Title: Song in Spite of Myself
Author: Countee Cullen
Never love with all your heart,
It only ends in aching;
And bit by bit to the smallest part
That organ will be breaking.
Never love with all your mind,
It only ends in fretting;
In musing on sweet joys behind,
Too poignant for forgetting.
Never love with all your soul,
For such there is no ending,
Though a mind that frets may find control,
And a shattered heart find mending.
Give but a grain of the heart’s rich seed,
Confine some under cover,
And when love goes, bid him God-speed.
And find another lover.
I chose this poem because it is the advice that I never take when getting into a relationship. I agree completely with the poem, and yet I never listen to what it says when I’m caught up in the moment of love. I think it means a lot to love, but the hurt that comes from the ending love is never worth all of the pain that one goes through. This poem describes love and heartache to a tee and gives great wisdom and insight into the matter. I think it is a good poem because it after each statement it gives the reason for why not to do what it says. For example, I don’t find myself asking why not to fall in love with all my heart.
Countee Cullen was a great poet and wrote many other sorts of things such as plays, he was also an anthologist and a black activist minister. I think he wrote about something that is very easy to connect with and something that everyone can understand at some point or another in life. That is why I find it to be such a great and greatly written poem.
I like the way Countee wrote this poem. The way he states his opinion, then gives a reason for why he feels that way. It also gives it a nice flow the way every other line rhymes. This way- without making every line rhyme- it gives it a more mature and yet still continuous, easy flowing feeling. I believe part of the reason he wrote it the way that he did has something to do with the fact that he was a minister. It has that church sort of state and respond feel to it. Although I am not a huge religious fanatic (I belive my own things), I like his point of view and can very easily relate to the messages in this poem. The messages being that love is hard, it can hurt if you put everything you have into it and get nothing back or if the love ends.
My favorite part is the ending. Throughout the entire poem Countee is giving reasons not to love with all your heart and all your soul, but in the 2nd to last stanza he admits that one can find control and be mended. Then in the last stanza he makes for one last push of advice to save some of the “heart’s rich seed” and keep it hidden in case your heart should break, at least you’ll have this small part to go back to and start again.
