Summary Of Ssong By Cynthia Zarin

Throughout the following essay, Cynthia Zarin’s poem “sSong” will be critically analysed and assessed. Cynthia Zarin is an American poet born in 1959. She published a poem named “Song” in 1993 to show her compassion to her lover. The poem consists of 3 stanzas whereby each stanza is contains 3 lines. The poem is written about a woman’s love relationship towards with a man. The poem consists of words that have symbolic meaning which depicts how the relationship is. The relationship is depicted as a very loving and caring relationship while the disadvantages of the relationship are discussed as well. In essence, the poem implies that the advantages in a true love experience overpower the challenges in a true love experience.

The first stanza starts off gently to the likelihood of what seems to be great. The love is categorized as a deeming and damning affection therefore mastering the hardship of what love is or is perceived to be. Looking at the first stanza, one is able to notice that it starts off very romantically. In line 1 the poet, Cynthia Zarin, refers to her man as ‘My heart’ and ‘my dove’. ‘My heart’ indicates how much the poet’s lover means to her as a heart is sustenance for life. The poet also makes it clear that the love is pure in line 1 by referring to her lover as

‘My snail’ (Zarin ) can be looked at in two different manners, the first being the pace of the relationship. A snail is a slow pulmonata which entails that the relationship is going at a slow pace. This could be perceived as an advantage or a disadvantage depending on the circumstances of their love circle. The second manner one could look at it is that a snail needs its shell in order to survive. The validity this interpretation has on the poem is that the poet tries to convey to her lover that he is her shell in the sense of feeling secure and protected