Analysis: 'What Thing Is Love?' by George Peele

The Poem

What thing is love? - for sure love is a thing.

It is a prick, it is a sting,

It is a pretty, pretty thing;

It is a fire, it is a coal,

Whose flame creeps in at every hole;

And, as my wit doth best devise,

Love's dwelling is in ladies' eyes,

From whence do glance love's piercing darts,

That make such holes into our hearts.

Analysis

I just thought it would be nice to share with you one of my favourite poems, ever since the day I read it for the first time, as it introduces the "Bittersweet Oxymoronic Nature of Love." Simple to read, simple to understand, simple to appreciate and enjoy, yet it has a substance as complex as love can be.

"What thing is love?"

- the rhetorical question gets the readers thinking, pondering on the question: what thing is Love? then immediately they're treated to Peele's personal answer:

"For sure love is a thing."

- the use of "for sure" shows us that Peele is firm in his belief that Love is this thing he will describe throughout the poem;

- Peele says that Love is "a thing" tells us that it is singular; however he lists multiple things that love is, adjectives that juxtapose each other, suggesting already that Love is oxymoronic.

"It is a prick, it is a sting"

- saying that Love is a "prick" and a "sting" has negative connotations as those words are associated with pain. The "p," "ck" and "st" sounds are harsh sounds as well that add to the unpleasantness of the words' connotations;

- the repetition of "it is" further emphasises Peele's strong conviction of what he believes Love is.

"It is a pretty, pretty thing"

- almost to make up for the negative words in the previous line, Peele describes Love as "pretty" to show its positive side, thus beginning to show the readers the oxymoronic nature of Love;

- the repetition of "pretty" emphasises the positivity of this line, juxtaposing the previous where Love was presented in a negative manner.

"It is a fire, it is a coal"

- the word "fire" has oxymoronic connotations, as it could imply a strong passion or a painful burn. By describing Love as fire, Peele is almost making an epithet of its pleasurable yet painful nature;

- whatever it implies, a fire is often seen as a powerful force, able to feed or kill (again with the oxymoronic connotations), and this could be Peele suggesting that to him, Love is a powerful force;

- describing Love as a "coal" has negative connotations due to its dirty nature, leaving dark stains everywhere;

- however, it could be viewed as Love always leaving its mark on lovers as well, and being very hard to remove and get rid of;

- by using the metaphor of "coal" after "fire" could suggest that Love feeds itself (similar to how I described Jealousy in my other poem), getting stronger with every moment it is alive.

"Whose flame creeps in at every hole"

- "whose" is the first example of personification of Love in this poem, subtle but effective as it gives Love a personality, possibly a female? and letting readers connect with this character. Perhaps Love in this poem is a metaphor for one of Peele's love interests;

- the word "creeps" is negative as it suggests lack of consent or awareness from the victim, showing the readers Love's ability to attack the unsuspecting;

- I interpret "every hole" as "every pore" as in pore in the skin, which then gives a sense of inevitability, mirroring the point about Love being a powerful force. It suggests that there is no escape from Love if it decides to affect you.

"And, as my wit...

...

...

...into our hearts"

- the message in this quatrain of the poem is relatively positive, creating gentle and gayer images. However, there is a heavy use of sibilance which is directly linked with evil or badness, as snakes hiss as audiences used to at villains on stage. The contradicting message to the sound of words further mimic the presentation of the oxymoronic nature of Love.

"Love's dwelling is in ladies' eyes"

- here, Love is spelled with a capital L, obviously personifying it as Peele further states that its dwelling is "in ladies' eyes." It was said that the eyes were the window into the soul, and if taken into account, this saying would suggest that Peele was stating that Love is the soul of a woman, creating a very positive image of women.

"Love's piercing darts"

- the allusion to Cupid here shows how divine an emotion and a force Peele sees Love to be.

"That make such holes into our hearts"

- the aspirant in "holes" and "hearts" remind me of sighing, possibly the happy sighing of Peele himself when thinking about Love.

Long sentence

- everything save the first line is in one sentence. Saying this sentence in one breath is not only difficult but probably impossible as well as it requires a lot of breath. The breathlessness of any reader who attempts to do so however experiences the breathless feeling of being enchantingly in love;

- the long sentence also emphasises how Love has many 'forms' and names, many meanings and many truths, showing the vast enormity of Love's substance and possible oxymoronic connotations.

Simple rhyme scheme

- the simple rhyme scheme simply mirrors the simple message of the poem;

- how regulated the rhyme scheme is also shows readers how much thought Peele put into this poem, suggesting that he has spent as much amount of time pondering on the subject of Love (the simple syllabic structure of the poem does the same thing here). 

Iambic metre

- the iambic metre used throughout the poem is imitative of the heartbeat, a symbol for a living love, which of course is what the poem is describing.