Discuss the ways in which Poets make use of form and language to

Discuss the ways in which Poets make use of form and language to

present their views on love and marriage.

In this essay I will be comparing ‘A Woman to her lover’ by Christina

Walsh, and ‘Remember’ by Christina Rossetti. These two poems were

written in the patriarchal pre twentieth century. I will also be

talking about ‘My last Duchess’ by Robert Browning, and ‘How do I love

thee?’ by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. These four poets have different

views on marriage and love, they differ in the tone of language they

speak in, and what they speak about.

The poem ‘ A Woman To Her Lover’ By Christina Walsh is a bold poem;

Walsh gets straight to making her points on love and marriage. She

wants to be her husband’s friend and partner not his slave ‘That I

shall be your comrade, friend and mate’. She starts her first stanza

with three rhetorical questions, ‘Do you come to me to bend to your

will’ ‘To make me of your bond slave’ ‘To bear you children, wearing

out my life’. She seems as if she is having an argument, as she ends

the first and second stanza with exclamation marks. She also uses

Imagery ‘Do you want to vanquish me?’ it is like a battle is taking

place. Walsh repeats ‘ I refuse you’ twice. In a way it seems like

Christina Walsh is being a little stubborn, or maybe she is trying to

get the point through that, she wants her marriage to be an equal one,

not were there is a dominant male does the ordering about, and a

little meek female who does what the male says.

The poem ‘Remember’ By Christina Rossetti is a petrarchan sonnet, with

iambic pentameter. The tone is peaceful and there is a lot of use of

metaphors, for example ‘... far into the silent land’. Rossetti uses

personal pronouns a lot in this particular poem, she uses the words

‘me’ and ‘you’ a lot in the poem, she doesn’t not use the word ‘dead’

but uses ‘silent land instead because she doesn’t want her husband to

feel miserable when she is gone. She also uses imagery to describe

their relationship. Rossetti repeats the word ‘Remember’ a great deal

in the poem. She is saying to her husband that she doesn’t want him to

feel sad when he remembers her when she dies, but she doesn’t want him

to forget her either, but if it causes him pain when he remembers her

then, she would rather he forget her.

Both Rossetti and Walsh are talking to their husbands in their poems