In the poem “Law, Like Love” by W.H. Auden we get evidences everywhere that law is officially and unofficially institutionalized. Every individual have a different perspective to look into life and so definition of law and love varies in everybody’s life. Law has a greater hold in the society in comparison to love. An individuals surrounding and ideas of people around them creates a profusion of multiple ideas. We can see that in the poem through the examples such as for gardeners law is the sun and in any situation they obey to the weather, but to the grandfather law is the wisdom of old people, to the young law is about the senses, to the priest law is the words in their priestly book irrespective of what law is for other people.
The Judge thinks that ‘law is the law’ whereas scholars sees law as crimes. This shows that law is knowingly or unknowingly institutionalized. Love, which is as ancient and all pervading in the society, does not have an institution similar to law. According to the question Law is established and institutionalized whereas love is not which is true.
We do not know the source of law that where does it comes from. Love, which is established in the society since very beginning is not institutionalized. This changes the way that law and love functions in the society. Law at one side is dealt with only the rules laid down whereas love has no boundaries.
Despite love being greater than law it has no such well-known institution for itself, which creates the difference between the two. As we could see the definition of law is different for everybody in the same way definition of love is also quite different for everybody. Love not being institutionalized changes the way how law and love functions in the society by different ways. Whatsoever law and love both makes us snivel, as we cannot always get what we actually want and also cannot keep it with us. Despite the promises we make we scarcely obey the law and also remain true to what we really love. At last, law resembles love since we don’t generally know where it originates from or why it has come, we can’t constrain others but we can’t escape from it, both law and love influence us to sob, and we “only from time to time keep” our duties in both law and love.
