Comparing Three Poems on Love and Loss
'How Do I Love Thee?' by Elizabeth Barrett Browning and 'Remember' by
Christina Rossetti are both sonnets sharing the theme of Love and Loss
but approaching it from a different view. 'How Do I Love Thee' is a
Petrachian sonnet written by a famous poet of that time Elizabeth
Barrett Browning. Born in 1806, Elizabeth Barrett Browning was a
female author in the mid 1800's. 'How Do I Love Thee?' expresses the
theme of love in an undying manner. It portrays deep ethereal love
that a woman has for her lover. It uses emotive language to depict the
passion and depth of their love. 'Remember' is also a petrachian
sonnet written by Christina Rossetti. Christina Rossetti (1830-94) is
a passionate and powerful English Poet. She was a devout Anglican and
lived the last fifteen years of her life as a recluse in her home.
Many of her poems are religious, some melancholy and death-obsessed.
Possessing a spontaneous lyrical gift, she had a firm command of
traditional poetic forms. She is recognized as an important
Victorian-era poet. 'Remember' is one of her famous poems, which
portrays her writing style very well. This poem gives us the
impression of someone who is preparing her lover for her death or
departure from this world. It stresses the idea of strong love and she
wants to be remembered and not forgotten.
Both 'How Do I Love Thee?' and 'Remember' are petrachian sonnets.
Petrachian sonnets have a very distinguished structure and are
different to Shakespearean sonnets. The rhyming couplets at the end
are used to really capture the mood of the poem and keep it in strict
sonnet form.
There is usua...
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... This use of listing in threes is very emotive and helps to create a
more passionate feeling and adds to the whole atmosphere of the poem.
Browning's spectacular "How Do I Love Thee?", may at first seem vague,
but with a more thorough approach the reader can gain new insight into
Browning's purpose. Browning uses her unique style and word choice to
spice the poem and give it flavour, while the sonnet format keeps the
poem simple. Browning proved her excellence and innovativeness as an
author, in the multi dimensions of "How Do I love Thee?". Rossetti's
heart-touching 'Remember' filled with eupimism portrays the strong
passionate love one has for her lover which would carry on even after
death. Rossetti's religious approach to this sonnet gives it an almost
heavenly feel adding to the fervent love one has for her lover.
Poems are unique in that there are no set rules for how they are formatted (Kirszner & Mandell, 2012). Poems may rhyme, or not. They can be presented in a narrative or lyrical format. The use of proper punctuation can be omitted such as periods, commas, or question marks (Kirszner & Mandell, 2012). The use of punctuation or lack there of, brings into play the use of enjambment, which is another term for what is commonly known in poetry as run-on lines (Kirszner & Mandell, 2012). If a poem is considered more proper and the author wants the reader to clearly understand how a line in the poem is read, the use of punctuation such as commas and periods are used to stress this point. This style is commonly known as end-stopped lines. (Kirszner
also be seen as a man who enjoyed killing but must come up with an
There are many similarities and differences between the two poems: “When We Two Parted”, written by Lord Bryon, and “La Belle Dames Sans Merci”, written by John Keats. I shall be exploring these poems and seeing connections and differences between them, so that I am able to compare them.
Toni Morrison’s Beloved tells a story of a loving mother and ex-slave who takes drastic measures to protect her children which later affect her entire life. In contrast, William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying goes through the life of the Bundren’s after their mother passes away and their journey to get her coffin to Jefferson. The bond between a mother and her children is chronicled in these novels. Both Faulkner and Morrison explain how the influence of a mother can affect how a child grows and matures through her love and actions.
