"Love After Love" is a poem by Nobel Prize-winning author Derek Walcott, originally published in his collection Sea Grapes (1976). The short poem, one of Walcott's most popular, urges people who have been disappointed in love to get back in touch with their authentic selves. It suggests that this process of self-rediscovery will be at least as thrilling as ordinary romance—and possibly more fulfilling.

• Read the full text of “Love After Love”

• “Love After Love” Summary

• “Love After Love” Themes

  • 

    Self-Love After Heartbreak

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-15

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Love After Love”

  • Lines 1-4

    The time will ...
    ... your own mirror,

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 5-7

    and each will ...
    ... was your self.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 8-11

    Give wine. Give ...
    ... you by heart.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 12-14

    Take down the ...
    ... from the mirror.

    

    

    

    

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  • Line 15

    Sit. Feast on your life.

    

    

    

    

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• “Love After Love” Symbols

  • 

    Mirrors

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 3-4: “you will greet yourself arriving / at your own door, in your own mirror,”
    • Line 14: “peel your own image from the mirror.”
  • 

    Wine and Bread

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 6: “sit here. Eat.”
    • Line 8: “Give wine. Give bread.”
    • Line 15: “Sit. Feast on your life.”

• “Love After Love” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Repetition

    

    

    

    

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    Where repetition appears in the poem:

    • Line 3: “yourself”
    • Line 4: “your own door,” “your own mirror”
    • Line 6: “sit”
    • Line 7: “your self”
    • Line 8: “Give wine. Give bread. Give,” “heart”
    • Line 9: “to itself, to the stranger,” “who has loved you”
    • Line 10: “whom you ignored”
    • Line 11: “who knows you,” “heart”
    • Line 12: “the love letters”
    • Line 13: “the photographs,” “the desperate notes”
    • Line 14: “mirror”
    • Line 15: “Sit”

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “come / when”
    • Lines 3-4: “arriving / at”
    • Lines 8-9: “heart / to”
    • Lines 9-10: “you / all”
    • Lines 10-11: “ignored / for”

  • Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Lines 3-6: “you will greet yourself arriving / at your own door, in your own mirror, / and each will smile at the other's welcome, / and say, sit here. Eat.”
    • Line 8: “Give wine. Give bread.”
    • Line 14: “peel your own image from the mirror.”
    • Line 15: “Feast on your life.”

  • Asyndeton

    

    

    

    

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    Where asyndeton appears in the poem:

    • Line 8: “Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart”
    • Lines 9-11: “who has loved you / all your life, whom you ignored / for another, who knows you by heart.”
    • Lines 12-14: “Take down the love letters from the bookshelf, / the photographs, the desperate notes, / peel your own image from the mirror.”

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “when,” “with”
    • Line 6: “say,” “sit”
    • Line 7: “stranger,” “self”
    • Line 8: “bread,” “back”
    • Line 9: “loved”
    • Line 10: “life”
    • Line 12: “love,” “letters”

  • Allusion

    

    

    

    

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    Where allusion appears in the poem:

    • Line 8: “Give wine. Give bread.”
    • Line 15: “Sit. Feast on your life.”

• “Love After Love” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Elation
  • (Location in poem: Lines 2-3: “with elation, / you will greet yourself”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Love After Love”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Love After Love” Speaker

• “Love After Love” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Love After Love”

• More “Love After Love” Resources

  • External Resources

    • A Reading of the Poem — Watch poet Linton Kwesi Johnson's recitation of "Love After Love" via the BBC.

    • The Poet's Biography — Read about Derek Walcott's life and work at the Poetry Foundation.

    • A Recitation by Oprah — Listen to a reading of "Love After Love" by Oprah Winfrey.

    • An Interview with the Poet — Watch a 2010 interview with Derek Walcott that includes readings of some of his poetry.

    • The Poet as Nobel Laureate — Read a biography of Derek Walcott, his citation for the 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature, and his Nobel lecture at the Nobel Prize website.

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Derek Walcott

    • A Far Cry from Africa

    • Nearing Forty

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