Compare and Contrast the poems "The Seduction" by Eileen McAuley and "Cousin Kate" by Christina Rossetti.

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Compare and Contrast the poems “The Seduction” by Eileen McAuley and “Cousin Kate” by Christina Rossetti.

In my essay I will be comparing two narrative poems: “The Seduction” by Eileen McAuley and “Cousin Kate” by Christina Rossetti. The poems are two contrasting views of love, although they share similar themes and both present a women’s perspective of love from a personal viewpoint. I will also be analysing their differences and similarities in devices, structure and story.

“The Seduction” was set, next to a river, in 1980’s Merseyside which is near Liverpool, and tells the story of how a young girl falls in love but is used and betrayed and ends up pregnant and alone. I know this is set in the 1980’s because the footballers Sammy Lee and Ian Rush are mentioned and they played for Liverpool in the 1980’s.

The poem has sixteen stanzas; each of four lines. There is a rhyming scheme but it is inconsistent and irregular. However, when it features it is every other line. It is unpredictable and unreliable – just like the boy in the poem. I think the character of the boy is shown in the irregularity of the rhyming scheme.

The poem is split in half twice: once in the layout and once in content. The poem is set on the page in two halves – side by side (like two stages of her life). They are separated by the gap but joined by enjambment. It’s how she feels about her life: it’s so near that she can reach out and touch it; but too far so she cannot change it.

The story is also in two halves. The divide is marked with ellipses. The first eight stanzas tell the story of the seduction itself. The next eight stanzas present her feelings and regrets about what has happened. Stanza nine is the after effect, when she finds out that she is pregnant. It is special. It is on the first half of the page (before the enjambment) but after the ellipses. This shows stanza nine is the turning point in her life. Before then everything is great and after that everything is bad. Stanza nine is when she has the choice to put on a brave face and be proud of her child (like the girl in “Cousin Kate”), but instead she chooses to fall into the “despicable feminine void” of depression and self-loathing.

The story starts early Sunday morning at Birkenhead docks. The two of them are sitting by the river drinking. This is his idea of a ‘date’, and coinciding with the simile describing the Mersey (the river)

“green as a sceptic wound” shows that neither the night nor their relationship will be romantic and meaningful. They had met at a party the night before and she had felt special when he chose her to dance with. That, along with the alcohol, is how come she let him ‘touch her up’, or as she put it,

“fingers that stroked her neck and thighs.” Even at this early stage, his actions indicate his true purpose, and it’s not to fall in love.

As she drinks more and more alcohol, and loses control, he stays in control. He is fully aware of what he is doing. But, when he mutters “ ‘little slag’ ” he shows me that maybe he is human after all: he is feeling some guilt about using her. But, however, he pushes it to the back of his mind and, as if to justify his actions to himself, calls her a slag to ‘prove’ that she’s ‘up for it’ and that her feelings don’t matter.

The girl, whose name we never know (this is significant as it suggests to me that she, in the aftermath of what happened, feels invisible and a nobody – and nobody has a name), is innocent and naïve. We know this because the poet describes her as having “wide blue eyes.” Also, as she talked

 “about the O levels she’d be sitting in June” it suggests she is only fifteen or sixteen (and I’m presuming that she’s still a virgin). She is inexperienced and so thinks that they’ll fall in love and live happily ever after. She couldn't be more wrong. It’s clear from his attitude and his actions that that’s not what he’s got in mind.

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The boy, whom I’m guessing is in his twenties, is a nasty piece of work. He thinks he’s ‘hard’, as we can see from the way

“he spat into the river” and the fact that he wears a leather jacket. He also smokes,

(“kisses that tasted of nicotine”) and takes drugs; it only implies this in the poem, but from the way that he takes a

“bag filled with shimmering, sweet paint thinner” to the lake, I’m guessing he inhales it, along with reading his dad’s magazines.

During the act of seducing her, the boy knew what ...

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