The Falling Pale and Wan Lover
Falling by Harry Styles was released in the year 2019. It is a part of his second album, Fine Line. He wrote this song inspired by his recent breakup with his girlfriend after being together for about a year. Also, a fun fact is he took about 20 minutes to write this song. It tells us that he is going down a depressed state because of losing his girlfriend. The song shows us how he was starting to lose himself, and he was becoming someone he did not want to be.
Why So Pale and Wan, Fond Lover? by Sir John Suckling, a very well-known poet, is a lyric poem in the play Aglaura. The play is about love, intrigue, and betrayal. The play was very famous before but not as much as it is today. Although the song is still very famous, it is more known as a poem. The poem is about a man failing to get the girl he likes and getting advice from his friend. Because the man is fragile and sad, the friend tells him she won’t change her mind. If she rejected him when he was happy, she would still reject him even if he’s sad. Why So Pale and Wan, Fond Lover? is one of the most famous English literature lines during the 17th century.
In Falling and Why So Pale and Wan, Fond Lover? We see both are heartbroken and sad. They both lost the girl they loved, and they deal with it drowning in sadness. Harry in Falling is becoming someone he does not want to become. He is constantly questioning himself while reminiscing past memories. The man in Why So Pale and Wan, Fond Lover? is described as a miserable, sad man. He is hurt, hopeless, and is in darkness. The two are not dealing with their heartbreak well. They accept and take in their sorrow.
The song and poem have a similarity, but there are some differences. First, the pain Harry and the man from Why So Pale and Wan, Fond Lover? experience are different. Harry and his ex-girlfriend loved each other. He was not rejected, unlike the man from Why So Pale and Wan, Fond Lover? The man was hurting because of rejection. Harry was hurting because he lost someone who was a big part of his life. He had a connection with the girl, and it was broken. The guy from Why So Pale and Wan, Fond Lover? was trying to connect with his love but failed.
Second, Harry’s song ended with him still questioning himself. He did not have a conclusion where we know if he moved on or not. Sir John Suckling’s poem showed us that the friend concludes for the guy to forget about her because she will not change. I see that as a boost for the heartbroken man to start over. Harry did not have that boost or glimpse of hope in him. He was still in a pool of emotions.
Therefore, I conclude Falling by Harry Styles is the modern counterpart of Why So Pale and Wan, Fond Lover? by Sir John Suckling because we see how similar the two dealt with their heartache despite the different reasons for their pain. They openly welcomed their feelings of sorrow. Besides, the song and poem go well together because Falling is like the man’s perspective in the heartbreak while Why So Pale and Wan, Fond Lover? is the friend’s perspective. The two go so well together in a way that their differences connect, and they give us the big picture of a man hurting with a friend trying to cheer him up.
