LOVE DENIAL Sonnet and Analysis

Love Denial
Looking into your sweet, soft, gentle eyes,
Feelings confuse and overwhelm me.
I cover my emotions, finding a disguise,
For smiles and sighs that come sincerely.

Whenever you are to me near,
I try my best to disregard your presence.
It's the emotions that I fear,
The ones that don't make any sense.

I wish to never again see thee,
So I would not be tempted to
Tell you the thoughts that roam inside me.
I wonder what would happen if you knew?

Maybe I shouldn't fight what's true.
Soon, you will know the way I feel toward you.


Sonnet Analysis
“Love Denial” is a sonnet that shows all aspects of love. It shows certain emotions that can come from this state. One of the feelings that almost everyone deals with when is love is doubt. “Do I really love this person?” It can be hard to answer this question and decide. Some emotions can make you want to retreat. At the beginning you may feel head over heels in love, and then suddenly become bothered by the one you thought stole your heart.
In the beginning, the narrator talking to the person they love and telling them how gorgeous, amazing, and wonderful they are. As she looks into his “sweet, soft, gentle eyes,” she is overcome with a mixture of emotions. She is afraid that if he sees her looking, sighing, and smiling at him, then he might be repulsed by her actions. She is worried that he doesn’t feel the same way toward her and doesn’t want him to feel strange about it if he finds out her true feelings. The quote “I try to find a suitable disguise, for smiles and sighs that come sincerely,” describes that she is trying to cover her feelings and facial expressions, but it is difficult, since she is so in love.
The second stanza shows us a slightly different perspective. The narrator is continuing to describing some fears that she has about this romance. She is worried about the consequences. She is so in love with him, that when he is around her, she cannot function. She melts, she starts to pant, and is overpowered by his presence. This is why she tries to disregard him, to avoid making a fool of herself and doing something that she would regret later. She is constantly in a state of dreaminess because of him. He is the one who makes her so lost in everything else that is going on in her life, because he is the only thing she can focus on. The thoughts that roam in her mind are about him. “Does he love me, should I tell him how I feel, should I stop liking him, is this leading anywhere?” These are some of the questions that she tries to answer to herself. She knows that he is the source of all her feelings, but is still surprised at the emotions that he makes her experience. Each time she sees him, or hears his name, she gets stirred up. She turns around to see if he is around, and if he isn’t, she goes back to dreaming about him. But if he is, she turns away and pays no attention to him. It is always like this. When we are in love, we idolize the person in our minds, but when we are around them, they are very different from how we imagine them to be. We are aware that nobody is perfect, but being in the physical presence of someone is very different than just imagining and thinking of them. Most of the time, love is an illusion and what we are imagining is much more appealing than the truth.
The last full stanza is showing yet another attitude. It shows the narrator wishing that she would never again have the chance to see her beloved. She understands that maybe she is too into this guy, and the only way for her to stop loving him is for him to never see her again. She doesn’t want to be distracted by this eye candy. She is afraid that at some point, she won’t be able to hold in her emotions anymore, and she will burst! She does not want to share them though, so if she doesn’t see him, then she will not have the chance to tell him. Just when you think that the narrator has decided that she won’t be overpowered by her emotions, the last couple of lines of the sonnet inform you that she is taking into consideration talking to her loved one, and telling him about her feelings. The last line “Soon, you will know that way I feel toward you”, is implying that she is going to tell him the way she feels, and there is no doubt about it. It is inevitable.
I decided to write this sonnet because this is a feeling that I, and many people, experience. When you are in love, and at such a young age, it is difficult to decide if it is really true, of if it is just a little crush. At first you try to be with the person that you “love”, but it might become too much to handle. Then, we try to escape this feeling, and try to avoid the source of our love. As we chase, then abandon, then chase again, we are overwhelmed by everything going on. It is difficult to analyze our feelings, and decide why it is that we love this person so much.
The word choice that I tried to incorporate into the sonnet shows not only a feminine side, or not only a masculine side. It is interchangeable between genders. Since I was writing the poem, I am the narrator, I was writing the poem as if the narrator were a girl and used “she.” Even though you can tell the narrator is a female, it is very possible for a male to be expressing their feelings like this. Anyone can use the words “sweet, soft, gentle” to describe a pair of eyes. Both men and women have feelings of fear, denial, and doubt when in love.
A part of love that everyone fears is getting hurt. I think that when in love, these feelings of uncertainty and trepidation are a defense mechanism. Nobody wants to get hurt by having high expectations for someone. You really cannot tell if the other person likes you unless you confront them about it and tell them how you feel. Sometimes they feel the same way, but other times, we aren’t so lucky. It is hard to find out what exactly is going on in your crush’s head. This sonnet addresses this issue by first saying what the feelings are usually like in a one way relationship. By the end of the sonnet, it is evident that this person has made up their mind. They are willing to take that risk and tell their crush the way that they feel.
I think my sonnet describes pretty accurately the situation that anyone is in when they are in love or at least have a crush on someone without the other person knowing. There is always a thought of whether or not the other person likes you, and the only way to find out is to come clean, which is a risky, but usually rewarding step. So next time you are in this situation, ask yourself, are you willing to take that risk?