Firstly, Donne's poetry is highly distinctive and individual, adopting a multitude of images. The poem offers elaborate parallels between apparently dissimilar things, “Then as th’ earth’s inward narrow crooked lanes, Do purge sea water’s fretful salt away,” (Donne, Lines 6-7) Donne's poem expresses a wide variety of emotions and attitudes, as if Donne himself were trying to define his experience of love through his poetry. Although, “The Triple Fool” gives a limited view of Donne’s attitude towards love, Donne treats the poem as a part of experience, giving insight into the complex range of experiences concerning love and grief, “I thought, if I could draw my pains through rhyme's vexation, I should them allay.” (Donne, Lines 8-9) Overall, the imagery in “The Triple Fool,” contributes to Donne’s sorrowful diction of love and grief. Moreover, Donne explains that poetry is for love and grief, and not for pleasing things, but songs make love and grief even worse. The first verse of the poem states that he is two times a fool, a fool for loving, and a fool for admitting it, “I am two fools, I know, for loving, and for saying so in whining poetry.” (Donne, Lines 1-3) Donne follows to say that he would still not be wise, even if “she” (Donne, Line 5) returned his love.
In Wild Oats It explains that a person, over the course of time, comes to realise that his greatest desires of love, are unattainable, and second best things will have to suffice. The central purpose of this poem is to show that love is one of these great desires and despite flashes of promise it contains scarcely anything that is more than fragmentary. Larkin reveals this through tone and diction. Both poets seem to focus a lot on the physical side of love where lust and desire are involved however Abse makes it sound more sensual and even spiritual when he speaks of Eros in his poem. Larkin portrays this sense of objectification in his poem with regards to woman as he describes a woman as a ‘bosomy English rose’ and then follows on to call her ‘beautiful’ throughout the poem portraying the sexual lust involved with love.
In Christina Rossetti’s poem “Cousin Kate”, there is a theme of commitment. It is mainly about how one man shows his loyalty towards two women, “Cousin Kate” and the speaker. The lord shows no commitment towards the speaker and uses her for his own sexual pleasure. “He wore me like a silken knot,” in this quote the verb “wore” is comparing the speaker to something that can be used. Also the simile “like a silken knot,” the use of this simile is comparing her to something soft and fragile, therefore there is a theme of possessiveness and this shows that lower class women in the Elizabethan era were easily manipulated by higher class men.
Because of the centrality and power of love in human experience, men and women throughout the ages have felt the compulsion to sing songs, to write verse, and to tell stories about this ineffable and mysterious force which leads them to the peaks of felicity, and to the depths of despair. Love indeed is an ultimate, if not the ultimate, human concern. It is the universal principle undergirding all human activity, the object of all human striving, resulting, naturally, in the need to examine and discuss it carefully. Plato’s Symposium is one such example.1 The venerable author in this ancient treatise records the speeches of some six prominent Athenians who employ both story and verse to convey a variety of myths and motifs about the nature and function of love (eros). 1 Most commentators on the Symposium agree that its subject matter is love.
English Poetry Essay Choose a poem which appealed to you because it was striking – show which techniques the poet has used to capture your interest and engage your feelings “To His Coy Mistress” is a piece of metaphysical poetry written by Andrew Marvell. This poem, like most metaphysical poetry, makes use of original images and has a very profound meaning behind it. “To His Coy Mistress” is particularly striking because of the deeper themes that it deals with, such as mortality and the idea of “carpe diem”, as well as the unique imagery used throughout and the interesting structure and progression of the poem. The use of the image “vegetable love” is very effective in capturing the reader’s interest. “Vegetable” is not usually the
Mending Wall: A Wall Built of Metaphor Although there are many poetic devices skillfully used in the poem, imagery, symbolism, personification, repetition, refrain, simile, and metaphor, Mending Wall is a poem that is really built on metaphor. Frosts use of metaphors, often seasoned with a pinch of humor, is what makes him special. Metaphor is his most often used and most important tool. In his poem Mending Wall there is plenty of metaphor. This poem, like most of his poems, revolves around a common object or event.
She portrays her personal voice through the use of sonnets, specifically Petrarchan. It is commonly used by males to woo their unattained love. Both composers portray love as idealistic, however it is interfered with by life. It is a universal theme shown through the different time periods. Nevertheless, Elizabeth Barrett Browning advocates that the strength of love can help overcome the obstacles.
People thought that Brown’s irony was sharp, his ideas were exciting, and he was not only and protestor of his time but one of the first times. Brown’s Work protested the classical folklore in the way it was written. “He infused his poetry with genuine characteristic flavor by adopting his medium geniality and optimism” was James Johnson reaction to his
Poets, through the use of many different literary elements create beautiful, heart-felt pieces that anyone who has ever been in love can relate to. Using many different styles, tones, languages, and also structures a poet can capture your attention and take you to a place inside their mind of feelings, and emotions. One of the most powerful elements of poetry, as well as some others literary works, is tone. In both “How Do I Love Thee” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning and “Oh My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose” by Robert Burns the tone is uplifting and positive in the light of love (Mega Essays, par. 4).
In the poem “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe, the poem’s speaker explores the themes of eternal love and death. It has been considered by many as a creepy and obsessive poem that explores the subject of love and desire. This poem is one of the most popular love poems in the English language because it portrays the kind of love that anyone would want to live at least once in their life. This is a kind of love that will never die and will stand the test of time even after death. This is where some people have decided to tie the “creepiness” term but as we explore the whole poem we will get a better understanding of Poe’s undying love for Annabel Lee.