The Presentation of Love in Pre-Twentieth Century Poetry
Introduction
In this piece of coursework I am going to compare the presentation of
love in three pre-twentieth centaury poems. The three poems I am going
to look at are 'A Woman to Her Lover', 'Porphyrias Lover' and 'To His
Coy Mistress'.
I chose these three poems because they where the ones I have the most
knowledge of.
Main body
The poem 'A Woman to Her Lover' is a poem by "Christina Walsh" who is
presenting her views on a relationship. The poem is written from a
woman's perspective and is presenting her views on how a relationship
should be and how she will not become the stereotypical wife that most
women are. She is presenting her idea f love which is that you should
have an even well balanced relationship and that love is a two way
game.
'Porphyrias Lover' is written by a man who is talking about one with
his lover, Porphyria. The poem is set in a cottage where it is
presumed that Porphyrias lover lives and he is going over the events
of the night. Porphyria also has another man who he doesn't know but
we presume that he is her husband. I think that this other man fuels
his possessiveness over porphyria and makes his love very controlling
because of this.
'To His Coy Mistress' is a poem written by "Andrew Marvel". This poem
is written in a very persuasive text by a man who is trying to
convince his lover to have sex with him. His love is more like lust.
Two out of the three poems are similar to each other in the war that
they both use rhyme. The other poem 'A Woman to Her Lover' dose not
use rhyme. 'To His Coy Mistress' uses a rhyming couples rhyme scheme.
'Porphyrias Lover' uses an abab rhyme scheme. For example, tonight,
spite-awake, lake.
'To His Coy Mistress' uses very vivid imagery of the couple having
sex. 'and worms will try your long preserved virginity'.
lust. To his Coy Mistress is a pure lust one even though in parts may
Harsh sentences such as "If there's a bomb made for YOU, You're going to get it" highlight the feelings of distress and misery present in all of the various people. War is also displayed negatively using this sentence: "She was shivering and laughing and throwing her head back". People would not normally be doing this and so it makes the reader link disease-like behaviour with war. Louis Simpson's technique in The Battle is fascinating as he uses repetition, onomatopoeia, tempo and colours to produce an "anti-war" description. The three poems are similar as they are all about the negative aspects of war, but they differ in terms of
“Buttons” and “Dulce et Decorum Est” contain both similarities but with similarities come differences. Differences in these poems are found in surface level elements such as structure and point of view, but the similarities found in these poems are found in the greater meaning of both poems. War is not something that can be explained through one point of view but rather contains many complexities along with the sickening truth being that war is not honorable but rather shameful.
In conclusion, depending on the position from which one views war, the standpoint may vary ranging from being supportive of the soldiers because those who die are dying for the country or they are completely unsupportive of war activities because it is a brutal and gruesome experience involving countless unnecessary injuries and deaths. Affected by a number of factors, the authors of the two poems have chosen opposing standpoints on the issue of war where Tennyson glorified it with the main message that it is an honour to die for one's country whereas the other, Owen suppresses the idea of war by illustrating all the horrid experiences of a soldier.
The Poets' Treatment of Love in I Wanna Be Yours by John Cooper Clarke, The Thickness of Ice by Liz Loxley and How do I Love Thee by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
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
Love is one of the main sources that move the world, and poetry is not an exception, this shows completely the feelings of someone. In “Litany” written by Billy Collins, “Love Poem” by John Frederick Nims, “Song” by John Donne, “Love” by Matthew Dickman and “Last Night” by Sharon Olds navigate around the same theme. Nevertheless, they differ in formats and figurative language that would be compared. For this reason, the rhetoric figures used in the poems will conduct us to understand the insights thought of the authors and the arguments they want to support.
Although war is often seen as a waste of many lives, poets frequently focus on its effect on individuals. Choose two poems of this kind and show how the poets used individual situations to illustrate the impact of war.
Attitudes Towards Love in Pre-1900 and 1990's Poetry “The Despairing Lover” written by William Walsh was written pre 1900 whilst the second poem “I Wouldn’t Thank you for a Valentine” by Liz Lockhead was written in the 1990’s. These poems are almost a century apart. Attitude towards love changes over time and these poems represent this. I Wouldn’t Thank you for a Valentine is about how people think about Valentine’s Day in the 1990’s, while The Despairing Lover is showing what people think and how important they see love in the 1990’s.
There are many different themes that can be used to make a poem both successful and memorable. Such is that of the universal theme of love. This theme can be developed throughout a poem through an authors use of form and content. “She Walks in Beauty,” by George Gordon, Lord Byron, is a poem that contains an intriguing form with captivating content. Lord Byron, a nineteenth-century poet, writes this poem through the use of similes and metaphors to describe a beautiful woman. His patterns and rhyme scheme enthrall the reader into the poem. Another poem with the theme of love is John Keats' “La Belle Dame sans Merci,” meaning “the beautiful lady without mercy.” Keats, another nineteenth-century writer, uses progression and compelling language throughout this poem to engage the reader. While both of these poems revolve around the theme of love, they are incongruous to each other in many ways.
These poems are not as complex when compared to other poems, and with that being said they do not take an abundance of inference to determine the theme of the poem. Because they are not as complex as others all 3 of these poems are capable of being paraphrased to better understand the main idea of the poem. When putting the poem into different words, one can
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.
The Theme of Love in the Poems First Love, To His Coy Mistress, Porphyria's Lover, My Last Duchess and Shall I Compare Thee?
“Love Poem” is a twenty-four-line poem in six stanzas. The generic tittle is an accurate description of the poem; it is a clue that this may not be a traditional example of love poetry. Both poems have the same rhyme scheme because the second and fourth line of every stanza rhyme. However, “Magic of Love’ speaks of a general love bringing happiness, joy and comfort. While “Love Poem” is much more personal. The speaker talks of memories with his clumsy love. Both poems have a different point of view when it comes to love. In Ferrier’s poem, she describes love as something perfect, that fixes everything. However, in Frederick’s poem, he doesn’t speak about what the love does right but rather he talks
shows that the poet is so fixated in one woman that he is blinded by