William Carlos Williams

Love

Love - meaning Summary

Dual Nature of Love

The poem presents love as inherently double: an alloy of passion and pain that coexists rather than a single, pure feeling. Williams depicts this mingling as bright yet fragile, with passion and pity alternating or extinguishing quickly. Its repeated stanza underscores the cyclical, paradoxical quality of affection—beautiful and temporary, capable of both intense union and swift dissolution.

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Love is twain, it is not single, Gold and silver mixed to one, Passion ‘tis and pain which mingle Glist’ring then for aye undone. Pain it is not; wondering pity Dies or e’er the pang is fled; Passion ‘tis not, foul and gritty, Born one instant, instant dead. Love is twain, it is not single, Gold and silver mixed to one, Passion ‘tis and pain which mingle Glist’ring then for aye undone.

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