Point of View

“Love After Love” is told in the second-person perspective using the pronoun “you.” In this piece, however, the speaker seems to be external to the reader; they fill the role of someone more experienced, perhaps the reader’s own future self looking back at them. This person has experienced what the reader is experiencing and understands the depths of their internal loss. Unlike the reader’s point of view, the speaker is also able to see the light and renewal that follows such loss. In this way the poem uses elements of both first-person and second-person point of view. The speaker and the listener can be read as two sides of one person, or two sides of the self.

Language and Meaning

The poem is told through clear, concise language that is not rooted in any one time or place, and is accessible to a...