1. Starter: What do you think this poem might be about?
The title of the poem is ‘Love’s Philosophy’. How can you use this add to your predictions about the poem?
Starter: What do you think this poem might be about?

2. ‘Love’s Philosophy’ by Percy Shelley
Who is speaking and to whom?
What is the story?
What is each stanza about?
What is the general argument in the poem?
What is the tone of the poem?
‘Love’s Philosophy’ by Percy Shelley

3. Percy Bysshe Shelley One of the Romantic poets.
Came from a wealthy family.
Set to inherit riches and the role of MP.
Went to Eton and Oxford.
Was expelled from university for writing in favour of atheism.
Left his wife, eloped with and married a 16 year old girl (Mary Shelley – the author of Frankenstein and daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft).
Drowned at sea whilst sailing to Italy, aged 29.
Wrote mainly for himself with no regard for the public but today we regard him as one of the most famous poets.
Associated with more successful poets such as Byron and keats, but wasn’t as popular.
Deeply political and believed in non-violent protest.
Was a vegetarian.

4. The title: ‘Love’s Philosophy’
A guiding principle for human behaviour.
Wants the listener to believe that because there is unity in nature, men and women should be united.
The poet’s logic doesn’t add up.
A quick note on form: there is debate over whether it’s a lyric poem or dramatic monologue but the poem was written around the same time Shelley wrote other lyric poems.

5. Masculine rhyme = just 1 syllable of final words rhyme.
Feminine rhyme = last 2 syllables rhyme
Structure
Combination of masculine and feminine rhyme – masculine and feminine rhyme mingles together just how he wants the lover to mingle with him. This is what the poem’s whole argument is about – it is a very conscious and clever use of the rhyme scheme! (‘When We Two Parted’ is mainly masculine rhyme.)
Both stanzas repeat the same point helping to create a formal and persuasive argument.
5 clear statements are made in each stanza followed by a rhetorical question – the repetitive structure reflects the repetitive demands of the speaker.

6. Language In one colour highlight all the references to nature.
In another colour highlight all the religious imagery.
Nature: the references to nature become more expansive as the poem progresses.
Religious imagery: speaker feels his love is perfect and sacred. Why might Shelley have used religious imagery when he wasn’t religious?
Using religious imagery in a satirical way by using every line / argument he can think of to try and persuade lover. He will say whatever it takes to win his lover over.
The overly long sentences reflect the breathlessness and desperation of the speaker.
Personification is used to support the line of argument. The speaker wants to draw parallels with what is happening in nature with what is happening in relationship. But it sounds like a forced, overused and desperate parallel.

7. Stanza / verse 1
Natural imagery
Verbs becoming more desperate as poem progresses
Religious imagery
Masculine rhyme
Feminine rhyme
The fountains mingle with the river And the rivers with the Ocean, The winds of Heaven mix for ever With a sweet emotion; Nothing in the world is single; All things by a law divine in one another’s being mingle – Why not I with thine?
Semi-colons used to show whole argument is linked, just as nature is linked and wants lover to be linked to him.
How does he say nature behaves?
What is his complaint in line 8?
What is the central AO2 method he uses to convey his impression of nature’s unity and harmony?
Rhetorical questions – woman doesn’t respond. The woman isn’t doing what he wants. Her hesitation by not answering stops the natural flow of the poem.

8. Stanza / verse 2
Natural imagery
Verbs becoming more desperate as poem progresses
Religious imagery
See the mountains kiss high Heaven And the waves clasp one another; No sister-flower would be forgiven If it disdain’d its brother: And the sunlight clasps the earth, And the moonbeams kiss the sea – what are all these kissings worth, If thou kiss not me?
‘Clasp’ implies gripping tightly – the speaker is growing frustrated, desperate and urgent.
How is stanza two different in tone?
Natural imagery is becoming more outward of earth’s boundaries – the speaker is becoming so desperate so uses grander images to persuade lover.

9. How do you interpret this poem?
Is this a romantic poem about harmony and unity between two people or is it the desperate plea of a man trying to coerce a woman into sex?
How do you interpret this poem?

10. Person 1 Person 2 Person 3 Person 4
Stanza length – regular? Why?
Punctuation – ? Why one long sentence in each stanza?
Line length – regular? Any shorter lines? Why?
How is there union and symmetry in the poem’s structure?
Person 2
Find an example of personification – what is its effect? What does it present to the reader?
Select a further example and explore its effect
Person 3
Identify the verb choices in each stanza. What do you notice about the way verbs change in stanza two from stanza one?
Romantic poets preferred simple, honest language over ornate language full of mythical allusion. Choose some simple words and comment on their effect.
Person 4
What is the impact of these sound effects?:
Long vowels
Sibilance
Rhetorical device
Dash
Alliteration
Plosive consonants
Repetition

11. To finish…
Comes across as a sweet and romantic poem but there is evidence to suggest the speaker is demanding and coercively (forcing) persuading lover to be physical with him.
Wider reading for grade 9: 4/an-analysis-of-loves-philosophy-by-percy-bysshe- shelley-for-aqa-english-literature-gcse/