Love, perhaps one of the strongest human emotions, is a fascinating topic. Poets often take pleasure in writing about love and the perfect relationship. In the classic love poem "I am Not Yours,"" by Sara Teasdale, she writes and compares her desired perfect love to nature's harmony. Her three stanzas, four line poem, tell how she longs for a perfect and harmonious relationship with her lover, while also telling about her connection to nature.
Written from a first person point of view, Teasdale makes it clear the poem is personal to her. She starts her poem with, "I am not yours, not lost in you, Not lost, although I long to be"" (1-2). The information within those two lines establishes the theme for the entire poem. Right from the beginning the reader is aware of Teasdale's romantic situation. A situation where the relationship she is in has not yet reached the level of completeness that she wishes it would be. She then continues and supports her first two lines with, "Lost as a candle lit at noon, Lost as a snowflake in the sea"" (3-4). The two similes embedded within the two lines explain how close she expects her lover and herself to be. She expects to be so close that her lover and she became one, like the light from a candle blending with the light of day, or a drop of water in the sea. This is also the first instance of Teasdale comparing her love to nature.
In the second stanza, the poet, Teasdale further goes in depth with her theme. She starts her second stanza by giving a contrast to her ideal relationship through telling the current state of her relationship. She admits, "You love me, and I find you still A spirit beautiful and bright" (5-6). Although her lover loves her, she still calls him a beautiful spirit. Hinting that in her eyes, her lover is still a free roaming individual, unconfined by love. Yet regardless of how free her lover seems to be to her, she still is the woman that she is, a woman who continues to persevere on finding that completeness.
