Love After Love Analysis

The time will come
when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other's welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.


Anonymous submission.

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All opinions are correct in the sense that this poem is highly ambigous; which is what English is all about. Personally, I believe this poem is about traditions and about being kind and true to yourself. Throughout the poem we are constantly reminded to slow down and think about our lives. The poem has a genuine 'slow' feel to it, and the use of commands set as caesuras make you feel as if you must do what Walcott is saying. To me, the poem is about a person who is of two different cultures and getting the balance between respecting the two is vital to your self importance. I get the feeling that one culture has been taking over the other and you need to welcome the neglected culture back into your life. The other culture will be loved and respected by feasting and getting in touch with it. The religious aspects of: 'Give wine. Give bread' symbolise the last supper of Jesus, so really it is about self-sacrafice and being kind to yourself by doing something personally liberating. The tradition has been ignored and another culture has taken over and now seems like that is your life now. You need to get rid of some of the aspects of the dominating culture and accept the original culture again, however this can be done, shown by the run-on lines in the sense that 'life goes on'. The repitition of 'mirror' is again about seeing who you are and where you belong. The whole thing is about analysing your life and deciding where it is you really belong.

| Posted on 2010-01-12 | by a guest

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I disagree with you all.
Why do you presume that "the stranger who was yourself" is you? This is not a poem about reconnecting with oneself. This is a poem about reconnecting with the one you love - that is, your true self. There is no greater meaning of 'self' than a self shared between two people. Only when an existence is shared can it be fully appreciated.
You've got to be prepared to read more into this poem than at first you would like to; otherwise you'll never get back with the person you're meant to be with.

| Posted on 2009-11-11 | by a guest

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Most people here are only skimming the surface of this poem and only touching upon the literal meaning. Yes, it is incredibly obvious that Walcott is writing about reconnecting with yourself after giving so much to someone else. But what about on a contextual basis? Walcott is known for his unique poems about the unification of the two sides of his self - the traditional 'black' side and the post-colonial 'white' side. Coming from a racially mixed family, many of Walcott's poems including this one are about the reconciliation between the two sides. It is well known that other contemporary afro-caribbean poets are only concerned with the embracing of only their 'black' heritage and completely ignoring the post-colonial aspect. Walcott believes that they must embrace the two sides as they are both equally important to who they are. Hence 'Love After Love' is an extended metaphor for the re-uniting between the two sides "give wine, give bread, give back your heart to itself to the stranger who has loved you". This quote is a beautiful representation of the overriding theme of the poem. Calling the 'white' side a stranger, demonstrates the neglect Walcott feels his fellow contemporaries have been showing. Saying that they should "give back your heart" illustrates Walcotts desire for reconciliation.

| Posted on 2009-10-30 | by a guest

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This poem is about finding who you really are and eventually he or she does. It is expressing love as he or she might have come out of a relationship.

| Posted on 2009-09-30 | by a guest

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about finding inner self. how to find da inner self of a person. he is advisin us myb 4rm experience, he may hv been heart broken
| Posted on 2009-06-03 | by a guest
LEARN TO SPELL DUMBY

| Posted on 2009-07-06 | by a guest

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In many ways we are the love of one's own life. We cannot forget ourselves, even when we neglect ourselves for another. We must return with gratitude to the home we have, within our self. This could be after a heartbreak, after trauma or pain (in childhood or adulthood), or after any period of self neglect.

| Posted on 2009-06-11 | by a guest

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about finding inner self. how to find da inner self of a person. he is advisin us myb 4rm experience, he may hv been heart broken

| Posted on 2009-06-03 | by a guest

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this poem is about not likeing your self when you are younger and that when you look back on your life you will not be a stranger to your self anymore you will no u. and look back and like your self says you should always live life to full and enoys your self put your self first.

| Posted on 2009-06-01 | by a guest

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this poem is about not likeing your self when you are younger and that when you look back on your life you will not be a strabger to your self anymore you will no u and look back and lke your self says you should lways live life to full and eoys your self put yoir self first.

| Posted on 2009-06-01 | by a guest

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This poem means what ever happens love yourself never neglect yourself as we can forget who our true identity is

| Posted on 2009-05-07 | by a guest

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About being reunited with your true identity and coming to realization that you are perfect.

| Posted on 2009-05-06 | by a guest

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this could be to do with colonies. a rich ruler welcomed by a poor country then he ignores them and then eventually gives back freedom to the people. "give wine, givebread,give back your heart".

| Posted on 2009-05-05 | by a guest

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This poem speak to our heary, as you imerge like a butterfly, from the depths of grief, after the loss of your heartmate
This also an expression of the post-colonial exprience rediscovering one's cultural identity. It works on personal level, specially for women.
This poem also expresses belief that people look for affection outside of themselves for so long, and that one can find that connection for which they have for so long strived grasp but like anything has so much of one's selff invested in it, that connection is lost.
It is vital that one looks within him/herself to find contentment, otherwise life will be filed with hurt and mouring.

| Posted on 2009-04-28 | by a guest

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The poet is simply suggesting that when the years spent assuming an identity are lost or broken, you must not give up, no matter how 'desperate'. You will find a new or inert identity that will eventually be yours to own again-only if you take care of your self and do not forget what has gone before but 'feast on [the whole of] your life.

| Posted on 2009-04-26 | by a guest

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the poem is about finding your own identity when you have lost it like self discovery, finding who you are after a break up suggesting that we neglect ourselves and forget who we are.

