AM+DG

Jose Lorenzo B. Angeles III

June 30, 2015

LIT14 D
Mrs. Rachelle Cayog
TITLE
An Analysis on Sandra Cisneros Love Poem #1
A concoction of gladiate words, high-resolution images, the Marianas
Trench of feelings creates a magnificent and stupendous literary art form
called poetry. Speaking in the most cunning tongues, this literary art form
brings out the deepest of emotions and gives an empowering and clear
illustration of a lesson or a message that is trying to be conveyed. A narrative
about war may bring out the sympathy and pity from people who do not have
any experience in the army, but a poem about war will give its readers a jawdropping feel of war because poetry allows its readers to empathize and
relate to the poems situation. Poetry bridges connections built among the
persona, the situation and the reader.
William Shakespeare is the author of the famous Hamlet, Merchant
of Venice, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and so much more, which are his most
famous plays written in poem form. He, the father of poetry wrote his literary
work that made use of unconventional ways of characters communicating
with one another. A perfect example would be between Romeo Montague and
Juliet Capulet where they exchange romanticism with such great magnitude
during the balcony scene. Romeo and Juliet made love at first sight seem
possible and beautiful in spite of any conflicting parties and situations, an
exemplification of an us against the world type of love.
In Sandra Cisneros Love Poem #1, one may not be able to
swallow everything immediately after the first run through the poem. The
multiple images and elements may take more than just one breeze through
for one to understand because images and words tend to create conflict and
tension against one another, which would yield into one clear image and that

is the beauty of poetry. The use of figurative language and conflicting

images in Love Poem #1 illustrate a unique, complicated and
dynamic kind of love.
The first two lines of the poem speak of the persona being a red flag
woman. The image of a red flag represents danger, warning and caution. This
reveals that the persona is a woman and that she shares the representation
of a red flag. Next two lines she mentions being all copper and chemical.
Copper is known for its being a great electric conductor and chemical means
artificially combined elements that are reactive. For the next three lines, she
now mentions of a you, which is presumed to be her partner in this love
poem and this partner is now metaphorically compared to an ax and a
bruised thumb, which gives a hint of being overused and hostile and
belligerent. The first stanza illustrates to us the persona and her partner with
different dynamic characteristics.
The first two lines of the second stanza begins with an allusion to
classical ballet, namely pas de deux in which the persona mentions what
their relationship is not. Pas de deux requires a male and female ballet
dancer that dances steps together. The reference to their unlikely being pas
de deux says that they do not possess that kind of chemistry. The next lines
mention a number of images that describe their relationship. Starting with
nitro would mean that the persona is saying that their relationship is
explosive. Next would be Egypt, which speaks of mystery. Next, a snake
was mentioned, which is a silent predator waiting for its next prey. Moving on,
the persona mentioned two public institutions to describe the relationship.
First would be a musem, which could mean that their relationship is valuable
and worth showing off, but not meant to be devalued by its viewers. Second,
we have a zoo to describe their relationship, which means they are animals
together, wild and untamed. Next two lines we have two contradicting
images, namely connoisseurs and commandoes. A connoisseur is an arbiter
of taste and is flawless while commandoes are wild and aggressive soldiers.
The persona bombarded their relationship with a lot of images in the second
stanza and the last one would be an allusion to Narcissus, which speaks of

held back love of ones own image, which eventually caused death. In short,
the second stanza was a bomb full of images that described the love the two
share, very complicated.
The final stanza begins with the mentioning of the personas
religious activity by stating that her partner is her religion as seen in the
second to the last line. The personas reference to being a wicked nun could
possibly involve forbidden practices in the relationship in which she is
leading.
The images have already laid out the personas description and
through that we see her relationship with her partner as exotic, explosive,
conflicting and so much more. Basically, the dramatic situation present in this
Love Poem #1 is a dedication to the personas loved one, whom we know as
different and opposite as the persona is yet their love still manages to
flourish in the end.
The unusual images presenting the traits of the persona and her
partner show that all relationships are different and unique. These images
were there not just to show how their relationship is like, but also to show
how love is subjective and varies per couple or person and that is why the
title is named Love Poem #1. The number was not placed there just for
show. Instead, it was placed there to show that there can be a number 2, a
number 3, and God knows how many more because love is subjective.
The theme that is present here teaches us that you do not have to
be similar to be in love with someone, which is the common notion of love
that our society has.

Sources:
"Pas De Deux." Pas De Deux - Ballet Term Definition. BalletHub LLC, 2011.
Web. 29 June 2015.
Shmoop Editorial Team. "Echo and Narcissus Summary." Shmoop.com.
Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 29 June 2015.