The poem is written in the first person from the point of view of the cottage maiden. Therefore we only see things through her eyes. This gives us a biased opinion of the lord because we do not understand his reasons for leaving her.
The poem creates images in our minds that link with the way the girl is feeling for example the treatment of discarded clothing. ‘He changed me like a glove’. This creates a very biased opinion in our minds because we feel for the girl because she is implying he used her and treated her badly and we do not feel curious about the lords’ opinion on his treatment of the woman.
The poem uses repetition of the word ‘closer’ to emphasize how proud and protective the cottage maiden feels over her son. This also makes us feel for the son because he has no father. This also has an effect on the way we think of the lord.
The main contrast in the poem is the way the lord has treated either cousin. He treats Kate with the love and respect she deserves but treats the first woman completely different. He treats her as thought he doesn’t care for her or his son at all.
When the cottage maiden talks about how she ‘might have been a dove’ it tells us her own opinions of herself. It tells us that she thinks that if she had not have met the lord then she would still be innocent and pure. We get the impression that she means this because of the image of the dove being white and being a symbol of purity. This also gives us the impression that the lord took her virginity and this is what makes her feel like she is not innocent or pure anymore.
Another contrast in the poem is the way that her neighbours treated her. At the start of the poem she is a very normal young woman with many friends and as the poem progresses she is treated more as an outcast. She refers to the neighbours as calling her cousin Kate ‘Good and pure’ and how she is an ‘outcast thing’ as the verse goes on she compares ‘dust’ with ‘gold’ the dust indicates how she is living in poverty compared to the gold that the wealthy lord has.
The cottage maiden also tells us how Kate’s love was ‘writ in sand’ this suggests that the love is not strong and can be washed away just like sand can. This is a metaphor because the love was not actually written in sand, but it suggests to us that it is very fine and can be destroyed easily.
At the end of the poem we find out that the lord fathered the cottage maidens son and that Kate cannot have children of her own. Therefore she has something more precious than they can ever have, and as her son is his only heir he will have everything he own when he dies. This stops her from being as ashamed as she once was because she is proud of her son. She uses an oxymoron to explain this to us. ‘My shame, my pride’ this tells us that what was once her shame is now her pride. She also refers to her son as ‘a gift’ this is a metaphor that indicates how special her son is to her.
The Seduction is set in the 20th century.
The setting is in an urban area in Merseyside, Burken Head docs, a party and the girls’ home. Each area has a different atmosphere. The Docs is a grim place with an element of fear in it, the party has a very energetic atmosphere like most parties and the girls’ home has a dreary atmosphere.
The poem is written about a young girl who goes to a party and meets a young boy. She instantly finds herself attracted to the boy and he ends up getting her drunk, he then leads her off to the docs and uses her for sex. The girl then finds herself pregnant and is ashamed of herself. ‘You always looked the type’
The poem is written in third person. It is written from the point of view of a narrator.
The young boy tempts the girl to follow him to the docs when she is drunk. He then convinces her to have sex with him.
It seams as though the girl doesn’t really know that he wants sex. She seams amused by him kissing her. She seams like a very naïve and inexperienced young girl. This would make her stand out in the atmosphere that is set because the docs seam so dark and dingy and she seams so pure and virginal.
In the first verse of the poem it tells us he leads her ‘from the blind windows’ this indicates that he doesn’t want anyone to see them, or that perhaps people turn a blind eye to them because they are used to seeing drunken teens walking down the street. This makes us wonder what type of neighbourhood they are walking through.
The poem uses repetition of the word ‘stupid’ to emphasize how stupid the promises the boys made to her were and how betrayed and deceived she feels. ‘Stupid, Stupid promises…’ This tells us that at the time she didn’t realise how feeble the promises were and this makes us feel sorry for her because she seamed so naïve.
One of the main contrasts in this poem is the way she feels before and after she has slept with him. Before she slept with him, at the party, she felt happy and besotted with the boy but then after she realises she’s pregnant she feels stupid and upset.
The poem portrays images in our mind that link to the girl, such as the girl ripping up her teen magazines until they looked like confetti. This shows us that she had the idea she may even end up marrying the boy who she slept with. The words ‘white high shoes’ indicate the girl’s purity and innocence, and then when the girl breaks the shoes it indicates that her innocence and purity is at an end.
The Similarities between Cousin Kate and the Seduction are that both of the girls ended up pregnant by people who used them; only in Cousin Kate she is proud of her son at the end whereas the girl is ashamed of herself.
Both of the poems have morals to them. The moral of ‘The Seduction’ is to make sure you are when you are drunk and it shows how misleading people’s words and actions can be. The moral of ‘Cousin Kate’ is that occasionally things can turn around and there is nothing you can do about them except look for the best that can come out of it.
I think that both poems show the typical attitude to teenage pregnancy, which appears to not have changed throughout the time between the two poems were written. This is that the teenagers are scared and are worried about the view of other people.
