Love as Psychological Disruption

Cowper presents love not as romantic sentiment, but as a neurological state that completely fragments attention. Each stanza demonstrates a different way love interrupts normal cognitive function: obsessive thinking, lost focus, social disconnection.

The poem's structure mimics this mental fragmentation, with each stanza describing a different symptom of romantic preoccupation. Psychological realism emerges through precise observations of love's internal landscape.

18th Century Courtship Performance

[CONTEXT: Cowper was known for social anxiety and complex emotional life] The poem reveals intricate social performance of romantic pursuit. The speaker wants to be understood without directly communicating, creating a complex dance of hints and indirect revelation.

Notice the repeated structure of 'Let her guess...' which transforms courtship into an intellectual game of interpretation and emotional subtlety.

William Cowper (1731-1800)

The Symptoms of Love

Obsessive Love Symptoms

First lines define love as total mental occupation. Every thought begins and ends with the beloved.

Would my Delia know if I love, let her take

My last thought at night, and the first when I wake;

With my prayers and best wishes preferr'd for her sake.

Let her guess what I muse on, when rambling alone

I stride o'er the stubble each day with my gun,

Distracted Hunter Metaphor

Hunting imagery suggests love as a state of perpetual, ineffective distraction. He can't even shoot his game.

Never ready to shoot till the covey is flown.

Let her think what odd whimsies I have in my brain,

When I read one page over and over again,

And discover at last that I read it in vain.

Let her say why so fix'd and so steady my look,

Without ever regarding the person who spoke,

Performative Inattention

Love transforms social interaction. He performs listening while being completely internally absorbed.

Still affecting to laugh, without hearing the joke.

Or why when with pleasure her praises I hear,

(That sweetest of melody sure to my ear)

I attend, and at once inattentive appear.

And lastly, when summon'd to drink to my flame,

Let her guess why I never once mention her name,

Though herself and the woman I love are ''the same''.

Source Wikipedia Poetry Foundation