Since I must write this essay...

Michael Drayton explores the many intricacies of love and the many complications of a relationship in his poem “Since there’s no help”. This sonnet is different from most love poems, however, because it deals with the end of a relationship and the dwindling and death of love rather than the happier or more positive side of love. The poem is about the end of the relationship between the speaker and his ex-lover, and all of the complicated emotions and feelings that the speaker possesses because of this termination of their relationship. The poem features a very clear and distinct division between the first eight lines and the final six lines, with the speaker’s tone being very different in each section as well as the content of the first octave and the final sestet differing. The contrasting sections effectively contribute to the overall message of the poem about love and its ability to survive and recover from any damages.

The first octave is a journey through the end of the speaker’s relationship and the conflicting emotions present throughout this journey. The first octave is divided into two quatrains, each revealing key information about the speaker and his relationship. The first line of the poem, “since there’s no help, come, let us kiss and part,” quickly introduces the subject of the sonnet to the reader and allows the reader to quickly judge both the speaker and his relationship. The first four words of the poem indicate the sense of helplessness that the speaker feels and the inevitability of his relationship’s end. He seems sad of his relationship’s end, and sorrowfully accepts his fate with a kiss and the parting of him and his lover. In the next three lines, however, we see the speaker’s tone change to a harsher one with some vitriol against his ex-lover. In the second line, the speaker proclaims that his lover shall have no more of him; this claim is probably more for his own sake than for his ex-lover’s sake. It is noticeable that the speaker is not entirely comfortable or happy with the end of this relationship, and he is attempting to convince himself that this is good for him and will end up being a positive in his life. The content of the third and fourth lines again show the speaker’s self justification of this decision, as he boldly states that he is glad that he is freeing himself of the relationship “cleanly,” which I interpret to mean completely ending the relationship.

The next quatrain continues this discussion of the relationship and its future, or rather more precisely its possible lack of a future. The fifth line “shake hands for ever” highlights the strength of the decision and the mutual agreement, with both partners shaking hands on the matter of their failed relationship. The other part of that line, “cancel all our vows,” reveals information as to how strong and serious the relationship once was and provides a comparison for the current state of their relationship. The next three lines, six through eight, provide more information about the agreement. In these lines the speaker says how neither he nor his ex-lover will display any signs or traces of their former love, not only to the rest of the world but also between each other they cannot show any memories of love. One phrase that I found most interesting was “when we meet again,” stating that not only is it a possibility that the speaker and his lover might meet again but instead it is definite that they will meet again.

The final six lines of this poem show a complete shift from the ending of the speaker’s relationship to the metaphorical death of love. The philosophical and romantic tone of the speaker in the sestet is a stark contrast to the bitter tone of the first octave. In these final six lines, we see our speaker compare the death of love to the death of an old man. The speaker highlights three key aspects of love—passion, faith, and innocents—and shows how each aspect is affected by the death of love. Obviously, this personification of the death of love is meant to represent the death of the speaker’s love. However, the final two lines add a twist to the death of love, implying that there may still be hope yet. Through all of the turmoil that love had to endure, and although it had almost all the life drained from it, love can still recover, but only if you put serious effort into it and through sheer willpower bring it back to life. Finally, this last revelation shows that the speaker’s relationship still has a chance to be salvaged and mended, because of the power and persistence of love (794).