The Cruelty of Love
In “Song: Love, a child, is ever crying,” the narrator denounces Love as being a deceitful, vengeful, and cruel being. The narrator, who has presumably been betrayed by a man, view this man as the embodiment of Love’s cruelest features. Though Love can be responsible for some of our joys, it is most often the root cause of our loss and sorrow. Love is unique, the narrator argues, because it both causes and rejoices in sorrows of the heart. In this way, this poem depicts love as a cruel emotion, one that purposefully toys with our emotions and seeks to meddle in the affairs of the heart.
The Ethereal Power of Sleep
In “Pamphilia To Amphilanthus: Sonnet-1,” the narrator suggests that it is during sleep, in the black of night, that she feels she is most connected to her heart and least connected to her mind. She suggests that her nightly unconsciousness allows her to transcend reality and open her mind and her senses to otherworldly realms and beings. One such realm that the narrator visits often is a realm where Venus and her son (Cupid) live. In this way, the narrator feels that sleep has a powerful hold over her, for it is during sleep that her unconsciousness transcends into other realms of existence, where she can be visited by powerful and ethereal beings.
Desire
In both “Song: Love, a child, is ever crying” and “Pamphilia To Amphilanthus: Sonnet-1,” the narrator explores the complexity of desire. In Pamphilia To Amphilanthus: Sonnet-1,” she suggests that the fictional creature Venus embodies desire and that she uses her power to project lustful desires onto others. The narrator feels that Venus visits her during sleep and, aided by her son, Cupid, instills in her a lustful sense of desire for others. This desire is consuming, the narrator explains, and guides her in her efforts to find love. Similarly, in “Song: Love, a child, is ever crying,” the narrator explores the pitfalls of desire. She explains that desire led her to find love and then subsequent heartbreak. It was because she desired so deeply to find love that she was betrayed by it. Love and desire, the narrator suggests, are old friends, and rarely will one exist without the other. Therefore, one should be wary of both.
