The Themes of Love in Romantic and Victorian Poetry
Within this essay I shall be comparing the themes of love used in
‘Red, Red Rose’ by Robert Burns, ‘Remember’ by Christina Rossetti, ‘So
We’ll Go No More A-Roving’ by Lord Bryon, ‘Sonnet XVIII’ by William
Shakespeare and ‘Sonnets from the Portuguese XLIII’ by Elizabeth
Barrett Browning. To do this I will analyse the different themes of
love portrayed by each poet, how the love is declared and explore the
ways in which language is used and what effect this has on the
reader.
There are many differences within these five poems, however they all
share one common theme, which is the type of love expressed- Eros; the
love felt for a partner. Eros is a Greek word and it describes the
both the physical and non-sexual love felt between husband and wife or
lovers. This is a clear similarity between all five poems, although
others have argued that perhaps Shakespeare’s Sonnet XVIII is directed
at someone who is not his wife since he describes her as unattractive
in his other works.
The most obvious difference between the five poems is that theme of
love itself varies within each one. Shakespeare describes his love as
eternal, unlike the summer, which is how he describes his love, which
is similar to Browning’s theme of love. She describes her love as
immortal through the line,
“…and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.”
In this way her theme also differs from that of Shakespeare’s because
she implies that her love will last after death; that when she leaves
this world and all earthly restrictions are undone she may love him as
purely as the love of t...
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...rities between all five. In
‘…A-Roving’ and ‘Remember’ both Bryon’s and Rossetti’s themes differ
from the rest in that they describe a love that has ended or will end
soon, whereas Shakespeare and Burns declare their love lasting till
the end of the world and Browning goes even further to state that her
love will last and even improve after death. The amount of imagery
used within the poems varies as well as the theme. Bryon, Shakespeare
and Rossetti make little use of imagery which contrasts with the
extravagant use of imagery win the poems by Browning and Burns. The
way in which the imagery is used is another difference between the
poems, for Browning, Burns, Bryon and Shakespeare use the imagery to
compare and represent their love whereas Rossetti uses imagery to
describe the “vestige of thoughts” she leaves behind.
makes us think of the author as being like the lord's toy and as soon
Their love was eternal and his death was the worst moment of their everlasting
Different forms of romantic love between a man and a woman can be seen throughout each of the three chosen texts, but through each negative aspect of these relationships they appear to affect them in an adverse way, whether this is through false love, forbidden love, or through unrequited love.
The Range of Feelings Associated with Love in Catullus and Lesbia' Poems Of Catullus’s poems, the Lesbia poems are the most memorable, particularly as they contain such a wide range of feelings and emotions. Whilst we do not know what order the poems were written in, it is tempting to arrange them in a progression from constant love, to confusion and despair and finally hatred. Poem 87 appears to be at the beginning of the relationship between Catullus and Lesbia. The symmetry of the couplets beginning “nulla” and ending with “mea est” emphasizes the idea that no one loves Lesbia as much as Catullus. The placement of “nulla” at the beginning of the
This passage marks the first of several types of love, and gives us an intuitive
Love is a concept that has puzzled humanity for centuries. This attachment of one human being to another, not seen as intensely in other organisms, is something people just cannot wrap their heads around easily. So, in an effort to understand, people write their thoughts down. Stories of love, theories of love, memories of love; they all help us come closer to better knowing this emotional bond. One writer in particular, Sei Shōnagon, explains two types of lovers in her essay "A Lover’s Departure": the good and the bad.
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means; they eventually end up in the same bed, knowing their love will be spurned by their
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lovers decide that they cannot stand to part, wish to marry, and spend the rest of their eternal
Blake uses imagery of blood of a soldier on the walls of the palace to
Romantic poetry is the creative manifestation of the views of poets who penned during the Enlightenment era. Romantic poets sought not only to entertain with their art, but often to make grand social and political statements. Poets like William Blake and Percy Bysshe Shelley used their medium to shed light on perspectives that would otherwise remain unwritten due to their controversial nature. Religion, love, and politics were often the prevailing themes of romantic poetry. Some poems were rebellious against establishment, some regarded lifelong battles with religion, and some simply recalled a drug-induced hallucination of a journey to Xanadu. Regardless of the topic, romantic poets provided a much
There are many periods in time that have been crucial in the development of human ideals and technology. One of the most important times was the Romantic Era. This period began in the late 18th century, and peaked around the 1850’s. It was embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music, and literature until Industrialization had come fully into effect. Because of all the variables and factors of the time, the world was ready for a new era, a modern era that advanced the world far beyond expectations. The Romantic Era was a time of innovation, social struggles, and major changes in industry and society, all due to Industrialization. One of the most important was all of the innovation that occurred.