explanation, thnk you

This poem goes about introspection, decay, and loss..The imagery of shadows, a thin moon, and a ragged thorn reflects the speaker's emotional turmoil. The poem also mourns the possibility of an Ireland true to the poet's romantic ideals

beautiful poem love begets loveliness loneliness

love begets loveliness''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Nice poem... Thought provoking that leaves the reader with a lot uncertainty...

Reminds me of Jimmy Fallon when he shares inside jokes with the guest. I know it must be funny because both of them are laughing, and I would too if I got it.

Widowed, lonely, longing, Days passing without meaning Wondering when again our hearts shall be whole But for now, tearing, shredded, ever so slightly

A beautiful poem and with certain nice meanings......The great poetry.

It seems to me that this poem cannot be explained from within. And that I think is a fault in a poem. A poem which is explicable only, or in part, by reference to history or philosophy etc., or has inexplicable internal inconsistencies or gnomic statements, is an imperfect poem, and bad manners on the part of the poet. There should be in a poem everything needed to understand it.. It may be that there are ideas or words etc. in a poem which are foreign to the reader, but, these explained, a poem should be internally complete. After all, we are reading poetry not history etc. At the same time there is a rhetorical beauty about this poem. Perhaps Yeats was talking to those who would know what he was talking about, and forgot about his wider audience.

great-grandfathers shadow remember longing. The words without rhyme provide the reason.

W B Yeats noted for philosophical poems makes an indelible imprint in this poem too!

Words bring to light the expanse of time and it's thrashing affects on life.

The fact that Yeats is appealing to the male fore fathers, for me is an indication of his misunderstanding of the female being; so he goes to these mountains which had stood strong and high, which have struggled yet survived; and the moon; every lover blames the moon at some time or other, which makes for an ernest and worthy plead. Love; who is the expert? Yeats knows it is truly Heaven

As Michael Pruchnicki suggests, the poem is best understood when read together with the series of poems under the title WORDS FOR MUSIC PERHAPS. They can be found under that title on this site. Among them is one of my favorites: XVII - AFTER LONG SILENCE SPEECH after long silence; it is right, All other lovers being estranged or dead, Unfriendly lamplight hid under its shade, The curtains drawn upon unfriendly night, That we descant and yet again descant Upon the supreme theme of Art and Song: Bodily decrepitude is wisdom; young We loved each other and were ignorant.

Perhaps, Y B Yeats is referring to the changing tides of love. Once upon a time there was a generation who was against the concept of love affairs and the poet is asking questions to the older generations through the poem. The last lines clearly reflect this aspect. My view is that every generation has a view about love and love affairs about which we can't wholly blame. Many factors contribute to such a kind of view. Dejected lovers may easily find fault with such conservative views but certain views of older generations had their merrits also. They had certainly saved many daughters and sons.

I agree with those who sense a strangeness in this poem. At times, Yeats can be rather difficult; he developed a personal symbology, and often alludes to Irish mythology (as well as other mythologies) , which add a richness and depth to his work, but can sometimes make it opaque for readers. In addition, as Kevin indicates, Yeats was also politically involved. This particular poem may have both a personal reference (Yeats' love was unrequited) , and a political reference (he was deeply involved with Ireland's struggles) , not to mention (as Kevin also mentions) a spiritual/mystical side. Since Yeats is considered one of the great (or greatest) poet of the 20th Century, a careful reading of every word in one of his poems, and a knowledge of its meaning (ie. etymololgy) would be highly appropriate; he is precise in his choice of words, commensurate to his greatness as a poet. A careful reading of this poem would, in the end (and in my opinion) be a highly rewarding exercise.

'Love's Loneliness' is the twelfth in a series of twenty-five poems under the collective title WORDS FOR MUSIC PERHAPS (August 19,1931) . The series includes such standbys as 'Crazy Jane and the Bishop, ' 'Crazy Jane Grown Old Looks at the Dancers, ' and 'Tim the Lunatic.' The speaker in 'Love's Loneliness' exhorts 'Old fathers, great-grandfathers' to come to his aid if they have ever experienced the pangs of a broken heart. Is it possible that such forbears long time dead now, either in the grave or approaching the end, can come to protect their offspring, their descendants who suffer here and now! The time has come when the first rush of love has subsided and we linger in dread under the thin shadow of a mountain in the waning moon's light. The one we longed for has changed into a creature we no longer know or understand, and we cannot recall with clarity those earlier feelings. This song is followed by 'Her Dream' and 'His Bargain' culminating in 'Three Things.' A refrain ends each of the three stanzas in 'Three Things' -'A bone whitened and dried in the wind'!

this is a strange poem hard to understand connect it that's all

To understand this poem fully you need to know the circumstances, which I assume are to do with the Irish troubles. This is like a prayer pertaining to local matters of which the visiting stranger is unaware. I think MP should try to inform rather than lose his temper. LM's comment is wrong in the last statement - if any comment or feeling is justified then error cannot be corrected. On ther other hand I feel sympathy for Valerie's position. I have a problem with religious poetry, and I wonder sometimes if I appreciate it as much as believers do. But I would not do without Donne, Herbert etc for anything!

Sometimes I think about people who post on this site who have no clue nor any interest about poets or poetry, but who seem to assume that their narrow interests should be addressed by the likes of William Butler Yeats! So a reader like Valerie assumes that the poem is 'strange' because she doesn't get it! Of course, the standard response is that she is entitled to her opinion, no matter how uninformed it may be! No matter, I think, she is like so many who post such drivel here and elsewhere - if I don't get it, the poet has failed!