09-26-2026, 04:55 PM
Fair enough, the significance of the green willow evaded me.
In that light, the poem reads as a straightforward one about rejection.
The poem reads cleanly, scans well, is technically competent
But…
It doesn’t speak to me because it reads as a pastiche of an elizabethan love song. The lines are there, but not the authenticity. I would like more than the deliberate symbolism of someone who’s set out to writer a love poem for the public. Because there is a surfeit of cliches, such as the moon and the lake and the swan and the rose.
In that light, the poem reads as a straightforward one about rejection.
The poem reads cleanly, scans well, is technically competent
But…
It doesn’t speak to me because it reads as a pastiche of an elizabethan love song. The lines are there, but not the authenticity. I would like more than the deliberate symbolism of someone who’s set out to writer a love poem for the public. Because there is a surfeit of cliches, such as the moon and the lake and the swan and the rose.