Love is a common theme in many poems written by many different authors. There are many different types of love and love can be conveyed in many different manners. Courtly love is a common theme in many medieval writings. Courtly love is a different type of love, as it is not based around sexual satisfactions. In the poem "Suzanne Takes You Down" by Leonard Cohen, the courtly love relationship between man and woman is evident. This poem demonstrates how strong the courtly love relationship can be and the effect that it can have on people by comparing Suzanne to Jesus. .
The poet sees Suzanne as a saintly character. Cohen refers to Suzanne as "our lady of the harbour" which implies that she protects and watches over the people, as a saint would do. Cohen also says in the poem "you know that she's half crazy" which means that Suzanne is human and she is capable of human imperfections. The poet sees Suzanne as a leader and would like to follow her. The poem says that "you want to travel with her, and you want to travel blind". This passage means the main character wants to go wherever Suzanne goes with complete trust in her. .
The poem compares Suzanne to Jesus and creates an equation between the two of them. Parallel structure is the technique used to compare Suzanne to Jesus. In the first stanza, Suzanne is being described. Cohen tells the reader of the effect that Suzanne has had on the main character. He is strongly influenced by her and has connected with her on a deep, spiritual level. Cohen says, "you've touched her perfect body with your mind." In this line of the poem, Suzanne's "perfect body" represents her soul. Cohen has made it clear that the main character's relationship with Suzanne is not a physical one. .
The second stanza describes the main character's perception of Jesus. Jesus was capable of performing miracles like "walk[ing] upon the water". The main character tells the reader that only people who are suffering can see or reach out to Jesus and then goes on to say that everyone will face suffering at some point in their lives.
