logo

16 pages 32 minutes read

Linda Pastan

Love Poem

Linda PastanFiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2005

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Themes

Love Is Not a Poem

Linda Pastan entitles her poem “Love Poem,” and yet, the speaker only expresses the desire to write a poem—she does not directly qualify this poem as one (except in the title). The spring melt and resultant flood works as a metaphor for love in that the phenomena echoes the experience of a first love—fast and all-encompassing, a rush. Pastan’s speaker, though, is not experiencing this rush for the first time, but is standing with her beloved on the “dangerous / banks” (Lines 6-7) of “our creek” (Line 3). The danger, if no less dangerous, is a known quantity. The speaker wants her poem to be “as headlong” (Line 2) as the wild waters, but holds her own head above the torrent, to “watch it” (Line 7).

The poet cannot create a poem like the creek, which indiscriminately carries “with it every twig / every dry leaf and branch” (Lines 8-9). A poem cannot contain everything “in its path” (Line 10); a poem steers toward concision. A rushing stream does not edit or make choices, as the poet surely does, even when writing about love.

Love, as an unstoppable force, will roll right over “every scruple” (Line 11).

blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
Unlock IconUnlock all 16 pages of this Study Guide

Plus, gain access to 8,500+ more expert-written Study Guides.

Including features:

+ Mobile App
+ Printable PDF
+ Literary AI Tools