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I Like You And I Love You by Oliver Wendell Holmes

Analysis

"I Like You And I Love You" is a poem written by Oliver Wendell Holmes. In this poem, "I like you" and "I love you" are personified as exactly what you might expect. "I love you" tells "I love you" to go down a beautiful and peaceful pathway, yet "I like you" denies the request and instead stabs "I love you" and then himself. Metaphorically, this is speaking of the differences between liking and loving someone.

This poem is made up of three stanzas with four lines in each. It is written in the rhyme scheme ABBA. It is written in iambic pentameter.

Poem

I Like You And I Love You
By 

I LIKE YOU Met I LOVE You, face to face;
The path was narrow, and they could not pass.
I LIKE YOU smiled; I LOVE YOU cried, Alas!
And so they halted for a little space.

"Turn thou and go before," I LOVE YOU said,
"Down the green pathway, bright with many a flower;
Deep in the valley, lo! my bridal bower
Awaits thee." But I LIKE YOU shook his head.

Then while they lingered on the span-wide shelf
That shaped a pathway round the rocky ledge,
I LIKE You bared his icy dagger's edge,
And first he slew I LOVE You,--then himself.
Next: The Last Leaf