love. The use of the sonnet to explore this topic is highly effective. Not only is she able to bring a voice to this topic, but she manipulates the sonnet's form and structures as well as poetic devices (rhyme, meter, etc.) to exemplify both the romanticism and realism that lie in the ideas of love and war.
             love note I: surely has a very unique poetic form. Brooks has combined the English and Italian forms of the sonnet to enhance its meaning. The first half of the poem is written in the traditional English form with the rhyme scheme of abab cdcd, but instead of there being three quatrains there are only two, forming the octave common to the Petrarchan sonnet. The turn in the poem's meaning comes after the initial octave in which a sestet follows. Using the form of the Italian sonnet, Brooks comments upon the ideas presented in the initial octave. The way in which the poem is presented lends itself to being interpreted from two perspectives. In one instance it can be perceived as a letter from a woman whose love is away fighting in the war, or it could be viewed as a letter from a black soldier who is doubting his country and the events that are unfolding around him. In this paper, the former perspective will be explored in depth.
             In the first quatrain, the lovers' relationship is established. "Surely you stay my certain own, you stay/My you." In either of their lives, their love is what is certain and constant. War is not a constant state of being. In contrast, the lovers know each other so well that it is undoubted that their love will remain unchanged. The poet goes on to examine her lover's known characteristics, the things that will never vary. He is honest and somewhat haughty, he is "lofty as a cloud," high on himself, life, or both. She finds her lover to be infallible stating, "Surely I could come now and find you high." There is a great confidence in her...