Love is the universal principle, or motivation for an individual's activity. It generates the passions and desires that animate human life. It is a recurring theme in “My Mistress's Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun” by William Shakespeare, “Funeral Blues” by W. H. Auden, and “My Papa's Waltz” by Theodore Roethke. These three poems present love in three different circumstances. Integrated from the two dimensions, particularly in terms of eros and agape, and using elements of poetry such as similes, hyperbolic language, personification and symbolism, "My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun" highlights love despite social norms , "Funeral Blues" shows love despite death, while "My Papa's Waltz" emphasizes love despite both the social norm and the death of his ideal father. In “My mistress's eyes are nothing like the sun,” Shakespeare uses negative similes to express the erotic love that is highly emphasized by society. Humans are generally attracted to some physical qualities of a person rather than his character. The term eros is used to describe the nature of love that places great importance on physical and sexual desires. As Kieran Bonner notes in his article, eros is “the offspring of need and resourcefulness” (Bonner 123). It is a self-centered, acquisitive love that focuses on how the lover can satisfy a person's sexual and physical desires. Likewise, the sonnet indirectly highlights how society wants a man to choose his mistress based on how desirable the woman is. The poem begins with the lines: "My mistress's eyes are nothing like the sun / The coral is much redder than the red of her lips" (1-2). This use of negative comparison in the preamble, indirectly stating what the mistress lacks, draws attention... to the center of the paper... the individuals. Works Cited Auden, W. H. "Funeral Blues" Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry and Drama. Ed. Robert Di Yanni. 6th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2007. 1102-1105. Print.Bonner, Kieran. "Eros and Ironic Intoxication: Deep Desire, Madness, and Discipleship in Plato's Symposium and Modern Life." History of the Human Sciences 26.5 (2013): 114-31. Guest of EBSCO. Web.Pope Benedict XVI. "Deus Caritas Est - Encyclical Letter, Benedict XVI." Vatican: the Holy See. Vatican website. Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2005. Web.Roethke, Theodore. Literature "My Father's Waltz": reading fiction, poetry and theatre. Ed. Robert Di Yanni. 6th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2007. 1102-1105. Print.Shakespeare, William. "My mistress's eyes are not like the sun" Literature: reading fiction, poetry and drama. Ed. Robert Di Yanni. 6th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2007. 1102-1105. Press.