Defining Love: The Themes Of Love

What is love? Is it where a person puts someone else before his or her self? There is not a specific way to know whether or not a person is in love. It is essentially a deeper feeling that is felt for another person. There are several authors who define love in their own individual ways, many to which are successful by doing so. Several authors that speak of love write poems or short stories, for poems were usually written in a romantic era. Sonnet 116 is a love poem by William Shakespeare who was one of the most well known writers of all time. A Valediction Forbidding Mourning is a longer romantic poem written by John Donne who was also another famous writer. The short story, Federigo’s Falcon, that comes from the Decameron, a group of stories,

As being alone physically is one feeling that's not handled well, especially when two people are attached to each other, it helps us learn that we aren't lonely mentally. The poem A Valediction Forbidding Mourning explains in a deeper understanding of this concept. The narrator of the story, within the poem, is a man who speaks to his wife of having to travel somewhere for a little while. His lover instantly breaks down and starts worrying that her husband will not come back to her; for men, during the time, left their wives for good when they went away from home. However, the narrator comforts his wife by telling her that she does not have to feel anxiety over his absence, because they are soul mates. The man asserts to his love, "Our two souls therefore, which are one," (page 485, line 21). The idea of soulmates is from the Greeks, where there's originally one soul that is split into two and placed inside of separate bodies. The people that possess half a soul must find their other half, or the rest of their soul, and when the half souls come together, they are potentially lovers for

The creation of soulmates may be a ginormous myth, but sacrificing everything for another person is a true act of love. In Federigo's Falcon, Federigo spends all of his money on a mistress that he is in love with. His actions seem to only be a way to get the woman's attention, except she ignores his gifts. He becomes broke from spending all of his money on the mistress, but still tries to impress her. The mistress's husband dies and all of her husband's money goes to her son. Later on, the woman's son becomes ill, who had built a strong relationship with Federigo and his falcon. The boy tells his mother that he will be healed if he gets Federigo's falcon. Furthermore, the mistress goes to Federigo's home and requests to have breakfast with him since she had not replied to his gifts. The broke man had no food, and decided to cook his best friend, the falcon. When the woman asked for the falcon to save her son's life, Federigo began sobbing and then enlightens, "My thoughts therefore turned to the falcon…knowing its quality, I reputed it a worthy dish," (page 164). He had no food, but wanted to impress his love, and sacrificed the one thing that pushed him through life, his falcon. He gave up his happiness to try and make her happy with the meal he prepared for