To Love, To Be Loved
[ Home ] Love SongCarol Muske-Dukes
Love comes hungry to anyone’s hand.
I found the newborn sparrow next to
the tumbled nest on the grass. Bravely
opening its beak. Cats circled, squirrels.
I tried to set the nest right but the wild
birds had fled. The knot of pin feathers
sat in my hand and spoke. Just because
I’ve raised it by touch, doesn’t mean it
follows. All day it pecks at the tin image of
a faceless bird. It refuses to fly,
though I’ve opened the door. What
sends us to each other? He and I
had a blue landscape, a village street,
some poems, bread on a plate. Love
was a camera in a doorway, love was
a script, a tin bird. Love was faceless,
even when we’d memorized each other’s
lines. Love was hungry, love was faceless,
the sparrow sings, famished, in my hand.
The poem “Love Song” by Carol Muske-Dukes is about the interaction andlove between the speaker “I” and the “newborn sparrow”, reflecting the lovebetween the speaker and “he”. This poem is written with the specific use ofstructure, diction and personification to express the love between “I” and “he”,which implies a desire for love and being loved.
The speaker “I” found a “newborn sparrow” left behind in a “tumbled nest” and rescued it fromdanger. The sparrow refused to fly away when “I” lets it go, which evoked thespeaker’s memory of “he” and life with him. Finally, the speaker sighed withwords “love was hungry, love was faceless.”
To begin with, structure is an important element in poems. The poem “Love Song”has six tercet stanzas and a final line as a stanza organized according to theorder of the plot development. The form of this poem is very clear for sixtercet stanzas which provide a suitable pace for readers to read andunderstand, while the poet left the last line alone in order to highlight “my”feelings. Muske-Dukes gave the main point of this poem in the first line “lovecomes hungry to anyone’s hand”, which echoes with the last line to emphasizeand deepen the poem as an inclusio. In addition, this poem has many meaningfulenjambments. For example, in line 3 the last word is “bravely” and then thereis an enjambment moving on to the next stanza to “opening its beak”. Thischoice makes the word “bravely” obviously stand out, which leaves readers withan impression of a weak but persevering character.
Diction is another vital aspect that’s worth analyzing. In the poem “Love Song”, Muske-Dukeschose the first person “I” to be the speaker. Compared with “you” or “they”, thischoice makes it easier to express the feelings throughout the poem. Althoughthe “I” does not specifically refer to the poet herself, it’s obvious that sheadded rich emotion to “I”. By reading between the lines, “my” love with thesparrow mirrors “my” love with “he”, probably a man “I” deeply loved. When itcomes to some adjectives and imageries that Muske-Dukes chose, implications canbe found. She used “hungry” both in line 1 and line 18 and “famished” in line19. Here “hungry” is not just a physical feeling, but also a desire or longingfor love. Similarly, the word “faceless” appears three times in line 10 line 16and line 18, which convey the uncertainty and puzzle of “I” in the process offinding love. From the fourth stanza she chose pun, or rather layered words, tomake a transition to the love with the man mentioned, that is, “What sends usto each other?” It refers to the encounters both with the sparrow and the man.The poet decided to use “he” instead of a name to leave readers more space toimagine. Moreover, the imageries she chose like “village street”, “bread on aplate” all form a warm and cozy picture of life of the lovers, referring to theword “camera”(line 15) that records dribs and drabs in their life. The dictionof this poem sets a sorrowful tone filled with old memories.
As a last point, the character “sparrow” shows a personification to make betterinteraction between them. The word “bravely” (line 3) gives the sparrow a personalityor quality. Also, “sat in my hand and spoke” (line 7) creates a vivid imageryof the bird like a little child. Especially in the tenth line, which is“itrefuses to fly”, the poet shows readers a touching scene of the two characters.This personification helps connect emotions between “I” and the bird, and what’smore important is that it makes smooth transition to the following contentabout the love and life between “I” and “he”.
Carol Muske-Dukes illustrates an ordinary scene of life rescuing asparrow but enriches it with deep memory and love. With a tercet form ofstructure, a reminiscent diction and vivid personification, the poem “Love Song”brings readers strong impression and reflection on deep love.
Story-In this life, what did you miss?
Imitation to Arab Andalusian Poetry