| Posted on 2009-04-16 | by a guest

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This poem will resonate with anyone who has taken the "Free the Heart" workshop with David Allan Jones. The workshop helps you to reconnect with your inner child which had got lost due to abuse, grief, trauma, stress and all the other negative energies that can happen to a child growing up. So this poem could be talking about meeting up with that inner child again, seeing who you really are and loving yourself again.

| Posted on 2009-04-01 | by a guest

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This may not mean anything, what people dont understand is that perhaps there isn't a deep rooted meaning, maybe what it is. is what you can see. a poem written so he had something to do on those boring evenings

| Posted on 2009-01-29 | by a guest

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I disagree with you all.
Why do you presume that "the stranger who was yourself" is you? This is not a poem about reconnecting with oneself. This is a poem about reconnecting with the one you love - that is, your true self. There is no greater meaning of 'self' than a self shared between two people. Only when an existence is shared can it be fully appreciated.
You've got to be prepared to read more into this poem than at first you would like to; otherwise you'll never get back with the person you're meant to be with.

| Posted on 2009-01-26 | by a guest

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This poem is about coming to the realization you are perfect after a lifetime of unreasonalble self doubt, guilt, shame,anger,and fear perpetuated by your mind.

| Posted on 2008-12-30 | by a guest

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The poem is about being reunited with your true identity. It also could link to Jesus being reunited with God after his crucifiction.

| Posted on 2008-12-07 | by a guest

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it means after a heartbreak you need to find yourself. and that there is no greater love than self love.

| Posted on 2008-11-19 | by a guest

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it means after a heartbreak you need to find yourself. and that there is no greater love than self love.

| Posted on 2008-11-19 | by a guest

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This poem is actually an advice for people who has been heartbroken.
It means that enjoy your life with yourself then someone else and you will never get heartbroken. Get to know yourself if you are being heartbroken it is not your fault so do not be all dark and gloomy inside just amuse yourself with bread and wine as they do it in Christian churches.

| Posted on 2008-11-09 | by a guest

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you have to always put yourself before an other person so love yourself and then love another person.
For example, an other person can let you down but you can't let yourself down if you believe in it and love yourself from the inner of your heart.
This person might be relegious as she/he uses the phrase give wine. give bread and this is symbolic for Christians.

| Posted on 2008-11-09 | by a guest

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the main aim i believe of this poem is to let its readers know that there is no greater love than self love. no matter how much you may get hurt, you can always turn to yourself for strength. yourself never leaves you or forsake you. and in order to love someone you must first love your self.

| Posted on 2008-10-24 | by a guest

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• Many things can be brought out of this poem in terms of what it is about.
• The main theme being about finding your inner self – in the first paragraph, lines 4 and 5, he talks about looking in a mirror, “And each will smile at the other’s welcome”. This surely means he is meeting his other self or inner self.
• It may also be about feasting on one’s achievements in life – as Derek writes in the final paragraph, line 15, “Feast on your life”.
• One could also draw to conclusion that it could be about not only finding your inner self, but loving your inner self too. “You will love again the stranger who was your self”.
• When Walcott writes about greeting yourself at your own door, one could assume he means inviting one’s inner self back into your life.
• The poem could also be seen as a religious poem as he talks about giving wine and bread. Two elements used to symbolise the body and blood of Christ. Also, as Christianity is a religion of forgiveness, and he not only talks about the elements of Christ, but “(Giving) back your heart To itself”, Walcott may mean that whoever the poem is about is forgiving themselves for something.
• When the poem says “All your life, who you ignored For another, who knows you by heart”, it may mean that the person that the story is about, forgot their inner self for another, and then starting to love their self again.
• The poem’s name basically gives away what the poem is about. The ‘love’ after love, being your inner self, and loving your inner self again, after a broken relationship.

| Posted on 2008-10-05 | by a guest

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this poem is about losing your faith and trying to find yourself in christian happenings like the last supper

| Posted on 2008-09-28 | by a guest

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love after love is about a woman falling in love and forgetting her shelf she needs to get back on track and start to love herself once again;.

| Posted on 2008-09-11 | by a guest

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this poem represents love, and hatred, as she has completly forgotten herself and started thinking of things far more different, she is starting to ignore herself and make herself feel as though she is to blame.

| Posted on 2008-09-09 | by a guest

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This poem conveys that the day will come when one will appreciate oneself and stop taking the Self for granted. That the Self is Love itself. True love. Real love. Joined with oneness. Universal. There is no one else, but onesself to love because love is onenness. So looking in the mirror seeing oneSelf is realizing that all other loves were an illusion. A trick. A cheating of what is legitimate and true. There is only one self joined with oneSelf in oneness with all.

| Posted on 2008-08-22 | by a guest

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this poem is a poem of re-assurance of a better love life to anyone that has a broken relationship.

| Posted on 2008-06-26 | by a guest

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/IT means after you have fallen in love you change as a person but then when you brake up you have to find yourself again and then you realise just how much you have changed because your just tryin to figure out who you are again.

| Posted on 2008-06-04 | by a guest

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This poem, ever so clearly expresses the collaboration and love of self after the love of another. To be able to enjoy the company of yourself, when solice is not sought fater due to a immeasurable loss in love.
"Give bread.Give wine" In the eucharist, the bread and wine are, at the least, symbolic of the broken body and shed blood of Jesus, which in turn are representative of the death of Jesus which brings salvation to the recipient. Slavation from loving another individual and losing the love. Sit and love your life, because your here now and nothing will change that.
^bread/wine source wikipedia-christian symbology

| Posted on 2008-03-02 | by a guest