Love is Not All (Sonnet XXX)Edna St. Vincent Millay, 1892 - 1950

Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink Nor slumber nor a roof against the rain; Nor yet a floating spar to men that sink And rise and sink and rise and sink again; Love can not fill the thickened lung with breath, Nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone; Yet many a man is making friends with death Even as I speak, for lack of love alone. It well may be that in a difficult hour, Pinned down by pain and moaning for release, Or nagged by want past resolution’s power, I might be driven to sell your love for peace, Or trade the memory of this night for food. It well may be. I do not think I would.

Which statement best expresses a theme in the poem "Love Is Not All" by Edna St. Vincent Millay?
a) Love cannot harm a person, and yet many fear it.
b) Love is dangerous, but people require it all the same.
c) Love hurts everyone, but no one can live without it.
d) Love cannot sustain one, but it is nonetheless deeply important.

The poem shows how love is "unnecessary" for our lives. It does not kill our hunger or our thirst, it does not protect us from anything, it does not free us from death, it does not free us from disease and it is not vital, such as oxygen, for example. However, love is very important for us to be able to live happily. Without it we can be lonely, sad and with a certain pain and anxiety.

In short, podema states that love cannot sustain one, but it is nonetheless profoundly important.