Many imagine love as an inexpressible never-ending story that makes them feel joyous, dreamy, and special. Though their impression may be deceived after their first heart break, most continue to look for that fairy tale love story, while others give up anticipating love. This sole perspective is clearly seen in John Donne's poem The Broken Heart. Throughout of the poem, the speaker uses imagery to convey the brutality, betrayal, and misery of love. .
The speaker uses metaphors and personification to show the ferociousness of love. He compares love to a vicious animal that shows no mercy. This is clearly seen when the narrator talks about the all-consuming nature of love. He uses imagery to describe how love devours the heart completely. Though many do not think of love as a living being, the speaker says that love swallows people whole without even chewing. "He swallows us, and never chaws He is the tyrant pike, our hearts the fry (Donne, lines 14 and 16)." This quote shows how love abruptly destroys ones life in a matter of seconds. When something is chewed, flavors are savored and slowly converted into something easy to swallow and easy to digest. On the contrary, when something is swallowed without being chewed, it is immediately gone without leaving time to retrace its path. "He is he tyrant pike, our hearts the fry" shows this brusqueness of the heart being devoured so quickly that the individual are unable to understand what brought it about. As a result the speaker feels dejected by the fact that love did not give his heart a chance to grasp the experience. .
An example of how the speaker felt deceived by love is seen when he illustrates his experience in a melancholy way. He describes love as a to way street but for him it was a one way thing where he received nothing in return. Some say the more you give the more you receive, but when the speaker gave his heart to someone, the other person took but did not give anything in return.
