John Boyle O’Reilly in his poem “White Rose” explains the significance of colors in the life of people who are deeply and madly in love with each other. When the poet says “the red rose whispers of passion,and the white rose breathes of love;” he clearly states the fact that a red rose represents passion in love whereas a white rose represents pure love.
Red is an electric color and it obviously is significant to couples who are in love with each other. But the poet’s love towards his lover is so deep and pure that instead of sending a red rose or even a white rose he thinks of sending something totally different to the love of his life. He as a matter of fact sends a beautiful cream white rosebud with red tips and symbolizes the fact that how pure his love is. His gift has a deep hidden meaning for all the lovers today.
The hidden meaning through which the poet tries to convey his message to the readers is that passion is extremely essential in love but what is more important is the fact that purity should also be there. He wants the young people who are deeply in love to understand the fact that if God forbid, someday their love is devoid of passion ,will they still be madly in love with each other as they were before.
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The poet wants the youngsters in this age of technology to understand the significance of pure and true love in their mechanical lives. The rosebud he gives to his lover is ready to transfer the love that the poet intends to send.
The poem in a way explains the difference between true love and lust when it differentiates between the dove and the falcon, between the red rose and the white rose. Astonishingly John also explains the significance of lust in a relationship when he himself sends a cream rosebud with red tips. The rosebuds are cream in color thus representing the significance of purity in love but its tips are red because love should also be surrounded by an optimum amount of lust for the happiness of the couple concerned.
This poem cannot be termed as being traditional by any means; people might term it so because of its excessive stress on pure love but they should also note that the poet also speaks about the significance of lust in a love life. Pure love is primary and lust is secondary. The poem beautifully explains the balance between love and lust and also explains that love should be coated by a little bit of lust just as the cream white rosebud was surrounded with red tips. When the poet says “Love that is purest and sweetest has a kiss of desire on the lips”, he also portrays the importance of desire in the love life of a couple.