My love is like to ice, and I to fire:
How comes it then that this her cold so great
Is not dissolved through my so hot desire,
But harder grows the more I her entreat?
Or how comes it that my exceeding heat
Is not allayed by her heart-frozen cold,
But that I burn much more in boiling sweat,
And feel my flames augmented manifold?
What more miraculous thing may be told,
That fire, which all things melts, should harden ice,
And ice, which is congeal'd with senseless cold,
Should kindle fire by wonderful device?
Such is the power of love in gentle mind,
That it can alter all the course of kind.
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Comments
1 - 9 of 9
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Come on the man was a genius. Was not he in love here with a cold fish? The heat of his love and desire could not melt the heart of the ice-maden.
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This is great.
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I dont usually read/like these kind of poems{the writing style} but this one is different; I like this one quite a bit
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too obvious
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Translation
This would appear to have been borrowed from Pierre de RONSARD 1524_1585 Sonnets pour Hélène: Book I xxxv as well as the various poems of Italian and French origin which were source works and integrated into Mozart's Noces de Figaro as the aria Voi che sapete -
A classic sonnet about a classic conflict; fire is to ice as ice is to fire.
To the poster down below, "dissolved" IS pronounced as two sylables!
Brazos -
Such is the power
the poem is very nice, fine art work but the last two lines are more than beautiful, superb, excellent, wonderful, Such is the Power!!! -
emotion comes alive.touching.metaphor can b read in many ways and meaning can b derived.nice poem.
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10 syllables: My love is like to ice, and I to fire:
10 syllables: How comes it then that this her cold so great
11 syllables: Is not dissolved through my so hot desire,
10 syllables: But harder grows the more I her entreat?
Speaking for myself only, I would remove the "so" in front of "hot desire." I can see how someone who pronounces
"dissolved" as 2 syllables would need the "so" to make 10.
Overall: Excellant for helping me to understand my own feelings when I am in the first flush of love. When I submit this comment, will my username be added? I want it to be: ColoradoCowboy. I look at Spenser's poem again and see more. Probably so have others. How do I read their comments?
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