Figurative Language in used throughout poems so the reader can develop a further understanding of the text. In “The Journey” the author uses rhythm and metaphors throughout the poem. “...as you left their voices behind, the stars began to burn through the sheets of the clouds..”(25-27). The author compares the star burning to finding your voice. Rhythm also develops the theme of the poem because throughout the story rhythm is presented as happy showing growing up and changing for the better is necessary and cheerful. In “The Laughing Heart” the author uses imagery and metaphors to develop the theme throughout the book. “There is a light somewhere. It may not be much light but it beats the darkness”(5-7). Always find the good out of everything, even it
on: April 10th 1864. He was born in 1809 and died at the age of 83 in
In today’s modern view, poetry has become more than just paragraphs that rhyme at the end of each sentence. If the reader has an open mind and the ability to read in between the lines, they discover more than they have bargained for. Some poems might have stories of suffering or abuse, while others contain happy times and great joy. Regardless of what the poems contains, all poems display an expression. That very moment when the writer begins his mental journey with that pen and paper is where all feelings are let out. As poetry is continues to be written, the reader begins to see patterns within each poem. On the other hand, poems have nothing at all in common with one another. A good example of this is in two poems by a famous writer by the name of Langston Hughes. A well-known writer that still gets credit today for pomes like “ Theme for English B” and “Let American be American Again.”
As Edgar Allan Poe once stated, “I would define, in brief the poetry of words as the rhythmical creation of beauty.” The two poems, “Birthday,” and “The Secret Life of Books” use different diction, theme, and perspective to give them a unique identity. Each author uses different literary devices to portray a different meaning.
All the poems you have read are preoccupied with violence and/or death. Compare the ways in which the poets explore this preoccupation. What motivations or emotions do the poets suggest lie behind the preoccupation?
In any discussion of poetry vs. prose worth it's stanzas, questions regarding such tools as meter, rhyme, and format must come into play. These are, after all, the most obvious distinguishing features of poetry, and they must certainly be key in determining the definition, and in fact nature, of poetry.
In his preface of the Kokinshū poet Ki no Tsurayaki wrote that poetry conveyed the “true heart” of people. And because poetry declares the true heart of people, poetry in the minds of the poets of the past believed that it also moved the hearts of the gods. It can be seen that in the ancient past that poetry had a great importance to the people of the time or at least to the poets of the past. In this paper I will describe two of some of the most important works in Japanese poetry the anthologies of the Man’yōshū and the Kokinshū. Both equally important as said by some scholars of Japanese literature, and both works contributing greatly to the culture of those who live in the land of the rising sun.
"Come live with be my love" was said by the shepherd trying to proclaim his love to the nymph. Both poems shows much figurative language, and much lines that tells about love. However in both poems there was many difference, and much of it could be emphasized to show a different point of view.
Throughout history, poets had experimented with different forms of figurative language. Figurative language allows a poet to express his or her meaning within a poem. The beauty of using the various forms of figurative language is the ability to convey deep meaning in a condensed fashion. There are many different figures of speech that a poet can use such as: simile, paradox, metaphor, alliteration, and anaphora. These examples only represent a fraction of the different forms, but are amongst the most well-known. The use of anaphora in a poem, by a poet, is one of the best ways to apply weight or emphasis on a particular segment. Not only does an anaphora place emphasis, but it can also aid in setting the tone, or over all “feel” a reader receives from a poem. Poets such as Walt Whitman, Conrad Aiken, and Frances Osgood provide poems that show how the use of anaphora can effect unity, feeling, and structure of a poem.
The authors of the three poems that we are working on are “The Passionate Shepherd to his love” by Marlowe, is about he is trying to get his love to come live with him and be his love. “ The nymph’s reply Shepherd” by Raleigh, is telling about how he is trying so hard, but she will not give him any chance, because he will be wasting both of their times and everything he gives her will all die and fade away. “Raleigh was Right” by William Carlos Williams, is about saying all the things the nymph was saying was true and that nothing will work. Williams transforms Marlowe and Raleigh’s central ideas by focusing on nature, love, and time.
Both, the poem “Reluctance” by Robert Frost and “Time Does Not Bring Relief” by Edna St. Vincent Millay, revolved around the theme of lost love. Each poet used a similar array of poetic devices to express this theme. Visual imagery was one of the illustrative poetic devices used in the compositions. Another poetic device incorporated by both poets in order to convey the mood of the poems was personification. And by the same token, metaphors were also used to help express the gist of both poems. Ergo, similar poetic devices were used in both poems to communicate the theme of grieving the loss of a loved one.