There are many differences between the two poems. The two poems took place at different times. Cousin Kate was written in the 1800’s while the seduction took place in more modern times, probably the 1900’s.Cousin Kate and the Seduction are also very different in terms of the relationships between the girl and the man or the boy who seduced her. In Cousin Kate the cottage maiden truly loves the lord and has an affair with him for a period of time –“Woe’s me for joy thereof” while in The Seduction the girl hardly knows anything about the boy and has a one night stand with him.
The other difference is the location of the two poems. Cousin Kate is set in the countryside –“I was a cottage maiden” while the Seduction is set in the city –“the silver stream of traffic through the city”. Another difference between the two poems is the way the two women are seduced by the men. In Cousin Kate the lord seduces the women by using his wealth and treating her well –“lured me to his palace home” while in the seduction the girl is seduced without any romance or romantic feelings. She only sleeps with the boy because she is drunk. In the seduction the poet describes what happened that night in as almost dirty where the boy calls her things like “little slag,” The boy in the seduction is described as a very rough and unfriendly with the things he does- "…he spat into the river…".The events that take place in the seduction are also described in a dark with the use of phrases like “the frightening scum on the river”.
The women also have many different feelings towards their pregnancies at the end of the poems. At the end of Cousin Kate the maiden describes her child as “her shame, my pride”. She says this because she is ashamed of what she ha done but she also calls her baby “my pride” because she loves the baby and the baby will one day be the heir to the lords’ estate.
The other difference between the two poems is also in the way the men take advantage of the women. In Cousin Kate the lord takes advantage of the maiden by using his social status and his wealth while in the seduction the boy takes advantage of the girl by giving her alcohol. This shows the clear differences between the vents that took place in the two poems. At the end of the poems both girls are judged by their neighbours and the people around them which has a very negative affect on them. The lines “call me an outcast thing “in Cousin Kate and “you always looked the type” in the Seduction show the way in which the girls are treated badly by the people around them after they get pregnant.
While there are many differences between the two poems there are also many similarities between them. Both poems are about innocent women who are seduced by men. Both poems involve seduction, naivety of young girls and disillusionment at the end. The girls are very bitter about what happened to each of them and fell helpless with their current situation. They are also very ashamed of what happened at the end of the poems and find it very difficult to take the criticism from their neighbours and friends.
At the end of both poems, the girls get pregnant the neighbours start to talk about them behind their backs which is very hard for them to take. This shows us the bad way in which our society reacts to such things and how our society has still not changed in modern times.
The two poems not only have similar themes but they are also written in a somewhat similar mood where the poet is angry and bitter with the person who she feels has wronged her. The poems are also very disillusioned and show us the hypocrisy of the men who meet the women, get them pregnant and then abandon them. The men have no care for the women and abandon them after they get pregnant without any care or sympathy for them.
The mood of Cousin Kate is very bitter and angry but there is some triumph for the maiden at the end of the poem because her son will be the heir to the lord’s estate. Christina Rossetti effectively uses word like “he wore me like a silken knot”, call me an outcast thing” and “my shame, my pride” to describe how the lord used the maiden, abandoned her and then married her cousin Kate. She also uses some very good imagery to make the poem more effective and interesting.
The mood of the seduction meanwhile is much more disillusioned .the young girl seems to have given up all hope with her life and seems to have nothing to look forward too. The night’s events in the seduction are shown in a very dark and almost scary way by the poet. She uses words like “with fingers that stroked her neck and thighs” and “little slag “to show how the boy uses drinks to get the girl to go with him to the Birkenhead docks and have sex with him there. The poet describes the night’s event very well in this poem. They make me feel sorry for the girl and realise how innocent and naïve she was. She should have never taken the drinks and fallen into the boys trap.
I prefer the poem Cousin Kate because in this poem the maiden has some hope for her future in the end because her son will be the heir to the lord’s estates. She has something to look forward too. She can also feel triumphant because her Cousin Kate will not have nay children. The ending of the seduction though is much bleaker with the girl having no hope for her future and even feeling like committing suicide.
I think the attitude to teenage pregnancy was almost the same in both these poems even though they were set in different times. Even today the attitude to teenage pregnancy is very bad and girls who get pregnant in their teen years are treated as outcasts by society which is very wrong. Even if a girl does get pregnant society has to accept the fact that she has made a mistake and give her another chance.
