Cecil Day Lewis (1904-72)
Come, live with me and be my love
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Come, live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
Of peace and plenty, bed and board,
That chance employment may afford.
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I’ll handle dainties on the docks
And thou shalt read of summer frocks:
At evening by the sour canals
We’ll hope to hear some madrigals.
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Care on the maiden brow shall put
A wreath of wrinkles, and thy foot
Be shod with pain: not silken dress
But toil shall tire thy loveliness
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Hunger shall make thy modest zone
And cheat fond death of all but boneIf these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me and be my love
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Come, live with me and be my love,
The poet invites a person to come and share his life with him. This is a marriage proposal or
it may not be.
And we will all the pleasures prove
The two of them together will test all the pleasures married couples have. They will enjoy
everything together. In the next line he will refer to what kind of pleasures they will enjoy.
Of peace and plenty, bed and board,
They will have peace. They will have enough food. They will share a bed and they will have a
place to stay. The reader may ask the question where all this will come from. In the next
line the poet will say where the “plenty”, also referring to money, may come from:
That chance employment may afford.
It seems both of them are workless. The peace and plenty they will have will be provided by
odd jobs they get to do. ‘Chance employment’ means if they are given the chance to work
they will work. Cecil Day Lewis is an Irish poet and he may be referring to the workless
conditions in Ireland. He is saying in the poem that you could be in love and live together
even if you are workless.
I’ll handle dainties on the docks
He will go down to the harbour to see what delicacies he can find their. He will take care of
that.
And thou shalt read of summer frocks:
She will look in magazines and will read about summer dresses. She will only read about it
because she will not be able to afford them.
At evening by the sour canals
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They could have an evening out and visit the canals. The canals may smell sour therefore
they call it sour.
We’ll hope to hear some madrigals.
They would hope to hear some madrigals - love songs.
Care on the maiden brow shall put
Because the woman will care for him her brow will change. Her appearance will change.
A wreath of wrinkles, and thy foot
She will receive a wreath of wrinkles. This is a metaphors. The wrinkles will sit like a wreath
around her head.
Be shod with pain: not silken dress
Her feet will be shod with pain. The word shod is used when you fit a horseshoe to a horses
hoof. It is a metaphor which states that the pain is attached to her foot like a horseshoe is
attached to a foot.
But toil shall tire thy loveliness
His beloved will also grow very tired. She will lose her beauty because she will have to work
very hard.
Hunger shall make thy modest zone
They will not always have food to eat and her zone (refers to your middle, a shape that a
belt can cover) will be modest. She will have a thin middle. This an example of euphemism.
Euphemism is when you use more gentle terms to describe something. Instead of saying you
will grow thin because of hunger, he says your middle will have a modest appearance. Modest
meaning not oversized.
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And cheat fond death of all but boneHis beloved will be so thin that even death will feel cheated when she dies one day. When
she dies death will have no flesh to collect but only bone. Death is referred to as being fond
as if they will enjoy death and as if death will relief them from their hard lives.
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If these delights thy mind may move,
If these brilliant scenarios that I have painted for you, changes your mind about us living
together then the poet continues his invitation. He is being sarcastic here. The scenario he
sketched for his beloved is not delightful. To walk beside smelly canals in the hope of
hearing a song. Going hungry because you have no food is no life.
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Then live with me and be my love
Only if the woman will agree to live under these conditions, must she even consider moving in
with him.
This is a sarcastic poem where the poet makes fun of how Irish people who are
extremely poor, will court their loved ones. What must they offer a girl is they want the girl to
come and movie in with them?