A Farewell to False Love is the best poem in the world. Raleigh writes his experience with love as terrible and unbearable; it was written in 1 588 in an era where poets would typically write about the wonders of love, or write to a love. In Raleigh poem he contradicts this idea by writing a poem that states explicitly that love seems to be a lovely thing on the outside, but once you experience it, it is like a “poisoned serpent covered in flowers”. This poem contains many poetic elements including, elements of arm, imagery, sound and sense, and theme.
The writer uses all of these poetic elements to make this poem the best poem in the world. The Structure Of this poem is very common for the era that it was written. It is written in pentameter which is five pairs of strong and weak syllables. This makes the poem easy to read and it gives it a pleasant structure. It consists of five stanzas with 6 lines each including a rhyming couplet at the end of each stanza. Throughout the poem, each line finishes with a comma, except at the end of each stanza, they finish with a period.
This is true for the first four stanzas, but the last one is different, the second last line finishes with a period. The way the author has written the end of the poem suggests that it should end with the second last line, but the is another line after it. The second last line starts with “False love”, part of the theme of the poem, and ends with “adieu”, the other part of the theme. Raleigh writes this way to symbolize the idea that no matter how much he thinks that love is a terrible thing, and he doesn’t want any part of it, he can never escape it; it is a part of everyone’s life.
Although love is a part of everyone’s life and there is no escaping it, Raleigh uses a massive amount of imagery to explain who he perceives love. The entire poem is written in figurative language; the whole thing is a metaphor. Raleigh starts with the idea that he is addressing, “Farewell false love”, and then the rest of the poem is used to describe what love is to him, and the way he sees it. One example of a metaphor he uses is: “A poisoned serpent covered with flowers”, which gives the reader the image that love looks nice ND pretty on the outside but is poisoned and evil underneath.
Another way that Raleigh describes how much he dislikes the idea of love and being in love is by using different elements of sound and sense. The first thing that the reader notices in the poem is the rhyming. The rhyme scheme is a simple abaca. It gives the poem movement and flow; it makes it easier to read. The second thing that is easy for the reader to notice is the consonance. Raleigh uses this to draw attention to certain lines throughout the poem. For example: ” A substance like the shadow Of the sun”; we hear the very strong “s” sound drawing attention to the line, meaning this line is important in how Raleigh perceives love.
He perceives love as a substance like the shadow of the sun, being cold, dark and gloomy. There is also some alliteration in the poem drawing attention to certain words phrases throughout the poem for example: “deep deceit”. Raleigh highlights the word deceit with alliteration to show the readers that love is deceitful; it deceives the young and prosperous over by making it seem desirable and beautiful, but then traps them in a web of poisonous lies and hate. The idea of love being poisonous is one of the few recurring ideas in the poem.
Another one is the idea of innocence. The picture of a young boy appears in some of the stanzas, “An envious boy, from who all cares arise”, “An idle boy that sleeps in pleasures lap”, they are metaphors for the idea that in childhood, there is peace and happiness, and that the innocence of childhood is not lost to the poison or deceit of love. Another more prominent image is the image of nature. Raleigh compares the idea of love to the uncontrollable and terrible elements of nature.
He does this because everyone has had an experience with nature and their uncontrollable elements so it is easier to compare it to something that maybe not everyone has experienced. He gets a reaction from the reader whether they have experienced the terrors of love or not. Raleigh incorporates all Of these elements to create the best poem in the world. His use of alliteration and consonance draws attention to the parts he wants noticed more than there, and uses imagery to describe further his hate and the terror of love.
The best poem in the world should captivate the reader and make them think about what was going on in the mind of the writer when the poem was written. It should incorporate something that the reader can connect to, something that connects the reader and the writer, and experience, a thought or goal. Raleigh uses these ideas and more to bring to life his idea, his opinion, and connect with many readers who feel the same way. This poem could change views on love and desire simply because Raleigh stated his opinion.
