Compare the ways the poets write about love or the absence of love in he four poems you have studied
Love is an emotional force to be reckoned with, and a pure source of inspiration for poets. Modern and ancient, love is a common theme of poetry; it enables poets to discuss there most inner feelings behind clever literary techniques and paradoxical phrases.
Such techniques can be found in Shakespeare’s sonnet 130. In this sonnet he destroys the conventional view we have of such sonnets of the time. He takes the standard love sonnet and turns it on its head: “black wires grow on her head,” this, in any woman’s eyes is far from a compliment. Contradictorily, Ben Johnson’s on my first sonne’ is clear and obvious: “Farewell, thou child of my right hand,” this statement clearly delivers a sense of lament from Johnson, not only this but he compares his son to Jesus, “of my right hand” this was the place that God gave his son. Even the title gives a clear indication as to what he is writing about, “On My First Sonne” the word “sonne” gives a sense of incompleteness as if we add a –t to the end of the word it makes sonnet, furthermore the poem is written in sonnet form however it is only twelve lines and not the standard fourteen lines. All of this conveys further to the reader Johnson’s incompleteness through the loss of his son and his loss of love for life through this. “What he loves may never like too much,” this is the final nail in the coffin for Ben Jonson’s remaining hope in the world as he vows to never love something as much as he id his son for fear of loosing it like he lost his son. Such intense love for his son can be seen when he states “Ben. Jonson his best piece of poetry,” in this fleeting moment he denounces all his work in honour and in love for his dead son.
