# A Learner explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by Ambrose Bierce.

## What happens

The speaker confesses their inexperience in love, likening themselves to a mariner stranded among a foreign people. They plead for patience as they learn the language of love, claiming they can already read a kiss before it is spoken.

## Themes in this chapter

### Love and Communication

The poem centers on the difficulty of expressing love and the speaker's desire to learn the beloved's emotional language.

## Character check-ins

### Unknown

The speaker, a self-described learner in love, uses the metaphor of a mariner to express their awkwardness and devotion.

### Estee

Addressed as 'Dear' and 'pretty native,' the beloved is the object of the speaker's affectionate plea for patience.

## Key lines

> I do not think you rightly understand: My foolish tongue imperfectly has caught The trick of loving words, nor, as it ought, Serves the sweet purpose of the heart’s command.

I doubt you truly grasp how poorly my tongue manages the art of loving speech, failing to convey what my heart intends.

_The speaker admits their verbal clumsiness in love._

> Dear, I’m untraveled in the golden land Of love, and in its language all untaught, Like some poor mariner by tempest brought ’Mongst alien races to a foreign strand.

Beloved, I am a stranger to the realm of love, ignorant of its tongue, like a shipwrecked sailor cast among unknown peoples.

_Love is compared to a foreign country whose language the speaker has yet to learn._

> For lo! already I’ve some little skill In the strange tongue. Ask me to kiss you now⁠— I’ll read the riddle ere it leaves your lips!

See, I have already gained a modest grasp of this unfamiliar language. Bid me kiss you, and I will understand the unspoken request before you finish speaking.

_The speaker claims to have learned enough to anticipate a kiss, showing progress in the language of love._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se/chapters/a-learner
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se/chapters