Love In Brooklyn

1) The actual dialogue is taking place in a bar, while neither of the two characters are very sober. The time period that this is most likely happening in is on the side of World War II, because he makes a reference to fighting in the war. The man has been observing and getting to know the woman but she is not really attracted to him. We first get the impression in line one after it says, and blew his nose, which he probably doesn’t have much luck with the ladies. Also at the end of the poem they tell us that he is an over weight man, which doesn’t help his already shaky confidence.

2) The first speaker is a man who is completely in love with this woman that he has been observing on the typewriter for a while. He puts himself out there and tells her that he loves her and she just kind of scoffs at him and says he only likes her for her looks, which may very well be true. However later something changes and she realizes that he actually likes her for her and not her looks, and they kind of come to an understanding that she doesn’t love him but she will still have a drink with him.

3) The woman is tired of men always hitting on her and thinks that this man is just like all the others. But then half way through the poem the tone changes from reserved and defensive to understanding accepting the actual situation. She realizes that he truly likes her and wants to get to know her.

4) The men of these two poems are opposites. The man in The Telephone is very confident that the woman loves him and relentlessly tries to prove it to her until she admits it. In Love In Brooklyn however, the man is very insecure and not sure of himself at all and due to his low self-esteem he probably doesn’t believe that the woman could ever love him back.