FREE ESSAY ON LOVE POEM

LOVE POEM

My clumsiest dear, whose hands shipwreck vases, 
At whose quick touch all glasses chip and ring, 
Whose palms are bulls in china, burs in linen, 
And have no cunning with any soft thing 
Except all ill-at-ease fidgeting people: 5
The refugee uncertain at the door 
You make at home; deftly you steady 
The drunk clambering on his undulant floor. 
Unpredictable dear, the taxi drivers' terror, 
Shrinking from far headlights pale as a dime 10
Yet leaping before red apoplectic streetcars -- 
Misfit in any space. And never on time. 
A wrench in clocks and the solar system. Only 
With words and people and love you move at ease. 
In traffic of wit expertly manoeuvre 15
And keep us, all devotion, at your knees. 
Forgetting your coffee spreading on our flannel, 
Your lipstick grinning on our coat, 
So gayly in love's unbreakable heaven 
Our souls on glory of spilt bourbon float. 20
Be with me, darling, early and late. Smash glasses -- 
I will study wry music for your sake. 
For should your hands drop white and empty 
All the toys of the world would break.
Romantic love can be defined as a deep devotion or affection for something or someone and
is often shared between two people. When a love is mutual, lovers find themselves
compelled to communicate the love between them, for example, expressing love in a solid
form such as poetry. The rhythmic flow, vivid imagery, and ability to encapsulate
abstract emotions makes poetry the perfect medium for expressing romantic love. This type
of poetry is so popular; it has become a separate genre called 'Love Poems.'
Traditionally, love poems render the beloved as an ideal of perfection, placing the lover
on a pedestal. John Fredrick Nims's Love Poem however, beautifully contradicts this
tradition by describing a love that transcends human faults. The poem is written to, and
about, a woman who possesses this kind of love, and the speaker is a man thinking about
the adoration that he and others feel for his beloved. The poem's images present the
dominant theme that a genuine love and caring for humanity--a graceful and beautiful
soul--can exist beneath an awkward surface. Although the speaker offers images of the
woman as clumsy and destructive, he also presents a gentle side to contrast her awkward
nature.
The images of the first stanza portray a woman's awkwardness with daily tasks. For
example, the woman is a person whose hands shipwreck vases, /At whose quick touch all
glasses chip and ring, /Whose palms are bulls in china, burs in linen (lines 2-4). In
this hyperbole, the woman's hands are personified as if they move of their own volition.
By doing so, Nims absolves his beloved of blame. The continuance of this theme through
the striking image of shipwreck vases suggests a force spun out of control, as if her
hands were chaotically destructive, as storms are to ships. This image is again
reinforced by the idea of wild bulls breaking glass in china shops. In the china shop,
her hands are powerful but out of place. The woman's ineptness is further described as A
wrench in clocks and the solar system (line 13), making her clumsiness seem timeless and
eternal. However, it is in fact her benevolent nature that transcends time and place.
The second stanza highlights the contrast between the woman's ineptness to her external
environment and her internal grace. She gives solace to others in need, providing
stability to the wavering of the drunk's undulant floor (line 8). This act of kindness is
done deftly (line 7), with skill and grace that directly oppose her clumsiness with
inanimate objects.
Striking contrasts of imagery continue to portray the speaker's affection for his
Unpredictable dear (line 9), whose traffic of wit can expertly manoeuvre (line 15)
itself, whilst her driving skills are presented through the hyperbole of red apoplectic
streetcars (line 11). Here the personified images of vehicles behaving both angry and
terrified in her presence blatantly juxtapose her composure and cleverness when it comes
to dealing with human beings and their emotions.
Reinforcing the idea that the beloved is adored in spite of her faults, the fifth stanza
points out that love has its own unbreakable heaven (line 19). Here such mundane concerns
as coffee spreading and spilt bourbon (lines 17 and 20) are of no consequence. In fact,
because the spills are associated with her, they become almost spiritual in nature, as
the word heaven emphasizes. In heaven, for all eternity, nothing breaks at her touch. As
a result, her warm nature seems more admirable than any social graces would.
It is also important to recognize the poet's use of irony to contrast the woman's
compassionate nature with her awkward behavior. For example, the speaker says she has no
cunning with any soft thing (line 4); nonetheless, her altruistic manner with which she
handles the frailest human psyche. The use of the word cunning goes beyond suggesting
that she is not consciously careful by exemplifying the fact that she is not
manipulative. Her sincerity dominates the chaos of her movements. Even though the beloved
lacks skill with delicate inanimate objects like glasses and vases, which chip and ring
(line 2) at her slightest touch, she has a tranquil effect on people around her. In fact,
she mends rather than breaks where people are concerned. Fidgeting people and The drunk
clambering on his undulant floor (lines 5 and 8) find solace and stability in her
manner.
As the speaker says, For should your hands drop white and empty/All the toys of the world
would break (lines 23-24). In other words, the same hands that are dangerous at the
beginning of the poem ultimately act to disguise an extraordinarily gentle soul beneath
the clumsy surface. The phrase toys of the world is a metaphor for the fragility of
people's minds and hearts; if the beloved were absent, all who know her and depend on her
kind heart would surely be as lost and broken-spirited as children whose toys are
broken.
John Frederick Nims's Love Poem exposes a woman for who she really is. Nims portrays her
as reckless, destructive and downright inept. He tallies up her shattered glasses and
maimed bed sheets to present a woman at odds with her environment in the most extreme of
ways. But Nims accomplishes much more than just this. He leads his reader through these
descriptions all for a greater good. He moves on in the poem describing her inner-soul,
her intrinsic good will towards those in need. Through the juxtaposition of these two
types of images -- the awkward and the adept - Nims's beloved is reborn. By the final
stanza we too see her true beauty and grace. And, most importantly, we come to understand
this poem for what it is...a true love poem.