The destructive nature of love is delineated through the extended metaphor of the disintegration of the lives of the "two goldfish. " The poem is written from the perspective of an onlooker referring to fish as "he" which anthropomorphism's the poem.
The theme that predominates the poem is that of lover's relationship which is destroyed by limitations, and this idea is directly compared to the lives of the two goldfish. The opening lines of the poem immediately set the perspective of the poem.The Tory is written in the third person perspective, which is a Juxtaposition with the title of the poem; "(love song, with two goldfish)," the contrast is brought about as the generic love song," is usually spoken in the first person narrative and not in the third person.
Love is usually expressed in the first person perspective where one individual dedicated their love for their significant other, but here the fact that there is an onlooker, who is observing the love for "He" could possibly foreshadow this idea that there is something peculiar about their love.The structure of the poem also intrigues greatly to this idea of their love being unnatural. The usual rhythm that is accompanied with a love poem is iambic pentameter, but here instead the rhythm follows the pattern of the trochee. This rhythm makes the pace of the poem increase and quite uneven. "He's a drifter, always" this quote follows the pattern of stressed, unstressed, stressed.The word 'drifter' here when accompanied by the trochee pattern brings forth a completely different meaning to the word "drift" which is usually has connotations of calm, and slow movement but here the trochee quickens he pace, making the "drifts" movement seem quite desperate, which again reiterates the idea of how the lover's relationship is unnatural.
Diction is also able conjure up images that paint the picture of passionate frenzied love, as in the case of "bowled over," this could be compared to the more 'human' movement that follows this, which would be the idea of "falling head over heels in love. The denotations of the word "bowled itself is to fall over, hence the word "head over heels" is the direct representation of the 'human version' of falling in love. Though despite the more romantic aspect of his love, there could also be a more negative image that is more so perceived in the fact that he "bowled" though it could mean being in love, it could also mean that it almost hurts to be in love with his significant other.Therefore reiterating the idea that the love of these two individuals is odd, as the feelings of love are reciprocated more with pain, along with love. Uncertainty is also something that is prevalent in the relationship of the two lovers.
"He would", "they could" and "they would," the use of the modal verbs here portray an mage that the more romantic things that the lover wishes to do with their significant other wishes to do is stopped by a factor of uncertainty.The modal verbs here show now "nee" Is never addle to actually 00 ten more romantic things nee wellness to ay Walt his love, because they are suppressed by "submarine silence" the idea of the "submarine silence," brings forth the idea that even when the two lovers are together they have nothing to say, and are immersed essentially into a "submarine silence. " For a larger fraction of the poem there isn't any variation in terms of punctuation for he greater portion of the poem, however in stanza three line seventeen, there is a change in punctuation.When Chug describes how the two lovers would "dive for pearls like stars. " The significance of the period is that is marks the end of an idea. This 'end' contrasts the idea of love, as love is usually described as being eternal, whereas the love described by Chug, seems to have an end marked by the period, which could also signify the finality of their relationship.
The idea of how limitations confines the two lovers, and eventually destroys the legislation of the two lovers is further emphasized in stanzas four and five.After the mentioning that his lover has left him either because she has died indicated by "love's since gone belly up" which is a literal representation of what happens when fish die. Or that she left him because she wasn't satisfied with him, which is shown as "(she wanted and he could not give) a life beyond the bowl. " Thus signifying how she is left him because he is unable to please her, as she feels confined as "wants a life beyond the bowl," the meaning behind the metaphor it could be that she feels infixes inside the "bowl" which could be a metaphor to describe their relationship, how it has boundaries and limitations.
This idea once again contrasts the idea of love, as love should be limitless and carefree, but their love is controlled, limited and guarded by a wall that being the "bowl. " The entire structure of the poem is also quite significant in the sense that it depicts the unnatural nature of the love. The entire poem is written into parenthesis. The significance of parenthesis is that they highlight a side thought or an after thought.
The fact that the relationship of the two lovers is written in parenthesis could signify how unimportant their relationship is, but also how hidden and subsided their relationship is. Though the parenthesis could be a literal representation of the lives of the two lovers, in their "bowl" who are confined and trapped. Overall the poem (love song, with two goldfish), illustrates the harsher side of love, and more destructive side of love, wherein two individuals are unable to express their love for one another as they are held within a "(bowl). "
