Voice 1
Welcome to Spotlight. I’m Colin Lowther.
Voice 2
And I’m Alice Irizarry. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Click here to follow along with this program on YouTube.
Voice 1
It is 1969, and a young Steven Stills has a broken heart. The woman that he loves is leaving him for someone else. He feels hopeless, trying to understand how the person he wants so much could be gone from his life. He is just a poor musician. He has little to offer her, nothing to bring her back. So, he does the only thing he knows how to do. Steven Stills writes a song.
Voice 2
The song, Suite: Judy Blue Eyes, did not bring back the woman that he loved. Stills was not the first person to write a love song. Love songs like his have been sung for thousands of years. Expressing everything from the sadness of a lost love to the joy of new desire, these songs show that this longing for another is not new. Today’s Spotlight is on the world history of love songs and poetry.
Voice 1
People have created love songs since before the invention of writing. Songs, words, and stories were very important to ancient cultures. These cultures expressed themselves freely and openly. Some experts argue that these songs did not qualify as love songs. C.S. Lewis was an English writer. He once wrote that love poetry was less than a thousand years old. He suspected that love as we know it was invented by French poets in the eleventh century BCE.
Voice 2
But love was still an emotion that ancient humans felt. They may not have expressed their words in the same way that we do today. The feelings that brought them to sing would have been the same. Tim Hancock is a literature expert. In his story called The Chemistry of Love Poetry, he argues that this is because love is a physical experience ingrained in human nature.
Voice 3
“Poets recognize that love is a physical as well as a mental experience. This agrees with our growing understanding of love as a universal drive. Hunger hurts the stomach. The need for warmth causes us to shiver. Love shakes the heart.”
Voice 1
The oldest love poetry in the world seems to agree with Hancock’s ideas. This poem, The Love Song of Shu-Suen was written in two thousand BCE, in Sumeria. This ancient kingdom existed three thousand years ago in present day Iraq. But the things the Love Song’s writer speaks about are just like those a woman might feel today. She compares the one she desires to a lion, a large, strong cat. She sings:
Voice 4
You have captivated me,
of my own free will I will come to you.
Man, let me flee with you – into the bedroom.
Voice 2
The Love song of Shu-Suen’s author is very explicit about her physical desire for the one she loves. The words she uses are very simple. She does not have the art of a modern poet. But her openness shows that love of this kind existed long before the eleventh century.
Voice 1
The emotions behind all love poetry and songs may be the same. But the way that people write depends highly on the place and time. Ancient Chinese love poetry has a different quality than the ancient Sumerian Variety. Shu-Suen’s speaker tells her lover exactly what she wants from him. But Chinese poetry is not so direct. Du Fu was one of the greatest Chinese poets. His poem “At the World’s End,” is an amazing example.
Voice 5
Cold is the wind that rises
over this remote place.
Old friend, tell me,
When will a wild bird goose reach me here?
From the rivers and lakes
where the autumn waters are overflowing?
Voice 2
At first glance, Du Fu’s poem does not seem to be about love at all. But Du Fu was writing about love indirectly. In Chinese love poetry, some animals or events are symbolic. They have two or more meanings that the reader must understand. A wild goose is a kind of large bird. These birds mate for life, just like many humans do. So geese are symbolic of marriage, of long life together. When Du Fu asks if a wild goose will reach him, he is asking about companionship. He is in a place that is cold and lonely. He wishes for love to fly to him like a bird.
Voice 1
Many love poems are meant to be read. But most throughout history were spoken or sung. William Shakespeare was one of the greatest poets in the history of the English language. His poems were written to be spoken.
Voice 2
One of Shakespeare’s most famous poems is Sonnet Eighteen. In this poem, Shakespeare compares his love to a day in summer. He decides that, while he likes summer, he likes the person he loves better. She is just as beautiful and just as pleasant. But unlike a summer day, she does not change. To him, she will never fade.
Voice 1
Shakespeare’s Sonnet has a different quality to it than Du Fu or Shu-Suen’s. Shakespeare’s poem is very technical. It does not express the same desire as the ancient Sumerian poet. It does not have the same longing expressed in “At the World’s End.” But Shakespeare’s goal is the same. There is a person that he loves so much that he feels the need to speak to her. But this feeling is so big that he cannot speak to her in normal language. He must make her a thing of beauty that shows her own.
Voice 2
Today, love poetry is as different as the people on earth. Some people write using traditional forms. Some people write clearly, what they feel and what they think. Others feel that words are not enough. They make music that expresses their desire.
Voice 1
Experts do not always agree what purpose love poetry serves. Why have people developed this form of expression? What advantages does poetry give? These are all fair questions. But for those of us in the thick of love, this does not seem to matter. Love poetry exists because there are some feelings that are too big to leave hidden. But these feelings are also so overwhelming that one word does not do them justice. It has been that way longer than we can understand. Love is one experience that unites us, from now to the beginning of time.
Voice 2
Have you ever been in love? Did you feel the need to write about it? How did you express yourself? You can leave a comment on our website at www.spotlightenglish.com. You can also find us on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Bluesky, and X. You can also get our programs delivered directly to your Android or Apple device through our free official Spotlight English app.
