Love Cycle - Chinua Achebe
‘Love Cycle’ by Chinua Achebe portrays the sun’s effect on Earth (and vice versa) as a hardly
romantic relationship. The poem describes the couple: the sun an angry male and the earth a
tolerant female. Achebe uses personification and symbolism throughout the poem to evoke vivid
imagery.
‘Love Cycle’ opens with the persona describing the attitude of the sun at dawn. One can imagine
the sun’s withdrawal from embrace to mean its light isn’t fixated on anything. This translates to
how widespread and scattered the sun’s rays are at this time. Unlike at noon, the rays aren’t
locked on any surface; they aren’t harsh as well. Hence, their representation as “long misty
arms”. The adjective “long” reveals the far reach of the sun.
This stanza introduces the object of the sun’s influence: Earth. The persona portrays the
interaction between the two entities as a relationship between a couple. As shown in the first
three lines of the stanza, however, the nature of their relationship is dispassionate. The
aforementioned lines mention the aftereffects of sex between the represented couple: it’s
lukewarm. This reveals the irony in the last line of stanza one. In that line, the persona calls the
sun and Earth “happy lovers”, but this stanza begs to differ.
From a different perspective, the first three lines also underscore the theme of nature by
representing the attitude of Earth at dawn. In this case, “love’s combustion” refers to the heat of
sun, which is absent at this time. The stanza highlights the presence of dew—and therefore,
humidity—showing the freshness of Earth in the morning.
In this stanza, dawn gives way to noon. Again, the persona portrays the sun as a man with a
temper. Like his temper, the speaker predicts the “soft-eyed light”—representing the sun’s rays
at dawn—will grow hot with time. The man “ploughing through the vast acres of heaven…” is a
metaphor for the sun’s journey from the east, where it rises, to the west, where it sets. The
speaker tells us that within that time, the sun will become harsh.
Employing the established metaphor, this stanza reveals Earth’s reaction to the sun’s harshness.
Her attitude is one of patience and tolerance. “Burning darts of anger” refers to the scorching
rays fixated on Earth, as the speaker predicted. The earth absorbs the harsh light the same way
the metaphorical woman tolerates her partner’s temper while swallowing her own. This stanza
highlights themes of tolerance and patience.
As it concerns nature, the concluding stanza of ‘Love Cycle’ is speculative. It reasons why Earth
tolerates the sun’s harshness, using the established metaphor. From the metaphorical perspective,
the woman stays in a clearly unhealthy relationship because at night, her partner’s gentleness
returns. The tone of the stanza indicates that the man becomes mellow because he wants her to
make love to him. At this point, the theme of power plays comes in. The woman takes comfort in
these moments where she has full reign over her partner.
The metaphorical perspective provides a speculative reason Earth tolerates the harshness of the
sun during the day. At night, sunlight becomes significantly gentle through the reflective surface
of the moon. The persona guesses Earth tolerates the sun for these moments of freedom and
relief. Of course, it’s only speculation backed by the speaker’s power of imagination. As
indicated by the title of the poem and the natural phenomenon explored, the events in ‘Love
Cycle’ are recurring. In a sense, the poem never ends.
