Friday, February 11, 2011

In "I Find no Peace", why are so many paradoxes?

An astute reader can count fifteen separate paradoxes in
the poem. Lines 5 and 6 provide just one paradox, but lines 9 and 12 each give us two.
The total effect of the paradoxes is to stress the conflicting emotions elicited by
love. The point is made about as strongly as it can be made, from the global paradoxes
in lines 1–4 to the more political and personal ones in lines 5–8. The logic of turning
the love of another to hate for oneself (line 11) is difficult to follow unless the line
refers to the speaker’s inability to express his love or to pursue it successfully. The
assertion that the speaker’s “delight” causes all the “strife” (line 14) is easier to
follow. We may suppose that the speaker had established a regular way of life that has
been upset by the changes required and anticipated by his having fallen in
love.

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