Literary Appreciation of Love Song

This Amharic poem is a translation from the traditional language of the ancient Christian kingdom or Ethiopia. All the comparisons that we read come from the realities of the poet's own African background. At the first glance, we see that the poem is simple, straightforward, direct, and familiar with the theme of love.

It seems to be a love poem, but after critical study, we find it more than that. Let's observe the situation development and intention of this poem for its appreciation.

The situation is very simple, conventional one, in which a lover is presenting his beloved in the poetic picture. The presentation is descriptive in the sense that every part or limb of her body has been described beautifully in a romantic way, and subjective in the sense that the speaker's personal feelings have been expressed throughout the poem. Like a romantic lover, he describes her with vivid phrases; like a sensitive painter, he draws an exact picture in the mid surface of the phrases.

The context of the poem develops with a series of attempts to find suitable comparisons to express his admiration and awe of the lady. His attempts to move towards a climax, each in turn becoming more desperate and exaggerated than the previous one. The poem ends on the most during note or all, when he borrows ideas and expressions from religion to convey his abject dependence upon her for his survival.

 When she opens her heart-

The Saviour image!

 And Jerusalem herself, sacred city,

Shouts 'holy holy'!

The immediate effect of the poem is the contemplation of the body of the beloved. From the contrast of the fruits, his beloved appears a blend of lime (tree with smooth heart-shaped leaves and fragrant yellow flowers) and honey, and of lemon and grape.

You line of the forest, honey among the rocks,

Lemon of the cloister, grape in the savannah.

The "hip" that can be enclosed by one hand and the "thigh" that is round like a piston of an engine, described with these, tell us about her slimness and physical perfection. Her back, eye, gown and skirt everything has been attributed to same romantic meanings. Her back is a manuscript to read as connoted in this comparison. Her eye is the subject of adventure like the adventures experienced by trigger-happy shoots heroes. Her gown is cobweb tender. (It's a fine network of threads made by a spider.)

Her skirt is like soothing balm. These are sensory perceptions. These sensuous and sensual experiences are much, pleasant. There is something more fantastic when we read the reference of the Arabian scent, The beloved becomes extraordinary when we learn that she does not wash herself with a soap. We are really amused to hear that she washes herself in Arabian scents. This is, in fact, highly exaggerated remark, but not impossible or implausible.

In the second part of the poem, the beloved has been given a mysterious shape, she has been highly elaborated with supernatural or divine qualities. The poet gives further reference to the Genesis with the remark- "you mistress of my body." God made a woman out of a man. The lover believes that, in a mythological sense, his beloved is mistress of his body. She is more precious to him than his hand or his foot. The next series of comparisons has a rather different feature. The lady is compared less to real, actual things, and more to religious and mythical ideas. She is like "the water of Paradise” – a particularly potent, meaningful concept in the middle of a dry, rocky landscape. She is compared to the kind of flower which, blooms almost miraculously, in the night without help from the sun, its penetrating color and fragrance standing out impressively in the 'darkness; something beyond the capacity of mere mortal human beings to produce, "wrought by divine craftsmen." The lady has been created and perfected by the labors of a whole team of  craftsmen.

She has mysterious muscular powers that tread on him and cast him into despair and dejection. He does not believe that such a divine creature would have any "compassion" on a mere mortal like him. Nevertheless, he sees the Saviour, image in her heart, and he stands her in the holy city of Jerusalem in the image of the Saviour. His life depends on her.

The poem contains the theme of love with admiration as well as awe. More than, half portion of the poem has the lover's admiration and rest has awe of the lady. The poem is in free verse-varying the length of the lines. There is a change in the tone as well as in the use of pronouns. Romantic and admiring tone of the earlier part of the poem change towards the ending into fear. Significantly, we notice that as his awe of the lady increases, the poet drops the use - of the 'second person' (you) which suggests a certain degree of intimacy, and then uses further the 'third person' (she), which indicates a greater detachment, producing highly the formal tone.

Though the poem lacks many poetic devices, it still conveys effectively rich meaning and powerful passion, romance and mystery, in simple, direct, precise language. Thoughts and feelings are more significant here than expected musical arrangement.