Making Headlines (Irony)

"Do you live in North London? Is it you?"

I have been noticing a common theme in poems that have a very noticeable pattern or structure. The repetition of key lines conveys a point the author is trying to especially stress. In "Edward" the point of the all the repetition was which speaker was speaking, and the level of distress the speaker was talking with. In "Lonely Hearts" the significant repetition is placed on the line above and this one: "Can someone make my simple wish come true?" Another is: "Is it you?"  The message behind the repetition of these lines in almost every stanza is that the plea of these people in the personal column of the newspaper is intended to be ironic.

The first five stanzas of the poem describe people writing to the newspaper, searching for a significant other they can have a relationship with. The title of the poem "Lonely Hearts" and the fact that so many people are lonely together is ironic, because they in fact are not alone. The placing of these 'lonely' people right next to each other groups them together, refuting the fact they are alone. Also, the repetition of each of these lonely people of the same lines again proves that they are not alone. They all want the same thing and are asking the same questions, which is ironic considering they all consider themselves lonely.