25 pages 50 minutes read

Love Song for Alex, 1979

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1989

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Poem Analysis

Analysis: “Love Song for Alex, 1979”

“Love Song for Alex, 1979” is a sonnet in that it has 14 lines, but it isn’t a strict sonnet, as it doesn’t have a set rhyme scheme. The poem rhymes until Line 10 with an ABCBDEFFE rhyme scheme, and there are no rhymes from Lines 10-14. Half the lines have 10 syllables that alternate between unstressed and stressed (Lines 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 14), four lines have 11 syllables (Lines 4, 8, 11, 12), two have 12 (Lines 10, 13), and one has 13 (Line 7), but they roughly follow the 10 syllables of iambic pentameter. The poem has a first-person narrator, likely Margaret Walker, as it is often considered a poem to her husband Firnist Alexander. Some sources say Walker wrote the poem for Alexander after his death, but the title (1979) shows that either it was written a year before his death, or she wrote it as though he were still alive.

The sonnet begins with some terms of endearment, highlighted by possessive wording: “my sweet patootie” (Line 1). Walker simultaneously expresses her feelings for the man and characterizes him for the audience. He’s a “monkey-wrench man” (Line 1), which may suggest that he works with tools, or that he threw a monkey wrench in her plans—a term meaning someone or something has sabotaged one’s chosen path. If this latter interpretation is the case, Walker considers it a happy accident, as the poem is overwhelmingly affectionate. Walker also uses alliteration in this line, repeating “M” in “My monkey-wrench man is my.”

She goes on to describe Alex as the “lover of my life” (Line 2), a phrase akin to “love of my life,” a term synonymous with “soul mate.” Her wording goes from general to specific; he’s the love of her life and has been her lover through her younger and older days. Here, Walker speaks to the longevity of the union and recognizes the changes that occur in long-term relationships; she was young when their attachment began, but the relationship was a constant through to old age. This longevity through change is a consistent theme throughout the sonnet. She again uses alliteration in this line, repeating the “L” in “lover” and “life.”

Alliteration recurs in Line 3, repeating the “H” in “heart,” “him,” and “him.” This line confirms her commitment to Alex alone. In Line 4 Walker discusses her children, pointing out that they came from her flesh, but they are Alex’s and are quick to anger like him. The word choice in this line is poignant, as she uses “flesh” to emphasize that she physically had her children, most commonly called “bearing” children. She then uses “bear” to connect Alex to the children as an implied juxtaposition. She bore the children from her flesh, and the children bear Alex’s personality traits. We also see the culmination of the first rhyme here, with “age” from Line 2 and “rage” from Line 4. The poem’s rhythm is just taking shape.

Line 5 begins a new thought, again addressing how the couple has advanced to old age through dozens of years. The word “advancing” implies they’ve improved in old age rather than deteriorated. “The dozens” of years is accurate, as Walker and Alexander would’ve been married for 36 years in 1979—neatly three dozen years.

Walker continues the thought from Line 5 in Lines 6 and 7, saying that the “honeyed kiss” of “wine and fire” (Line 6) have faded into the distance. With the kiss recalling physical intimacy, wine carrying with it the feeling of carefree indulgences, and “fire” being associated with passion, Walker seems to say that the physical aspects of their passion have faded. She calls the fading of this passion “blissful,” meaning that it happened at the correct time, and she has no negative feelings about the matter. These lines reinforce that their relationship aged gracefully, despite inevitable changes. Walker uses alliteration in Line 7, repeating the “Y” in “years” and “yonder.” She also uses assonance, repeating the short “I” sound in “lips” and “kiss” and the long “I” sound in “wine” and “fire.”

As a sonnet generally has a volta, or a turn moment when the sonnet changes, some might argue that the turn occurs at Line 8 beginning with the word “but.” In Lines 8 and 9 Walker adds that Alex holds all her “days of Happiness and wonder” in his arms and eyes (Line 8). That she capitalizes happiness seems to personify it; Alex doesn’t just hold her happiness, he is her happiness.

The true volta occurs at Line 10, as Walker stops speaking about Alex and begins speaking to him, addressing him as “you” and introducing a vague “they.” From here the poem ceases to rhyme and becomes more abstract. “They” may refer to Alex’s eyes and arms from the previous line, and Walker states that “they” carry the couple “under the waters of the world” (Line 10) and “past […] distant planets” (Line 11). Moving from the physical to the intangible, Walker may be talking about the timeless, boundless nature of their love, or she may be talking about their ability to connect in a spiritual way even after their physical bodies are no longer present. Walker uses alliteration in Line 10, repeating the “W” in “waters” and “world.”

Line 12 continues this metaphorical travel through the “seaweed of the ocean.” She now uses a kind of image rhyme, associating “seaweed” with “tangle,” “ropes,” and “yarn” in Line 13. That these confining objects symbolize memories emphasizes the unyielding nature of their moments together—these moments tie them to each other, regardless of where their bodies are. The implication is that they will live on together past death in the “yarn of memories” (Line 13).

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