“I can live only wholly with you or not at all…Be calm, only by a calm consideration of our existence can we achieve our purpose to live together – Be calm – love me – today – yesterday – what tearful longings for you – you – you – my life – my all – farewell. Oh continue to love me – never misjudge the most faithful heart of your beloved.
ever thine
ever mine
ever ours”
- Ludwig van Beethoven
A 0.33 seconds Google search brought up about 113,000 results for the search, ‘ever thine ever mine ever ours’. As I scrolled down the page and browsed through the links, I wondered how many out of the tens of thousands of people who posted that in some corner of their webpages actually really understands what that means and the meaning behind it. And yet the popularity of this phrase (brought popular again thanks to Sex and the City) is probably higher than the number of times I read my Harry Potter books. Okay, exaggeration intended, but you get my point. Apparently, just because it sounded so damn sweet in the movie (even though you didn’t really understand the meaning of it) so many others of us out there thinks so as well.
I won’t pretend that I know exactly what it means after hearing it twice in two days, but I just can’t help but muse over the fact how power media is as a platform/way to put a message across to people. Okay the previous sentence is not the accurate reason why I have this sudden thought. Ah, hard to express my exact feeling and thoughts in words. I mean, it’s a poem, people are not supposed to understand them. I’m kidding. I’m half kidding. But yet people are quoting something they don’t really understand. Even better, the rest of the poem is usually being left out.
Pardon my ignorance of the full meaning behind it (as to my reluctance, I have recently discovered I have since lost my appreciation and understanding of poems for a while now), but as I read those last three lines, I feel it is somewhat meaningless. In other word, incomplete, if you may. Is it without the rest of the poem the last three words actually meant nothing much?
Perhaps only the man himself will know the meaning fully and accurately, however much a historian tries to explains. In the meantime, I will read and re-read the excerpt, maybe until the day a realisation hits me in my own context.
P.S: I think the above quote is just a portion of the original third love letter written by Beethoven to his Immortal Beloved. Fancy name there.
P.P.S: Vincen, if you find any grammar, spelling or whatever errors I made, please go easy because it’s 4.15AM.
hahhaha.. dont worry la… its pretty ok… no major errors other den.. its VINCENT…. with a “T”… arghhh…. hahah
…awesome writing! found this (somewhat) article more understanding of the poem! thanks a bunch. And you are right about media and how it brings attention to things. I am a 22 year old lady and surprisingly, i have never seen sex in the city. I just remember reading this love letter in class and it was very meaningful. But, its great to know that sex in the city brought it back up. It just takes away from Beethoven though, because now young ladies will think that one of the characters from the movie/show made it up! ha… my generation these days……
I’m glad it helped if it did.
Me and my beloved angel, and my soul mate can not be together for a reason out of my control. I know she wants to be with me and i want to be with her more than anything in the world. Im not the type of person who is into poetry and i am not the what you would call the romantic type. However this small script really captures alot of how i feel. This man has been through the same feelings as i am now and i dont know the out come of his life, but i know what outcome i pray for. If anyone knows what happend with him and his love i would love to know!
bn <3 sc