To Sensibility: Hearts & Tears

In response to TO SENSIBILITY by Helen Maria Williams...

"She prompts the tender marks of love Which words can
scarce express; The heart alone their force can prove, And feel how much they bless." Throughout the
poem Williams personifies Sensibility which works well to relate it as something natural.
I think the poem takes a detailed route at expressing the human
reaction induced by sensibility.In the entire poem, I think these lines are the most descriptive of human
sensibility. Being sensible involves reacting to emotions. There are things in everyone's life that enhances
their sensibility. It may be a look from a close relative/friend that is associated with a specific emotion
or event that in turns stirs up emotions in oneself.
The poem reminds me of how it becomes natural to build a sensibility to love.
When you love someone the smallest things can tap into one's sensibility.
I think Willams does an excellent job at capturing a natural response like sensibility. The emotion is captured
in the descriptions. "The heart alone their force can prove, And feel how much they bless" this part of the line
is what reminds us that sensibility for each individual is a personal experience.
Not every response is the same with sensibility.The things we feel are not always easily expressed verbally to others,
but we alone know the weight they carry. We feel it in our heart and sometimes forget why it is that certain
emotions are the response we have to things in life or memories.
I like the use of the word "tender" in relation to "marks of love".
Not everything is a happy emotion. Some things are tender because they induce painful memories, like a tender wound, it may be healing
but if you poke at it you will still feel something. Other things are
tender because no matter how you tune into that love it will always spark an emotion for that individual.
I think this is what is special about To Sensibility, depending on how you feel when you read it, it can go both ways.
It can touch upon more difficult emotions by being thought provoking. And at the same time the descriptions
have a very amorous appeal.How can you not think of emotions/feelings and specifically love? Even the multiple mentions of "tears"
brings love to mind. Love much like sensibility is not easy. Love is not always rays of sunshine, it is challenging
and sometimes even annoying to the point that all you can do is cry to let it out.
The funny thing is that in talking about sensibility we have these descriptions of the heart and love and then
we have the mention of tears. Tears is one overt expression of emotion. Interestingly enough people react
differently to seeing someone shed tears. Some people start crying with them and others become very uncomfortable
and may try to get away, while others may sit there and give you a shoulder to cry on.
To Sensibility would be a good way to get someone to understand "sensibility". It may be confusing at first but when
you really go over it the entire poem is reminding us of different ways sensibility plays a role. It isn't only in love either.
The poem reminds me a lot of the work of Frida Kahlo. Frida Kahlo was an artist who had a lot tragedy in her life. Her sensibility comes through in her paintings. She painted what she felt. She painted her pain that come from love, family, personal dilemmas, and death.