First Draft

First Draft

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This poem is based in the 19th century. There are three main

characters in the story. Cousin Kate, Cottage maiden and the Lord. The

title of this poem is self-explanatory. As you can tell the poem is

based on a character called cousin Kate. As she is the main character

in the poem, the whole poem revolves around her. The poem is based on

Triangular Conflict, which means that there is a conflict between

three people. The poem basically tells us about 19th century life and

peoples attitudes towards unlawful relationships. The poem tells us

about a cottage maiden who had an affair with a Lord. She looses her

virginity to him, and then regrets the whole ordeal. In the 19th

century if you were not known as pure, then fellow friends and family

would reject you. It was seen to be unclean and impure if you were to

have sex before marriage. Men would then look down on you in disgust,

as would friends and family. The poem demonstrates how a man can love

a woman, then throw her away and move onto another as he pleases, and

because he was a lord the cottage maiden could not say a thing. This

brings into light the difference between higher and lower class

people. If the cottage maiden had said anything, people would not

believe her and would turn a blind eye to her, and to her accusations.

Stanza 1 portrays the introduction to the poem. The issues raised in

these two stanzas show that she was 'lured' by the lord. This tells us

that he dragged her in like an animal luring its prey, waiting to

attack its victim. At the beginning of stanza 1 it tells us that she

is happy with her life. According to the introduction she works on a

cottage and is happy with her life. According to this she is

'contented' her mates. She is happy with her friends and is all

together happy with her life. She then goes on to say "why did a great

lord find me out". This tells us that out of all the workers, or all

the girls the lord knows, the cottage maiden was chosen. The start of

the poem is written in first person narrative and carries on like that

throughout the poem.

The structure of this stanza is written in first person narrative,

this means it was written from her point of view, and shows her

feelings and no one else. The language used is very early 19th-20th

century; it gives the impression of happiness leading to sadness.