Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Charlotte Smith's rendition of "Love and Folly," adapted from Jean de La Fontaine's original fable, adds a fresh layer of poignancy to the complex relationship between love and foolishness. Both poets explore the nature of love, but Smith's adaptation diverges in tone, stressing love's vulnerability to folly while emphasizing the irreversible influence of each on the other. Written during the late 18th century, a time when the english Romantic Movement was gaining momentum, Smith's version reflects a heightened concern with emotional vulnerability and ethical responsibility.

Smith begins by commenting on Love's more merciful past, marking a shift from La Fontaine's eternal, unchangeable nature of love. According to Smith, Love was not always the capricious entity it is today but was altered through its unfortunate encounter with Folly. The setting, like in La Fontaine's fable, is idyllic and pastoral, a "flowery wild," lending a sense of irony to the catastrophe that ensues. In this eden-like garden, Love is not portrayed as a grand, matured entity but a "thoughtless child," underscoring the notion that love, in its purest form, is innocent but naive.

While La Fontaine portrays the interaction between Love and Folly as a sort of divine trial with celestial arbitrators, Smith opts for a more grounded, earthly quarrel. The stakes are lowered from divine judgment to a mere child's play of "bow" against "bauble." This trivializes the consequence, making it all the more tragic when the harmless game results in Love being blinded.

Smith presents Folly as a "testy" and "malignant" figure whose actions are less impulsive than in La Fontaine's version, but more deliberately malevolent. The wounding of Love here is not an accident but a calculated act of "malignant" intent, making Folly more villainous. It is this more sinister portrayal of Folly that sets the stage for Venus's appeal to Jove for divine vengeance, rather than just reparation.

Jove's denial to annihilate Folly is poignant and resonates deeply with the human condition. He declares, "Folly is immortal," a line that sums up the poem's existential dilemma. Folly is not just an occasional lapse but an enduring aspect of human life. The final lines echo this sentiment but take it a step further: while love might be blind and foolish, it is Folly that will perpetually "lead him," a fatalistic view that underscores the irreversible intertwining of love and foolishness.

Charlotte Smith's adaptation does more than just retell La Fontaine's fable; it reshapes and amplifies its themes, presenting a darker, yet equally complex, depiction of love and folly. She brings to the forefront the concept that love's susceptibility to folly isn't merely unfortunate but a cosmic, unalterable law, governed by the gods themselves. This submission to an eternal relationship between love and folly not only underscores their inseparability but also forces us to reckon with them as fundamental, yet flawed, elements of our own human experience.

Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!

Other Poems of Interest...