Law Like love

Essay by mingyangHigh School, 11th grade April 2006

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Different opinions are an aspect of life that is widespread throughout the world. In "Law like Love", W. H. Auden intends for the reader to understand that the nature of a person's perspective is dependent on one's surroundings, because each person has their own view of the world, causing the formation of many different ideas and inadvertently representing a freedom of speech.

Determined by physical and mental environment, an individual's viewpoint will vary accordingly. For example, in "Law like Love" Auden writes that a carefree, out-of-doors gardener will see Law as the sun. The sun is something that is a constant component in a gardener's life. Creating a set of rules and procedures, the sun controls plant growth and work periods, thus unintentionally asserting its power into a gardener's life. To light- hearted, joyful children, "Law is the senses of the young". They do not pay much attention to the responsibilities and rules of society, living in a totally different world from older adults.

Acting only when their senses tell them it is justified, children live in a world of innocence. Priests, people who spend their time in church believe that "Law is the words in my [their] priestly book". They believe that divine intervention is integrated into every person's life; and since rules and policies had been inscribe into their "book", everything that "book" discloses is truth, or in other words, Law. Influenced by an individual's surroundings, the many different perspectives people experience create a multitude of diverse ideas.

Ideas are born from the imaginations of people. When each person has their own views on life and how it works, then different ideas will be conceived in each mind, therefore creating countless unlike beliefs and opinions. W. H. Auden's poem, "Law like Love" reveals the opinions of many different...