"How Can I Tell You?" by Cat Stevens

9.24.09

Within the text, "It’s alright ma, I’m only thinking" a correlation between the poetry of Bob Dylan and the ideas within Plato’s Symposium is made. The ideas within both pieces pertain to an evolving definition of love, and the different type and levels of love. Following the levels of thought observed in Plato’s Symposium, the poetry of Dylan, relating to the ideas and definitions of love, are viewed in order of ascending complexity. Outside of the textual examples parallels can be drawn to external sources such as the song "How Can I Tell You" by Cat Stevens.
Young love is the simplest form of love first examined. Young love, or puppy love, is entirely selfish. The emphasis of thought is based upon the lover and not the loved. Mainly this is due to the newness in the experience and emotions of the lover. Within " How can I tell you" by Cat Stevens there is an emphasis on the emotions and thoughts of the lover as pertaining to the loved. With the lines, "I long to tell you that I'm always thinking of you... I'm always thinking of you" the selfishness is shown within the mention of the lovers’ thoughts of the loved- yet there is no mention of said thoughts. If the line were to mention how the lover was constantly thinking about how they hope for the well being of the loved the classification may be raised above the complexity of simple puppy love. The physical longing, or ergos, within the idea of young love is expressed by Stevens in the lines which read, " I need to know you, Need to feel my arms around you Feel my arms around you, Like a sea around a shore" Again the emphasis is placed upon the feelings of the lover as they yearn for the physicality of the loved. The one repeated element of the song is the phrase of, how can I tell you That I love you" This one phrase epitomizes the idea of young love by showing the lovers need to express their ideas in a selfish way. Stevens shows through this line that the lover is in a state of confusion of how to express this newfound emotion. The lover not once mentions any outside reasons pertaining to the loved of why they feel the need to express their love in the first place. Young love is proven to be entirely selfish through the platonic thought process, the Poetry of Bob Dylan, and the lyrics of Cat Stevens.

The idea of simplistic young love can be argued to have a number of definitions. However, when drawing parallels between such definitions one can clearly see the resemblance in the ideas of Plato’s symposium, the poetry of Bob Dylan, and the lyrics of Cat Stevens. All three sources provide clear details of how young love consists mainly of selfishness on behalf of the lover. The ideas of all three men converge to form a unique view on the definition of young love.