Stanza 4 Summary

Line 13

the photographs, the desperate notes,

• Hmm, the plot thickens. Mementos of a love affair often include sentimental letters and cherished photographs. In this instance, do you think the love affair ended happily or unhappily? The word “desperate” certainly evokes the turmoil that can attend an unhappy break-up.
• So who was the former lover here? Since this poem only has three characters—you, your past self, and somebody else known only as “another”—the options are pretty limited. It seems pretty unlikely that you would have written love letters to yourself, although personal journals can sometimes include “desperate notes” (for example, “Note to self: never fall for another jerk like that guy who thinks this song is about him”).
• Recall from way back in line 12 that the speaker is urging you to “take down” the souvenirs of a previous relationship. In this context, does “take down” mean “discard” or just “retrieve”? Does the speaker want you to discard the mementos or reminisce about them? Thus far, the speaker has been advocating for you to love your past self. And there was a tinge of disapproval when the speaker observed how you “ignored” your self in favor of “another.” 
• Maybe the speaker is suggesting that you need to get over a failed relationship once and for all—move past your disastrous affair with “another” and focus on yourself again. From this point of view, the poem’s title, “Love After Love,” could refer to a rediscovery of healthy self-love following the turmoil of an unhealthy love affair.

Line 14

peel your own image from the mirror. 

• Hold up—why are we back in front of the mirror again? In the first stanza, your former self stepped out of the mirror to greet you. But now some picture of you seems to be plastered on the surface of the mirror. 
• The implications of this second encounter with the mirror depend, to a large extent, on whether you view this “image” as positive or negative, authentic or false, whether it symbolizes personal growth or stunted development. If the image represents negative, limiting beliefs about yourself (resulting, perhaps, from an unhealthy relationship), then you would do well to peel that image off the mirror and throw it away. If, however, the image reflects a renewal of healthy self-love, then you might want to liberate it by peeling it off the mirror, freeing your true self to join you at the dinner table. (For more about mirrors, check out the “Symbols, Imagery, & Wordplay” section.)

Lines15

Sit. Feast on your life. 

• During the course of analyzing this poem, you’ve worked hard, and you deserve a rest. So, by all means, have a seat. The good news is that the food has arrived. And the menu has expanded beyond bread and wine; now it’s a “feast.”
• But what does it mean to “feast on your life”? Well, just as food nourishes the body, love nourishes the heart and soul. (For more on food as a symbol, see the “Symbols, Imagery, & Wordplay” section.) Walcott’s poem seems to suggest that self-love, properly understood, is the foundation for all those other kinds of love. 
• Even if you agree, in theory, with this principle, you still have to figure out how to apply it in your own life.
• And no one, not even Derek Walcott, can tell you how to love yourself. What the poet can do, however, is lead you down the garden path into the world of your own memory and imagination, where you just might find a beloved stranger waiting for you (psst, that stranger is you).