Margaret Atwood’s poem “Variations on the word Love” is her own cynical views on the word love itself and how it is used too frequently, which has resulted in it becoming almost of no value. The author, who is also the speaker, is articulating the significance of how the word love has become adulterated, trivialized and commercialized. Ms. Atwood is attempting to show how, in her opinion; the word love has reached a point where it has lost its impact and true meaning.

Love itself is described as a powerful emotion for another person manifesting itself in deep affection, devotion or sexual desire often occurring suddenly and without warning. As human beings, we require love to be in our lives and are happier when we feel it ourselves. Ms. Atwood's simple “poem” becomes so complex as it shows her opinion coming across as distain of the manner of which it is now used.

“It’s the right size for those warm blanks in speech, for those red heart-shaped vacancies on the page that lo

ok nothing like real hearts. Add lace and you can sell it. (Margaret Atwood “Variations on the word love” 2-7)

Even though the vacancies are filled with such trivial and meaningless shows of the emotion love, a few of us latch onto the existence of the idea of love and even wait for it to hit us in the face. Nevertheless, as described by Ms. Atwood, the waiting deafens us.

She tells us in this quote that even though there is an “us”, the word love is much too sparse to fill the void between the stars. That even in a relationship, love is not enough to raise that certain emotion. Love has varying degrees of intensity, which have yet to be seen during these modern times.

As humans, we need to believe in love itself or we stop being inspired. We are much happier in life when it washes completely over us. Yes, the word love, according to Ms. Atwood, has lost its very special shine and lustre that it once possessed a long time ago. She shows disdain for how we freely we now use the word love and how hollow it has become when it is spoken by lov

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