A Comparison of Love's Farewell by Michael Drayton and the Chilterns by Rupert Brooke

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A Comparison of Love's Farewell by Michael Drayton and the Chilterns by Rupert Brooke

"Love's Farewell" is a Shakespearean sonnet, written by Michael

Drayton. It describes a relationship between a man and a woman. The

man in the poem is bringing the relationship to an end. Michael

Drayton came to prominence in the Elizabethan era. In the Elizabethan

era there was a trend of following Shakespeare's way of writing

because it pleased the Queen. Michael Drayton wrote "Loves Farewell"

in 1619. The poem starts with a bitter tone and this suggests that it

is not a friendly end to a relationship. The mood changes in the poem

and at the end there is a gentle and positive feeling to it,

suggesting the relationship might recover. The words and the language

used in Drayton's poem reflects how he was feeling at the time. We

have no information about Drayton's love life but from what we can

gather he had quite a well known love.

"The Chilterns" is a ballad, written by Rupert Brooke. This poem also

describes a relationship between a man and a woman coming to an end.

The mood also changes during this poem. At the beginning of the poem

there is a positive mood. The man in the relationship is bringing it

to an end because he believes that life experience is more important

to him than relationships. Rupert Brooke is known as a war poet.

Brooke had a lot of relationships which did not work out, this

suggests Brooke is experienced when it comes to relationships.

On closer examination of "Love's Farewell" Drayton starts with a

negative tone on the very first line. The quote "let us kiss and part"

indicates to us straight away that the relationship is c...

... middle of paper ...

...and writing. On the other hand Brooke chose a more

relaxed form because he feels in control of his feelings. Despite the

similararities in the content both writers have chose to write in a

different form. As a result of this Drayton's form of writing, the

Shakespearean sonnet is far more restricted and follows a strict

rhythm and rhyme scheme. On the other hand Brooke's poem is far less

restricted, but he reveals less emotion. The main similararity is that

both writers find out their love means more to them than they have

actually made out. Drayton shows this in the rhyming couplet and

Brooke shows this by using positive language when describing his

lover. However the language both writers use is very different.

Drayton relies on personification to get us engaged with his writing

whilst Brooke uses descriptive writing.

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