Poetry Blog #3

It was difficult to find two poems with directly contrasting views on the topic of love, since the topic contains a wide variety of themes that can be touched on. I eventually selected "Measure" by Zareh Khrakhouni and "True Love" by Roger Penn Warren as two which seemed to express roughly opposite ideas of love. "Measure" is all about intense depth of love, with two people trying to compare their amount of love for each other. "True Love" expresses the fleeting and distant nature of love, with the speaker loving a girl across years who has said his name once. The main difference is the speakers' statements about the intensity required in true love. "Measure," with a couple competing for loving each other most, expresses the idea that true love is broad and intense, with the speaker's lover telling her that his "love was as deep as the light in [her] eyes." Yet "True Love" puts forth a very different idea, that real love can be the barest little thing between people with little connection. The speaker claims he fell in love with a girl he saw on the side of the road, and occasionally would run into her throughout his childhood. While Khrakhouni's speaker delves deep into an intense, close connection with her partner, Warren's character almost unconditionally loves a near-stranger. Yet both authors describe it as a pure form of love.

As far as my opinion? It's kind of hard, considering these poems are at the extremes of the spectrum. I don't think "True Love" represents actual true love, not considering a crush on a stranger love of any kind. But on the other hand, "Measure" is almost... sickeningly cheesy, and seems so cliche and over-the-top. Since I have a boring, average view on love, that it's about a strong personal connection but doesn't need to be intense and fiery, I'm kind of in between the two ideas. I guess I'd lean a little towards Khrakhouni's idea of love, if only because extreme cheesiness is more acceptable than mildly stalker-ish behavior.


(Note: I did really enjoy "Siren Song," "Weighing the Dog," and "Mi Fea," but sadly could not find any good comparisons using them. Just let it go on record that they're kind of awesome.)