Lonely Hearts

In Wendy Cope's Lonely Hearts, the poem is written in the structure of a newspaper or magazine article seeking someone for the speaker to date. I believe the speaker is lonely and in need of some change in her life. However, she doesn't want too much change. The ad she placed did not merely just state, "I am looking for anyone." The speaker has qualifications that the man must meet. The main line Cope repeats frequently throughout the poem, "Do you live in North London?" (Cope, 973), must be very important to the poem. I believe this is the biggest priority of the speaker.

I cannot tell if each tercet is a different ad that the speaker placed or if the entire poem was to be published at the same time all together. If each was printed seperately, then I believe it is the same speaker for each, still awaiting for her love. And each tercet gives even more specific details that would make the two similar to each other. I believe the speaking woman is in need of granting of her wish to make a change in her life. This change can only be met with the involvement of a new gentleman in her life. Yet, the man would still have to be like her with similar interests.