I assumed that since the title had the phrase “love song” it would be a happy, lighthearted, melodious poem. This assumption ended up being very wrong since this story was like looking through the bitter eyes of a thwarted lover. I guess I tend to look at the brighter side of things. Even though I do love sad love stories and songs like Romeo and Juliet and the country song Whiskey Lullaby. This poem is a little bit different than both of those though because you end up just feeling bad for the individual who was let down from the whole love experience. Overall it reminded me the most of the film 500 Days of Summer.
In this movie the main male character, Tom, gets into a relationship with a girl named Summer who he works with. The movie skips forward and backward through the 500 days so you get to see a lot of different aspects of their relationship. The first time I saw this movie (this summer) I was so confused because it seemed like she would just play with his emotions. One day it would seem like she really liked him and the next she would be giving him the silent treatment. After watching it for a second time (just last weekend) I saw that it really wasn’t Summer that was leading him on at all. She told him exactly how she was feeling or tried to subtly tell him and he just refused to see the truth. Tom thought a couple great dates made her “the one” for him even though she told him she wasn’t looking for anything serious. He focused on the best moments he had with her and created a barrier around himself to keep him from realizing that she wasn’t very into him anymore. When Tom finally realizes that she doesn’t want to be with him he gets really angry and bitter which I think is comparable to how the writer of this poem feels.
In the first section of the poem it seems like the writer is looking back on his fantasy and seeing it for what it really was or what his depressed mind ended up seeing it as – “half-deserted streets”, “cheap hotels” and “sawdust restaurants”. In the beginning of the poem he repeats the phrase “there’s time” and at the end of the poem he repeats the phrase “would it have been worthwhile”. This makes me think that he feels like he missed an opportunity because he thought he had all the time in the world. Tom probably felt that way because he questioned himself about what he could have possibly done wrong to make Summer not want to be with him. Another connection is when Eliot repeats “having tea” it’s like the fantasy Tom created. The illusion that you’re just at tea and there’s nothing deeper going on protects the characters from the sadness of finally realizing their loss. Summer tries to tell him that she doesn’t want anything serious and when Tom finally realizes this it is like the echoing words of “That is not what I meant” in the poem. It’s like the characters are finally understanding what they meant. She didn’t mean to hurt him I think but she also didn’t want to stay in a relationship with him out of pity. Throughout the poem it talks about smoke and fog and has a very echoic (repetition) and swaying tone (the sea) that comes to a halt in the last line with “Till human voices wake us and we drown”. I think this is the point where Tom and the writer finally realize it is totally over and they are drowning in that realization.
The poem leaves the reader no closure for the thwarted lover but in the movie Tom eventually moves on and he begins to date a girl named Autumn. This can be seen to represent a new “season” in his life (pardon the pun) while Eliot is left drowning alone in the wake of his lover.
This poem overall has so many layers and was very interesting to read and interpret!
