John Frederick Nims' Love Poem: An Analysis

John Frederick Nims' "Love Poem" illustrates true love in a realistic way, expressing to the reader that there is more to love than what is usually written about in poems. To get this message across, the poem plays with the reader's expectations about what he is going to read. The title sends the reader in one obvious direction, expecting a beautiful sonnet to an unattainable love. The reader envisions the same lofty depiction of a beloved woman he has heard in numerous more traditional poems. Once the first stanza begins, the reader realizes this expectation will not be fulfilled, at least not in the same way he anticipated. As the poem goes on, however, the reader's expectations come to fruition in a much more rich and true form. The reader eventually finds a much more complex illustration of love than he had expected.

Having begun by knowing only the title, "Love Poem", the reader is not expecting what comes in the first stanza. The poem begins with the phrase "my clumsiest dear" (1), which at this point seems to be a blatant backhanded compliment. It reads as a strange combination of admiration and criticism. The phrase suggests that the speaker is talking to a loved one but not a perfect person. The speaker continues his assault on his lover's dexterity with the use of many symbolic images. The reader gets a picture of the lover as having a lethal touch, which causes all glasses to "chip and ring" (2). The stanza goes on to describe her as a "bull in china" (3) and a "bur in linen" (3). These are images that involve recklessness and destruction, not concepts that are typically associated with high praise for a loved one. Because of the images presented at this point, the reader is finding the poem to be something much different from what he had anticipated based on the title, heaping criticism rather than praise on the speaker's lover.

The second stanza, however, brings the reader back toward his original sense of how the poem would play out. Suddenly the speaker is now praising the positive qualities he sees in his lover. He emphasizes his affection for her interpersonal skills: "The refugee uncertain at the door / You make at home..." (6-7). The speaker loves this woman for her ability to relate to those who are less fortunate. The way she helps in the lives of drunks and refugees is at the heart of her appeal to him. The reader's initial sense of the poem's contents now comes back into focus. It is indeed a poem about a loved one who is greatly admired.

Now that the reader feels settled back into the comfortable familiarity of traditional poems about love, the speaker throws another curveball. The third stanza returns to an assault on the lover for her faults. For some, it reads as an indictment of her driving ability, beginning with another backhanded dear reference: this time "Unpredictable dear" (9). The repeated use of the word "dear" attached to a derogatory term emphasizes the alternating praise and criticism of the lover found in the poem. She "shrinks from far headlights" (10) but "leaps before red apoplectic streetcars" (11). While other readers may get a picture of her as a pedestrian rather than a driver, the feeling of unpredictability is the same. These descriptions have a significant impact on the reader. After thinking the poem has taken a lighter, more expected turn, the reader now feels that he is back where he started in the first stanza: in the midst of a scathing critique.

The true intent of the poem finally begins to come across to the reader in the fourth stanza. The critical feel of the first and third stanzas now melds with the high praise of the second stanza to create a complete picture of this woman. From here through the rest of the poem, the speaker alternates, within stanzas, between compliment and lament to express all sides of the woman he loves: "A wrench in clocks and the solar system. Only / With words and people and love you move at ease;" (13-14). Her talent for moving at ease with words aids in her ability to help the unfortunate people in her community. Also affecting the reader is the use of the word "us" (16) when praising the lover at the end of the stanza. The spectrum of admiration for the lover is now more universal. She is not loved only by the speaker.

The story told in this poem is reminiscent of a traditional romance movie. When the two people first meet, they see only each other's flaws. However, as they come to know each other, they grow closer and learn to appreciate a different side of their respective personalities. Eventually, they fall in love, learning to love one another not just in spite of their flaws, but because of them. This concept is especially evident in the way the poem shifts moods in the final two stanzas. The phrase "Be with me, darling, early and late" (21) moves the poem away from the somewhat comedic take on the lover's flaws, toward a serious depiction of his love for her in the same way those movies often do. In this way, the poem communicates in a way familiar to the average reader.

By the end of the poem, the message to the reader is clear. The speaker accepts his lover for her positives as well as her faults. The reader's expectations for the poem have been fulfilled, only in an unexpected way. The speaker's idea of love is much more complex than the traditional concept. The reader is able to better relate to this realistic depiction of love than he would have been if the poem had blandly followed its title.

Work Cited

Nim, John Frederich. "Love Poem." 250 Poems: A Portable Anthology. Ed. Peter Schakel and Jack Ridl. Boston and New York: St. Martin's P, 2003. 173.