"Lonely Hearts"

The structure and tone of this poem stood out to me as very important and effective. The first five stanzas reminded me of ads in the newspaper looking for responses. The tone of this poem is one of lonliness and longing for companionship and love in life. Each of the first five stanzas in this poem expresses a different person and his or her needs or desires in a partner or companion. It is almost as if the multiple speakers in the poem are soliciting love from others. The author repeats two phrases four times each during the poem, because the poem is in a villanelle structure or format. The two phrases repeated are "Do you live in North London? It it you?" and "Can you make my simple wish come true?". I think that these questions are repeated over and over again because they emphasize the tone of desire, longing, and lonliness. These phrases create sympathy for the lonely and needy speakers, which is an example of pathos used by the author. The last stanza of the poem gives an address for a response and asks three questions in the end.The speaker states, "who knows where it may lead once we've begun?". I think this shows that the speakers continue to have a positive attitude and perseverance. Therefore, I think that this last stanza gives a sense of hope and optimism for the future.