Symptoms of Love Poem
Love is a universal migraine
A bright stain on the vision
Blotting out reason
Symptoms of true love
Are leanness jealousy
Laggard dawns.
Are omens and nightmares-
Listening for a knock
Waiting for a sign
For a touch of her fingers
In a darkened room
For a searching look.
Take courage lover!
Could you endure such pain
At any hand but hers?
(Literature: reading fiction, poetry and drama McGraw hill, 2000)
Questions and Answers on Symptoms of love
(a) Identify the persona in this poem (2marks)
The persona in this poem is a poet. He writes about love from his own stand point
(b) What is the persona’s attitude towards love? Explain your answer (3marks)
The persona’s attitude toward love is irresistible. He says that it is a powerful force, he also views it as a universal experience that all and sundry go through at one time or the other
(c) Describe the tone of the poem giving evidence to support your answer (4marks)
The tone of the poem is ridiculous. The poet wonders at the symptoms of love since not many can reveal them except to their opposite sex lover.In the last stanza he asks, could you endeavour pain at any hard but hers?
(d) Identify and illustrate any four figuures of speech used in the poem. Comment on their effectiveness(6marks)
(i) Simile – love is a bright stain on the vision
(ii) Parenthesis – stanza 2, line 1
(iii)Rhetorical questions – could you endure such pain at any hand but hers?
All these figures of speech help the poet to bring out his thought in an artistic way
(1 mark for identification, 1 mark for illustration) (2 marks for effectiveness)
(e) Describe the mood of the poem with illustrations to support your answer (3marks)
The mood of the poem is critical, ridiculous and analytical. The poet looks at the symptoms of true love with criticism and wonders at why people do what they do when they are in love
(f) Explain the rhetorical question at the end of the poem (2marks)
The rhetorical questions is “could you endure such pain at any hand but hers? It is used to show that the symptoms of love as shown in the poem are overbearing on the lovers. That it takes pain to love
