This ‘Forms of Love’ sonnet focuses on epithumia/epithumeō (desire); specifically, the desire for material things. Nietzsche announced the “death of god” in 1882. He followed this announcement with a series of questions, one of which was, “How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers?” Well, the answer was already forming in the nineteenth century… Continue reading Forms of Love 4: Fellowship
Forms of Love 3: Wildflower Walk
This sonnet explores unrealised love – love that is felt emotionally but never physically. The metaphor I’ve created to represent this form of love is a “wildflower walk”: this is a journey, on foot, to collect wild flowers for a posy. The speaker recounts the story of such a walk, adding that they avoided plucking… Continue reading Forms of Love 3: Wildflower Walk
Forms of Love 2: Uncivil Love
My interest in the Ancient Greek names for love was piqued by the contrast between the single word for this emotion in English and the several names for it in Greek. There are clearly many forms of love. So why is there only one word to denote multiple emotions? Or at least multiple flavours of… Continue reading Forms of Love 2: Uncivil Love
Forms of Love 1: Pro Patria
It’s ridiculous that there’s only one word for love: there are clearly many different forms of this emotion, all with different strengths and effects. The Ancient Greeks had a solution – different words for different types of love. Their list included ludus (playful love), pragma (longstanding love) and eros (sexual love). Although the length of… Continue reading Forms of Love 1: Pro Patria
Personification 14: Love’s Romulus
‘Love’s Romulus’ is the fourteenth and final of my personification collection: it is partner sonnet to last week’s ‘Love is Remus’. This time Love is the other brother – the one who killed his twin after the cheeky sibling jumped over a wall he was building around Palatine Hill. (Having previously saved that very brother… Continue reading Personification 14: Love’s Romulus
Personification 13: Love is Remus
1 sonnet = 14 lines. To give this project mathematical synergy, I’m writing four collections of 14 sonnets. 1 year = 52 weeks. 4 x 14 = 56. This is the mathematical truth behind my year-long Love’s Sonnets project. It will, in fact, last one year and four weeks. Furthermore, because several types of sonnet are… Continue reading Personification 13: Love is Remus
Personification 12: Love’s not from God
Shakespeare had a penchant for stating things by asserting the opposite is untrue. “Love is not love that alteration finds”, “Love alters not” and “Love’s not Time’s fool” are all taken from Sonnet 116 ‘Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments’. It is a powerful technique because it distinctly asserts a… Continue reading Personification 12: Love’s not from God
Personification 11: Trust Quartermaster Love
The seed idea for ‘Trust Quartermaster Love’ was that love can assist us in many ways through life. It can give us the strength to cope with things that would otherwise overwhelm us. It can make us feel joy. It can protect us when the elements of life threaten our wellbeing. The best personification character… Continue reading Personification 11: Trust Quartermaster Love
Personification 10: Love the Dealer
‘Love the Dealer’ draws comparison between the effects of love and of illegal drugs.
Personification 9: Born Fighter Love
‘Born Fighter Love’ is one of the more pro-love sonnets in my personification series. It began with a simple thought; Love has all the attributes of a fighter. Love can inflict pain using skill, insight and experience. Logic concludes that Love is a fierce combatant. We’ve all experienced its ire. We’ve felt the pain of… Continue reading Personification 9: Born Fighter Love