GEORGE PEELE'S POEM - WHAT THING IS LOVE?

 

On the day 2 of the Blog chatter’s #WRITEAPAGEADAY, Here is a poem with love as the major theme.

Poet: George Peele

Poem: WHAT THING IS LOVE?

 

What thing is love? For sure love is a thing.

It is a prick, it is a sting,

It is a pretty, pretty thing;

It is a fire, it is a coal,

Whose flame creeps in at every hole ;

And as my wit doth best devise,

Love’s dwelling is in ladies’ eyes,

From whence do glance love’s piercing darts,

That make such holes into our hearts;

And all the world herein accord,

Love is a great and mighty lord;

And when he list to mount so high,

With Venus he in heaven doth lie,

And evermore hath been a god,

Since Mars and she played even and odd

 

 

"What Thing is Love" by George Peele, is about love's impact. Peele points out that, whilst love is "a pretty, pretty thing" it comes with its fair share of pain - "It is a prick, it is a sting." Love takes on real depth and character.

  The simplest way to convey the theme of this poem is to say that the theme is exactly the same as the title. Peele explores the origin of love and what it feels like. The poem begins by comparing love to a variety of notably painful concepts. On the positive end, he compares love to a “mighty lord” as well as Heaven, but acknowledges that although love may make you feel like a god, it is essentially doomed to fail as men and women play “even and odd.”

 George Peele of Devonshire origin, the son of James Peele, citizen and salter of London, was born about 1558, and as a free scholar was educated at Christ’s Hospital from 1565-70.  In March of the following year he went to Oxford, and completed his degree in arts in 1579. On leaving Oxford he came to London, where in company of Marlowe, Greene, and Nash, he formed one of that band of dissolute young men endeavouring to earn a livelihood by literacy works.