Love hurts and it sucks and generally is a very silly disease that curses us humans. It can cloud our judgement and be our biggest downfall as well as our greatest strength - what extreme it takes us to really seems to depend greatly on circumstance. One would actually be quite impressed how love can changes one's outlook on another person or even life in general.
For that reason I chose to contrast the poems "She Walks in Beauty" by Lord Byron and "True Love" by Robert Penn Warren because both speakers seems to be greatly effected by their love. They both seem to portray it in a completely different way though. "She Walks in Beauty" focuses on a woman who is so bright that she can light up the darkness - she indeed blinds the speaker simply by existing, and because of her mere existence brightens up everything. Of her, "all that's best of dark and bright/meet in her aspect and her eyes" and the daylight cannot do her the justice with which to allow her true beauty to shine through. In this case, the woman who is the object of the speaker's affections is clearly better, she is the embodiment of beauty and good.
Whereas in the poem "True Love", which uses similar imagery with light and dark, the woman is also portrayed as the most wonderful thing in the world. Everything around her, as well, pales in comparison to the sheer beauty she presents. However, in this case, the world around her is definitely portrayed as being worse than her, as his feelings for her are something that "makes you feel dirty" and her situation in life, with a drunkard father and the foreclosed home do not present the situation of someone who walks in beauty in wonder. Rather, she has to deal with the ugliness of real life and shines out among it. This makes one wonder if she truly is as great as the speaker thinks, or if she simply seems to shine from where he (and she) are in comparison.
So pretty much, the two poets both seem to think that love can change your perception of things, thought one focuses more on how there is nothing wrong with it - indeed, he doesn't even address the fact that that is happening - while the other shows that their view of the person they love might not really be true - though it may indeed be true, it's just kinda hard to grasp from the poem. In that way I feel like I have to take a step back and say that I really don't know whether I would side with one or another, or even if there is really a side to take. Mostly, the two poets simply portray two different types of relationships/pining/etc and therefore I feel like either could be right, depending on the specifics of the relationship.
I sincerely doubt that I managed to convey my thoughts on these two poems just right ugh
Sarah--I think it's important to note that the narrator of "True Love" is reflecting on the chiseling away of the naivete he had as a boy as the reality of older girl he had his first painful crush on became more and more defined over time.
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