‘philtres’, ‘enchanted arts’, ‘witchery’, ‘magic potions’
(1. 5,6,8,10)
Therefore, as in the first quatrain, love is again being treated as something that is untrustworthy. The speaker creates the impression that she feels as if she has been tricked into feeling as strongly as she does. However, from lines eleven through to sixteen, the tone of the poem changes again. Her feelings of lust are now portrayed and a feeling of mellowing on the part of the speaker also. She
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seems to be accepting and enjoying what is happening to her. This is achieved by cleverly used adjective/noun pairs. For example:
‘lustrous eyes’, ‘perfumed poison’, ‘bland seducer’
(1. 11,13,14)
Upon first glance at poem, despite the changes in tone and the verse being written in iambic pentameter as one continuous piece, the flow of the poem appears smooth. Upon further examination however, there is extensive use of enjambement and caesura. This means that Dacre can make the readers flow of thought disjointed with no regular pattern. For example:
‘Fearless of blame – for truth I will not care
(So charms the witchery), whether fair or foul.
(1. 7,8)
This is the case throughout the poem. Perhaps Dacre used this poetic form as a means of identifying and highlighting how strong and mind-consuming her feelings of love were and how confused she felt.
Dacre’s poem, ‘Il Trionfo del Amor’, treats the subject of love with a very serious tone. It is written to mimic the turmoil she was experiencing both by the language used as well as poetic form. The reader has a sense of how important and life-changing this experience was for Dacre.
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Upon looking at Byron’s Don Juan, canto I, stanza’s 90-117, it can be seen that his poem is also describing love although in a very different style. Byron’s Don
Juan is a very long piece of work and as such, is immediately different to Dacre’s. His poem is also written in iambic pentameter verse in ottava rima stanza form. This, coupled with the use of enjambement and caesura gives the poem a regular beat but also enabled Byron to accentuate the tone of his poem and to underline any parts of the “story” that he found particularly amusing.
This poem is written as an epic tale of Don Juan’s first love. The speakers tone throughout this poem is very witty. The speaker describes Juan’s experiences with amusement, almost belittling the subject of love. For example:
‘If you think ‘twas philosophy that this did
I can’t help thinking puberty assisted’
(93. 743,744)
This humour throughout the poem, coupled with the use of rhyme following ottava rima, defines and separates the speaker from Juan. The fact that the speakers tone is detached from Juan’s experiences and does not treat his situation seriously, gives the reader the impression that Juan’s first love is not a serious situation either.
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Byron’s use of ottava rima stanza form further contributes to the comical effect of the poem. In each stanza, the ends of the first six lines all contain alternate rhyming couplets that have connotations of the traditional romantic scene. For example:
‘pursued/mood’, soul/whole’
(91. 721, 723, 722, 724)
This is then abruptly contradicted by the final rhyming couplet in each stanza. For example:
‘condition/metaphysician’
(91. 727, 728)
These words clearly do not contain the connotation a reader would necessarily expect to have used in a Romantic poem. The effect of this constant conflict throughout each of the stanza’s is that Byron is resisting the poems tone becoming serious. The poem is comical and does not treat the subject of love seriously. It is treat as a subject that should be taken light heartedly. Clearly, this is the complete opposite of the treatment of love in Dacre’s poem whereby love is treat as something serious and to be respected.
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Byron’s poem tends to describe love as lust in the vast majority of this poem. The connection between Juan and Julia is mainly attributed to sexual desire rather than the conventional feelings of falling in love. For example:
‘Gently, but palpably confirm’d its grasp
As if it said ‘detain me, if you please;’
(111. 882,883.)
The fact that Julia’s hand has been enhanced with imagery and is requesting such a blatant sexual remark again adds to the comical effect of the poem.
Associating Juan’s and Julia’s situation with sexual desire rather than love, somewhat lessens the importance of the situation to the reader.
Dacre and Byron are both classified as Romantic poets, however, as this essay has shown, they both have very different styles of writing and in this case both treat the theme of love from different perspectives. Dacre’s poem is short; she uses poetic techniques such as enjambement and caesura to disrupt the flow of her poem. She uses adjectives that when grouped together have different connotations, to change the tone of her poem. This is all done as a method to create the effect of love being portrayed to the reader as a powerful force and one which should be respected and, at first, almost feared. In stark contrast,
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Byron’s poem is very long. He uses poetic techniques such as ottava rima to add comical effect. He detaches himself from Juan and through the use of alternate rhyming couplets used in contrast with each final rhyming couplet, creates a light-hearted approach to love and to the reader, the theme of love is treat as a subject surrounded by humour.
Dacre’s poem and Byron’s poem both observe love and the effects it can have on a person. Dacre’s serious tone asserts a respectful, fearful view yet by
contrast, Byron’s comical view makes for a light-hearted poem. Both poems are enjoyable and in conclusion, both poets, although both classified as Romantic poets, display the varied styles that are contained within that period.
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Bibliography
Asbee, s. (2003) Approaching Poetry. Malta, The Open University.
Owens, W.R. and Johnson, H. (2005) Romantic Writings: An Anthology, Amersham, The Open University
Bygrave, S. (2002) Romantic Writings. Bath, The Open University.
