Love and Friendship

Poem by Emily Bronte.

I recognized the name Emily Bronte since I am currently halfway through her only novel, Wuthering Heights. When I researched her, I interestingly saw that she used a male pen name (Ellis Bell).

The title, when I read it the first time, could be interpreted different ways. It could be discussing the love that friendship creates, to could be discussing love vs. friendship or the connection between love and friendship. However, reading through the poem, we clearly see it is the second option; that we are comparing love to friendship.

The poem is about comparing friendship to a holly tree and love to a rose bush. It describes the rose bush as of course having beautiful buds and a sweet smell, but in the end it is the holly tree that blooms more often, is more all year round and will always be there in the dead of winter.

Basically, the poem's beautiful message is that love may seem or even be, beautiful and so sweet - a real pick-me-up which makes you feel good, however it is a friend that will be the constant in your life, who will continue to support you and be there for you in tough times.

Structurally, the poem consists of 3 stanzas with four verses each. Rhyme scheme is ABCB, DEFE, GHIH.

There is of course A LOT of nature imagery, since it is being described by flowers.
"wild rose", "summer", "blossoms", "garland". The use of rhetorical question allows the reader to become engaged and for the poet to really push the message onto the reader. The language is also quite formal and sophisticated, airing wisdom and knowledge.

Overall, I really enjoyed the poem. I think its message was extremely valuable and perfectly spoken. The metaphor was beautiful as was the imagery. I hope many of my friends will read that poem and learn something true about friendship.