Love

The Young Man

Love personified pursues the Young Man with intense passion, embodying both desire and spiritual longing.

Queen Venus

Love and Queen Venus share a romantic and mythological bond, often depicted as mother and son or lovers in classical tradition.

The Hermit

Love and the Hermit are in a tense, philosophical struggle over the soul of the Young Man, representing desire versus renunciation.

Athena

Athena, goddess of wisdom, competes with Love over influence on mortals, representing reason versus passion.

Nilus

Love and Nilus (the Nile god) share a harmonious alliance, symbolizing the life-giving union of desire and nature.

Queen Venus

Love and Queen Venus share a romantic and mythological bond, often depicted as mother and son or lovers in classical tradition.

From Spring Days to Winter

Addressed as the beloved who first appears in spring and is mourned as dead in winter.

Άντιστροφή

Referenced as 'Love's bitter fight' in the context of Leto's travail.

Lotus Leaves

Mentioned as 'my love to Him' in the context of the dawn and the speaker's devotion.

III

The speaker's love is heralded to Him who waits for the dawn.

Sen Artysty

Implied as the gentle alternative offered by the angel, representing light, love, and laughter.

Ave Maria Gratia Plena

Referenced as the 'supreme mystery of Love' that the speaker stands before.

The New Helen

Personified as a god whose 'terrible wheel' causes the speaker's suffering and devotion.

Wind Flowers

Central figure in the serenade and other poems, representing the speaker's devotion and longing.

Serenade

The speaker personifies love as a woman's toy and reflects on the pain of unrequited love.

Endymion

The speaker's deep affection and longing for Endymion, personified as a waiting lover.

La Bella Donna Della Mia Mente

The speaker's beloved is addressed as the object of his desire and pain.

Chanson

Implied as the recipient of the speaker's devotion and the subject of the contrasting gifts.

In the Gold Room

The speaker's beloved, whose physical beauty and touch are described in vivid, sensual imagery.

Santa Decca

Love is addressed directly and warned to fly the anger of any hidden god.

By the Arno

The speaker's heart's delight is referenced, tied to love and the nightingale's song.

Panthea

Implied as the driving force behind nature's cycles and the union of lovers.

The Fourth Movement

Addressed as 'Love' in 'Apologia' and 'Her Voice', representing both a beloved and the ideal of love.

Apologia

Addressed directly as the beloved force that may will the speaker's suffering, yet also the source of transcendent experience.

Quia Multum Amavi

The beloved addressed as 'Dear Heart,' the object of the speaker's impassioned devotion and idolatry.

Silentium Amoris

The speaker's love is so intense it renders him mute, embodying the paradox of excess love causing silence.

Her Voice

Addressed as 'Sweet' and 'dear friend'; the poem is a farewell to a beloved.

My Voice

Addressed as 'You'—the beloved who shared in the speaker's joy but remains unmoved by the subsequent sorrow.

Humanitad

Described as a noble madness; the speaker renounces love's perilous bliss.

Flower of Love

The beloved addressed as 'Sweet' and 'Flower of Love'; the central figure of the speaker's passion.

Under the Balcony

The speaker's beloved, addressed indirectly through apostrophes to nature, awaiting her arrival.

The Harlot's House

The speaker's love, who abandons him to enter the harlot's house, symbolizing the surrender of love to lust.

The New Remorse

Addressed as 'love' in the line 'Nay, love, look up and wonder!'

To My Wife

Personified as the force that wafts the poem to the wife's hair.

Roses and Rue

The poem is addressed to a lost love, referred to as 'Dear love,' whose memory is the central focus of the speaker's lament.

Poems in Prose

Mentioned in 'The House of Judgment' as something the man gave lust in return for; also implicitly present in the final poem's theme of perfect love.

The Doer of Good

Referenced indirectly through the woman's painted appearance and the young man's lustful gaze, though not named explicitly.