In the poem "Isolde's Song" by Michael Burch two lovers (Tristam and Isolde) are faced with blind love. The poem takes place in Arthurian legend and has many accounts of figurative language. This poem is all about the sense of "touch" with one another. In the painting by John William Waterhouse called "Tristam and Isolde with the Potion", the poem and painting has much in common with the imagery of the poem. This poem never mentions any names but in "Bulfinch: The Age of Fable" there is a story called "Tristam and Isolde" and this poem is based off of the Arthurian legend. In the poem, Isolde is reminiscing about her time with Tristam before they got separated when Tristam had to leave. The painting and the poem have many things in common such as being together as one, surrounding each other, and getting to hold each other. In the first line of the first stanza it says " Through our long years of dreaming to be one...". This was a way of saying that they waited a long time to see each other again and be together as one. Then, it says "...we grew toward an enigmatic light that gently warmed our tendrils." Basically this second line is saying that they grew to a feeling that they didn't understand and that feeling warmed their love for each other. In the fourth line of the fourth stanza it say that they had no eyes to tell but they loved each other despite the lack of all sensations. They were so in love, they didn't get to see each other for years
but they overcame that barrier and were blindly in love. In the story "Tristam and Isolde" Tristam had to return Isolde to his king but Tristam and the princess were in love. In the painting, it portrays the couple in a sorrowful mood because they cannot be together. In the background you can see a castle in the distance and that is implying that they are near their destination and they will not be
