(pg. 25). The .
comparison being the "burning hearts". Here, once again, love is given negative .
connotation. The women in the poem is forced to fall in love when she is struck in the .
heart by cupid's arrow. Moreover, she has no control over her mind, body or soul in this .
passage, as she has now been physically taken over by the emotion of love. By .
comparing love to fire or burning, it becomes negative, because although those things can .
symbolize passion they also symbolize pain; with the burning heart as a symbol of a love .
that is painful and uncontrolled. Not only are these metaphors examples of the .
protagonists loss of self mastery but the many associations with the dream itself .
throughout the poem are also strong indicators, as it is the central concept behind the .
protagonist falling in love in the first place.
As the dream itself is the central concept of the poem, many associations are .
made with the women being in a dreaming state as all of the events unfold around her. .
She finds herself falling asleep in the first stanza of the poem as she explains by the line: .
"sleepe deaths image did my sencses hiere". This line showing that as she sleeps her .
senses hire images of death, which appear in her dream. Not only is this an important .
metaphor as stated previously, but this drawn a strong association with sleeping, .
dreaming and death. This leads the reader to picture the dream as an unhappy one, one .
that brings with it dark imagery. In the second stanza the protagonist sees Venus, the .
Queene of love. Here, the association between the dream and love itself is extremely .
strong, as Venus represents an important authority figure of love in literature. However, .
when cupid is introduced to the dream, the association with the dream and love begins to .
change. It is no longer just the most important literary love figure, but her son cupid, .
who has the power to make anyone fall in love, even those who are unaware or unwilling.