Women poets have never been taken seriously by academia, especially if their poems revolve around love. Such is the case of Sara Teasdale whose most famous collection, Love Songs, published in 1917 – unsurprisingly – dealt with this exact topic. Teasdale’s poetry is very traditional in form. ABCB rhyme schemes, stanzas structured as ones of a ballad, iambic trimeter, and tetrameter. It is not innovative in many ways, especially in the cultural context of the 1900s when modernism was rapidly instilling itself into literature elsewhere. Yet, it’s mesmerising in its simplicity, relatability, and tenderness. Sara Teasdale’s world has no aspiration to idealism. It is that of the mundane.

Let’s explore the overarching themes in the collection, starting by considering a few lines from A November Night, the last poem in the collection. 

I used to wonder how the park would be

If one night we could have it all alone —

No lovers with close arm-encircled waists

To whisper and break in upon our dreams.

And now we have it! Every wish comes true!

We are alone now in a fleecy world;

Even the stars have gone. We two alone!

It is through the lens of a loved one that Teasdale sees the world. The fleecy world she describes is only so because it grants her wishes. It allows her to spend time alone with her lover. Even the stars have gone. We two alone! This doesn’t mean self-doubt doesn’t arise at times, but it is quickly swept away by the reliance that only a loved one can provide. 

We now know that Teasdale’s poetry is strongly influenced by the theme of love. Yet, she often takes a different approach by focusing on the remembrance of said love rather than on its explosiveness as we have been accustomed to by previous poetic tradition. For instance, the key motif of remembrance emerges again in A November Night. Remembering a lover’s actions, words, promises, habits; that is all it takes to be in love. It is a key to someone else’s soul. It is a long-lasting impression that never recedes into a mere idea. 

Look at the lake —

Do you remember how we watched the swans

That night in late October while they slept?

Let’s now focus on the poem Jewels

If I should see your eyes again,

I know how far their look would go —

Back to a morning in the park

With sapphire shadows on the snow.

Or back to oak trees in the spring

When you unloosed my hair and kissed

The head that lay against your knees

In the leaf shadow’s amethyst.

And still another shining place

We would remember — how the dun

Wild mountain held us on its crest

One diamond morning white with sun.

But I will turn my eyes from you

As women turn to put away

The jewels they have worn at night

And cannot wear in sober day.

The poet doesn’t end her written exploration of feelings with the positive ones brought by memory. She makes it clear to the reader that memory often leads to pain. She does not intend to hide such a fact. Permeated by a subdued sensuality, this poem tells us of this situation. It expresses how the painfulness of memory is stronger than regret. The man is a jewel who shall be put away. We don’t know what happened, but we know that there’s a history between the two. And that makes it worse. Yearning, a painful journey into the past, the dolour of going back to one’s roots. 

The final significant theme that is present in this collection is Teasdale’s strong attachment to life (paradoxically the author committed suicide in 1933). As far as this collection goes, this strong will to live does not come antithetically from witnessing death and annihilation – like in Ungaretti’s poetry. It is simply innate. It is part of the poet’s outlook on life. She dares to look into the abyss and see its darkness as a beautiful hue.

LIFE has loveliness to sell,

All beautiful and splendid things,

Blue waves whitened on a cliff,

Soaring fire that sways and sings,

And children’s faces looking up

Holding wonder like a cup.

(Barter, Sara Teasdale)

It is clear that Teasdale still recognises the depths of pain that loving can lead to. Nonetheless, she thinks of it as a worthy and valiant emotion. She defends it in its simplest form and sings of it with her bare words. Her poetry conveys simple yet universal themes and that is exactly where her allure lies in the eyes of us readers.