Lady Mary Wortley Montague's The Lover: A Ballad

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Lady Mary Wortley Montague's The Lover: A Ballad

Literature is a form of art with many facets, many obvious and others subtle. The surface of literature can be composed of many elements such as genre, form, rhythm, tone, diction, sentence structure, etc. Time periods, authors’ personal style and type of work all determine what elements are used in the literature. The deeper more subtle side of literature is the use of symbolism, imagery and the significance of the work. In most works of literature, parallels can be drawn between the author’s personality and current life’s events through the subject matter, the characters, and the use of specific literary techniques. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu’s use of literary techniques in the first two stanzas of The Lover: A Ballad, are consistent throughout the six stanza ballad identifying and refuting the ways in which women were defined by literature of the 18th century era.

“At length, by so much importunity pressed, Take (Molly) at once the inside of my breast; This stupid indifference so often you blame Is not owing to nature, to fear, or to shame; I am not as cold as a virgin in lead, Nor is Sunday’s sermon so strong in my head; I know but too well how time flies along, That we live but few years and yet fewer are young.

But I hate to be cheated, and never will buy

Long years of repentance for moments of joy.

Oh was there a man (but where shall I find

Good sense, and good nature so equally joined?)

Would value his pleasure, contribute to mine,

Not meanly would boast, nor lewdly design,

Not over severe, yet not stupidly vain,

For I would have the power through not give the pain”

(Montagu, 2567)

The ballad has been traditionally known as the earliest for...

... middle of paper ...

...deeper more analytical level it is a work of great complexity with many undertones of the time period and the author’s

personal side. Any poem or work of literature can be interpreted different ways by different people but the author’s intention when writing should not be overlooked. These true intentions of who this poem is truly directed at and about lies with one person, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu.

Works Cited

Damrosch, David, et al. The Longman Anthology BRITISH LITERATURE,

Vol. 1.. New York: Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc., 1999.

Ferguson, Margaret, M.J. Salter, and J. Stallworthy. The Norton Anthology

of Poetry SHORTER FOURTH EDITION. New York: W.W. Norton &

Company, 1997.

Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley. The Lover: A Ballad. The Longman

Anthology BRITISH LITERATURE, Vol. 1.. New York: Addison-Wesley

Educational Publishers Inc., 1999.

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