Original Poem: The Power of Love
You’ll never know it till you lose it all,
You may deny it, yet you’ll see again:
It’s love that always makes the final call.
It makes you rise, and then it makes you fall,
It always ties you with a mystic chain:
You’ll never know it till you lose it all.
It makes you turn away and makes you crawl,
You never can escape its mighty reign:
It’s love that always makes the final call.
It makes you cry and sometimes makes you bawl,
It isn’t something you can fool or feign:
You’ll never know it till you lose it all.
No matter whether it is big or small,
It still can make one miserably vain:
It’s love that always makes the final call.
It can excite, and it can also pall,
It comes with blessings or arrives with pain:
You’ll never know it till you lose it all,
It’s love that always makes the final call.
Poem Analysis
Type of Poem, Meter, and Rhyme Scheme
The type of poem is a villanelle, which is characterized by a nineteen-line structure. In a villanelle, there are two rhymes repeated throughout with a rhyme scheme of ABA ABA ABA ABA ABA ABAA. The piece consists of five tercets and a quatrain, with the first and third lines of the initial tercet repeated in turn at the end of all other tercets. At the end of the final quatrain, both recurring lines are used. The poem is written in iambic pentameter, with each unstressed syllable being followed by a stressed one. The meter can be best illustrated with the scheme ‘da DUM da DUM da DUM.’
Subject/Purpose
The subject of the poem is love and its multiple effects on people. The recurrent lines of the villanelle focus on the notions of the almighty power of love and the inevitability of people’s experiencing love’s impact under various circumstances. For some, love is kind and mutual, while for others, it is cruel and single-sided. Some individuals may feel happy and blissed while in love, yet others can be totally miserable. One thing is clear: no single person can predict what their love story will be like since understanding only comes with experience.
Figurative Language
The stylistic figures of speech prevailing in the poem are metaphors and personifications. For instance, such phrases as “It…ties you with a…chain” (line 5) and “You never can escape its mighty reign” (line 8) entitle the abstract notion of love with human abilities and power. Such a choice of figurative language and overall vocabulary is typical for poetry about love.
The Choice of the Specific Type and Subject
The rationale behind selecting the subject and poem type is that they are quite complementary. A villanelle is perfect for writing about love, while love is ideal for being depicted in such a complicated yet tender subject. I wanted to express my personal impressions of love, which might warn some and find reflection in others.
It is difficult to write villanelles as one must think of a variety of words meeting a similar rhyme pattern. However, this challenge is also what makes the poem more valuable once one manages to cope with it. I appreciate the effect that love has on people: whether they become happy or dispirited, they definitely gain unmatched experience that helps them to understand both themselves and those that surround them better.