The Value and Duration of Platonic Love

 While passionate love certainly has its benefits, platonic love has the advantage of duration, as well as (constrained) passion. As anyone who knows me well knows how I emanate the Brontes, I find this poem well worth the emphasis that the value of friendship exceeds any fleeting attachment. From Emily Bronte, which sheds particular light on the often too-romanticized perspective on her masterpiece, Wuthering Heights:

“Love is like the wild rose-briar,
Friendship like the holly-tree –
The holly is dark when the rose-briar blooms
But which will bloom most constantly?
The wild-rose briar is sweet in the spring,
Its summer blossoms scent the air;
Yet wait till winter comes again
And who will call the wild-briar fair?
Then scorn the silly rose-wreath now
And deck thee with the holly’s sheen,
That when December blights thy brow
He may still leave thy garland green.”


Comments

  1. AnonymousFebruary 4, 2026 at 8:56 AM

    the rose briar is "passionate" exceeding the holly tree, at least for a time. It is STRONG, it gives the scent...strongly wafting. The holly is "evergreen" ...lasting, constant. But what if true love was BOTH?

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