You Used To Love Me Well

              I will readily admit that poetry is not high on the list of things that I love. AP English 12 has helped me come to understand and appreciate the art of poetry, but I do not quite love it yet. However, there was one poem that I think brought me close to loving poetry: “Sestina” by Ciara Shuttleworth. To refresh everyone’s memory’s, the poem used only the six words “You used to love me well” in various arrangements (1-6). Even though the poem only uses six different words, it has so many different meanings. It used to annoy me that one poem could have so many interpretations. The idea of having an infinite number of meanings behind one set of word stresses me out; it makes me feel like “I’ve got no control” (Currie 12). But, Shuttleworth used the possible ambiguity and multiple analyses to enhance her poem. The speaker’s tone could be at times accusatory, ashamed, playful, or regretful, among other possibilities. It all depends upon how you choose to read the poem, how long the pauses last, how forceful the exclamatory syntax is, among other components. Although the speaker seems to start off angry, he/she slowly concedes that they each hold blame in their failed relationship because “People make mistakes” (Currie 39). They both used each other. The speaker seems to reach an acceptance of the situation by the end of the poem, almost as if he/she thinks to him/herself “you have no one to blame but yourself” (Currie 19). However, the realization does not have to result in bitterness. Once again, that decision rests with your interpretation. The way that you choose to interpret the poem really says a lot about you. I choose to think that the speaker moved from anger to acceptance and would soon progress to love again. I guess that makes me somewhat optimistic. Therefore, I liked “Sestina” because it showed me that I can enjoy poetry while also learning something about myself.