Voice 1
The writer was Dan Christmann. The producer was Michio Ozaki. The voices you heard were from the United Kingdom and the United States. All quotes were adapted for this program and voiced by Spotlight. This program is called, ‘Expressing Your Love’.
Voice 2
We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye.
Question:
Have you ever been in love? Did you feel the need to write about it? How did you express yourself?
When I want to think of something beautiful, I think of the page from Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, which tells of the meeting between Marius and Cosette in an abandoned garden, lit only by the moon. They are sitting next to each other, holding hands, not worrying about having to speak, but knowing they are already in eternity.
Will i didn’t love because it’s just…… I don’t know the feelings of love so i don’t know what to say
Yes ,yes ,Quiet
Thank your for this wonderful episode, and it is truth that most Chinese poem of love are indirectly.
It’s necessary to correct something about Du Fu’s poem. The original poem must be 《天末怀李白》, and it’s actually a poem about friendship with another great poet call Li Bai. Du Fu imagined the scene of Li Bai in exile during the late autumn season, passing through the Dongting Lake area from the Yangtze River, expressing the his deep concern, nostalgia, and sympathy for Li Bai, and expressing indignation and injustice for Li Bai tragic experience .
We are glad you liked this episode. Thank you for the interesting commentary on Du Fu’s poem!
Hello,
I’ve been in love and I’ve written love letters to my loved one, it was a long time ago, because now a days nobody writes letters.
It’s been a long time since I fell in love, so I don’t know how I could express my love for someone.
Since I’m at an age where love is expressed differently, I would say that actions speak louder than words or songs.
I am Severino Ramos. I am from Brazil, and I live in são Paulo City
Dear Spotlight team, Dan Christmann, Michio Ozaki, Alice Irizarry, and Colin Lowther
How is it going?
Expressing Your love
First, I thank you so much for bringing us one more important article. Thanks!
Question 1 –
Have you ever been in love?
Yes, I have.
Question 2 –
Did you feel the need to write about it?
Yes, I did.
I wrote compositions about my feelings, I wrote some love songs, and I wrote any poems.
Question 3 –
How did you express yourself?
I expressed myself through my written compositions, my written love songs, and my written poems. Also, we talked to each other five days a week at hidden places.
I was a young boy. I was only 15 years old, and I was at the last year of the high school.
That gentle girl was 6 years older than me. We studied in the same classroom, and we were in the same studying level of the high school. That gentle girl used to treat me in a special way. Every day when she arrived at school, she kissed me on my face, she smiled at me and she winked at me. So, I did not understand much about dating, but I responded her glances and I winked at her, too.
However, she persuaded me to go out with her to talk alone at the school snack bar. We used to meet to get our romantic meeting at hidden places from our classmates, but they chased us, and they found out our dating but, we did not stop it.
She started to win my heart. After one month I was completed fallen in love by her.
Furthermore, one day the Principal called us at his room and spoke us in a strict way; he told us that you are here to learn important knowledges, you are here to graduate, you are here to learn everything that we teach you.
Also, he told us that I do not permit your dating here into our school. So as a punishment, which he gave us, he called our parents and talked to them about everything what happened between us the girl and I.
Finally, my mother talked to me in a strict way and she talked to the girl’s parents, too about the situation. So, the gentle girl gave up from the high school and I did not see her anymore until now. That is all.
Thank you so much
I appreciate it
Stay with God
Severino Ramos
Thank you for sharing your experience. I have a question for clarification. You wrote, “So, the gentle girl gave up from the high school and I did not see her anymore until now.” That means that you have now seen her. If that’s not what you meant to communicate, you could write something like, “I have not seen her since then.” Thanks again for your thoughtful comments!
Hello, Reply to Randy U! How are you? Good morning.
Thank you for asking me that question.
Yes, that is correct! Your thought is correct.
I have not seen her since then. Her name was Alice!
My parents did not permit our dating because I was so young boy, I was only 15 years old, the girl was 6 years older than me, and due the situation that we were dating in a hidden places at school.
However, The Principal increased the issue against us the girl and I. Some of my chassmates were cheating and fake. After that, the girl gave up from the high school.
I think that she and her family moved to other neighborhood. My classmates did not give me any pieces of news about her.
My parents always were good people, but they were very domineering ones, at that time. Nowadays they have changed a little.
Finally, to clarify, nowdays, I have only my mother because my father passed away a long time. He lives with God in the sky. And utill now, I continue a single man.
Of course, I graduated in high school, I went to the college and I graduated in nursing at the university. I finished my postgraduate in my field of nursing. Also, I got a job at the hospital where I have worked as a male nurse since then. And, at the hospital where I worked for I look after sick and injured people. That is all.
Thanks! I hope that I have gotten to clarify the question. If not, you must ask me anything that you want to. I am sorry about my mistakes. I am an English student yet. I am an English learner yet. Stay with God. I appreciate it.
Severino Ramos.
The hospital where I work for. I have worked there since then at same hospital. I am sorry about that mistake. Severino Ramos
You do not need to apologize for your mistakes; we all make mistakes, even in our mother tongue! When someone corrects my mistake, it helps me learn. Keep up the great work!
Thank you very much. I appreciate It. Severino Ramos.