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Come, live with me and be my love. Cecil Day Lewis (1904-1972). Come, live with me and by my love And we will all the pleasures prove Of peace and plenty, bed and board, That chance employment may afford. I’ll handle dainties on the docks And though shalt read of summer frocks:
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Come, live with me and be my love Cecil Day Lewis (1904-1972)
Come, live with me and by my love And we will all the pleasures prove Of peace and plenty, bed and board, That chance employment may afford
I’ll handle dainties on the docks And though shalt read of summer frocks: At evening by the sour canals We’ll hope to hear some madrigals
Care on the maiden brow shall put A wreath of wrinkles, and thy foot Be shod with pain, not silken dress But toil shall tire thy loveliness
Hunger shall make they modes zone And cheat fond death of all but bone – If these delights thy mind may move, Then live with me and be my love
This poem is full of irony. You expect this couple to be happy when they live together but it is not what he poet offers.
Line 1 Come live with me and be my love The poet invites a person to come and share his life with him. This is could be a marriage proposal
Line 2-3 And we will all the pleasures prove Of peace and plenty, bed and board Pleasures prove: we will show that it is true that two people living together enjoy it. They will enjoy peace, they will always have enough, they will have a bed to sleep in and a place to live BUT
Line 4 That chance employment may afford Chance: something caused by luck employment: job If we happen to have a job on a specific day then we will live in a place that can be afforded by people who have irregular jobs.
Line 5 I’ll handle dainties on the docks Irony & Sarcasm Dainties: something delicate and pretty docks: harbour He will see if he can work with fish. There is nothing delicate and pretty about fish.
Line 6 And thou shalt read of summer frocks: Language: Use words like thou and shalt to show upper class status. This is sarcasm, they are lower class and don’t talk like this Read of summer frocks: she will have no money. She can only read of dresses for the summer. She cannot buy clothes or afford a summer holiday
Line 7 At evening by the sour canals In the evenings they will walk through the dirty, sour smelling part of the city.
Line 8 We’ll hope to hear some madrigals Madrigal: a group singing love songs He hopes they will hear some love songs in this place.
Line 9-10 Care on the maiden brow shall put A wreath of wrinkles, … Care: does not mean love but worries Maiden: young Brow: forehead Wreath: crown of flowers You will be so worried that your brow will be covered by wrinkles. You will become old before your time.
Line 10 – 11 ….and thy foot Be shod with pain:…. You will not wear fancy shoes but your feet will be shod with pain Metaphor: shod. Like a horse’s hoof is shod with a shoe so will her foot be shod with pain.
Line 11-12 …not silken dress But toil shall tire they loveliness You will not be dressed in silk but you shall be dressed in hard work. Pun: tire – are tired – attire – dressed in tire – head dressing
Line 13 Hunger shall make thy modest zone Modest zone: thin middle You will be so hungry that you will be thin. You will seem to be in fashion to be so thin but no-one will know it is because you are starving.
Line 14 And cheat fond death of all but bone- She will be so thin that even death will feel cheated. Death would like a body with a lot of meat, and she will only by skin and bone. Fond: love something Fond death: It will be an escape for them to die.
Line 15-16 If these delights they mind may move Then live with me and be my love If the loved one is attracted by what the poet offers, they must live together in love.