FLOWERS AND PLANTS

Symbol Analysis
People always like to mention flowers when they talk about love ("my love is like a red,
red rose," anyone?), and this poem is no exception. Here, the speaker says he doesn’t
love his paramour the way he loves beautiful flowers. Instead, he actually compares his
lover to a plant that doesn’tflower (in Spanish, florecer), but keeps its beauty "hidden"
away. It seems like he's saying that he loves her for her inner beauty.

 Lines 1-2: The speaker says he doesn’t love this woman as if she were the salt-
rose (a particularly resilient species of rose) or a carnation, two beautiful flowers.
"Arrow" is a metaphor used to describe the way in which the beauty of the flower
shoots out from within.
 Lines 5-6: Instead, the speaker loves his paramour as if she were a plant that
doesn't bloom, but rather keeps its beauty hidden away. The word "as" in line 3
tells us that this is a simile, a comparison that uses the word "like" or "as."
 Lines 7-8: Something strange is growing inside the speaker. It is an "aroma" that
originally came from the soil (from a non-blooming plant, perhaps?). This aroma
is a metaphor for the powerful emotion the speaker feels as a result of his lover,
that strengthens quickly as it grows.

DARKNESS
Symbol Analysis
For a poem about love, there is plenty of darkness floating around. The speaker says
that he loves his paramour the way "certain dark things" are loved. He also describes
how a "quickening aroma" lives "darkly" inside of him. This is all very strange, and it
makes us think that there is something dangerous or mysterious about the speaker’s
love. Pretty edgy.

 Line 3-4: The speaker loves his paramour the way that "certain dark things" are
loved; we get the feeling that this means he loves her secretly (he does say "in
secret" after all), in a way that might not be acceptable to everyone else. The
word "as" (como) tells us that this is a simile that compares two disparate things.
 Lines 5-6: The plant’s light is "hidden within itself," which is a clever way of
saying it cannot be seen (it's in the dark, if you will). The "plant that does not
flourish" symbolizes something or someone whose true beauty is not visible on
the surface, but is hidden away on the inside.
 Lines 7-8: The speaker says an aroma "lives darkly" inside him. This means that
the aroma is hidden inside of him and can't be seen by others. (Again, aroma is
 a metaphor for the speaker’s feelings as a result of his paramour’s love; love is
like an infectious smell that he carries around with him.)

CLOSENESS AND INTIMACY

Symbol Analysis
"Love Sonnet 17" is a poem about love, so it's not surprising that it talks a lot about
closeness, intimacy, and that sort of mushy stuff. In the last stanza of the poem, the
speaker even imagines that his own hand is actually his lover’s hand, and that her eyes
close on his dreams. It doesn’t get much closer than that folks! This intimacy also
seems to lead to a loss of individuality for each of the lovers. Is it worth it?

 Line 13: The speaker imagines that he and his lover are so close that his own
hand is actually her hand. This image symbolizes the lovers’ intimacy or
closeness, a kind of love in which the speaker and his lover become one.
 Line 14: Talk about closeness. The speaker and his lover are so intertwined that
she can see his dreams.