Love Poem Essay

Rose Colored Glasses Removed

For this analysis paper, there were several different poems to choose from.   Most of the options had to do with growing old and death.   However, being the hopeless romantic that I am, I chose to write my analysis on the poem written by John Frederick Nims titled “Love Poem”.   This poem is very different than the average love poem though.   In “Love Poem”, John Frederick Nims de-romanticizes the ideal image of love as he explains all of the undesirable characteristics of his partner and illustrates the many wonderful characteristics of his partner.
In order to start this process of de-romanticizing love; Nims starts off by setting the readers expectations of the poem with the title causing the reader to expect the traditional love poem with expressions of infatuation, affection and romance.   However, as soon as the reader begins to read the poem, the reader will soon realize this is not the direction that the poem will take them but in fact on a path of a more truthful realistic illustration of love.
The first stanza begins with the statement “my clumsiest dear”, which is clearly an insincere compliment.   The poem continues with a bizarre arrangement of disapproval and admiration.   Nims essentially illustrates that he is talking to someone that he loves but that someone is definitely flawed.   Nims stated the lover causes the glasses to “chip and ring” as if stating the lover has a dangerous touch.   The author goes on to illustrate same in the first stanza when he describes the lover as a “bur in linen” and a “bull in china” which demonstrate devastation and carelessness.   These are not the typical compliments one uses to describe someone that they love.   At this point, it is becoming very obvious that this poem is taking a very different path than the average love poem and describes more disapproval of the lover instead of the normal admiration one expresses.
However, upon continued reading, Nims comes back to his original purpose...