Compare how the theme of love is presented in at least two pre 1900 poems. You may refer to other poems in this group as appropriate.

Charlie Collard 10L

Ms. Lewis English Coursework

Compare how the theme of love is presented in at least two pre 1900 poems. You may refer to other poems in this group as appropriate.

I will be comparing the poem ‘First Love’ by John Clare and sonnet CXVI (116) ‘Let Me Not’ by William Shakespeare ‘First Love’. ‘First Love’ is about the disappointment of him not being able to marry a daughter of a rich farmer. His first impressions of her have made an ever-lasting impression and cause devastating, emotional and physical setbacks. ‘Let Me Not’ is a sonnet, which was written by one of England’s greatest writers of all time. He reflects upon the nature of love and the effects of the passing time, he also gives us his idea of the characteristics of a real lasting love between two people.

The language in ‘First Love’ I think is very powerful for example the verb ‘struck’ in the first line demonstrates the physical impact of love. When the poet is struck with ‘a love so sudden and so sweet’ it is not what we expect because we associate ‘struck’ with a physical object and anger. This has the effect of drawing our attention to the alliteration in ‘so sudden and so sweet’, because the ‘s’ sound slows the rhythm and makes us focus on the object of his love. The adjective ‘sweet’ is repeated in line three, to emphasise his feelings about the person he loves. In the second stanza the poet’s senses and emotions are in turmoil, he describes this by using personification for example he loses his sight and ‘could not see a single thing’. He tries to explain to the reader that love has made him blind to the world and turned it upside down. Clare uses a lot of personification in this poem and I think that it has a very good effect on the poem as whole. ‘My legs refused to walk’, and also ‘my heart has left its dwelling place.’ I think this is effective because I feel the reader can relate to this. He is trying to explain that he does not think he can ever love someone else in the same way. Also Clare uses repetition of the word ‘heart’ overall he uses the word three times but in every case it has a different meaning. This has a very strong effect on the reader I feel. Also Clare uses a lot of metaphors for example in line 16. ‘Blood burnt round my heart’. This sounds like his heart is pounding. This is also a good example of alliteration ‘blood burnt’ Clare uses a lot of alliteration, ‘so sudden and so sweet’ ‘ blood burnt’ and also ‘saw so sweet a face’. Also the repetition of the word ‘so’ also emphasises what he is feeling towards her. This is very effective I think because again it emphasises the words, which are important. The tone of ‘First Love’ is different throughout the poem because to begin with it has a very nice and a very sensitive tone because he is describing how beautiful she is: ‘her face it bloomed like a sweet flower’. Near the end of the poem however in the last stanza the tone changes to a sad tone because he quotes that life will never be the same again; ‘ my heart has left its dwelling-place and can return no more.’ I think that he feels he will never feel the same way about another human being as he did for her because he has just experienced the most powerful emotion of all, love, for the first time. I think that this change of tone is very powerful because it is like relationships, it has the up points but also Clare illustrates the down points and this in the tone of his poem.

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The tone of ‘‘Let Me Not’’ is very serious because Shakespeare is trying to define the concept of love. To begin with the tone of this sonnet is quite serious. Shakespeare is trying to get the message across that love is a very strong everlasting feeling that cannot be destroyed by anyone or anything; ‘ love is not love/which alters when alteration findes.’ I think the tone of this sonnet is very important in how Shakespeare gets his message across because of the seriousness of it. Another sonnet of Shakespeare’s ‘shall I compare thee’ has a different tone to this but I feel is equally as powerful. The tone of ‘Shall I Compare Thee…?’ is very different to ‘‘Let Me Not’’ because it is a happy sonnet Shakespeare is saying that she is as beautiful and more temperate than a summer’s day. There is an upbeat and romantic tone as Shakespeare describes how beautiful she is. In ‘Let Me Not’ Shakespeare uses a lot of hyperbole this emphasises how strong love is and the power of it. Also that love is meant to be long lasting and is meant to be for life. The metaphor used in this poem is: “That looks on tempest and is never shaken; It is the star to every wandering barke.” This is directly comparing a star that is fixed in one place and that guides ships to safety, to love because love guides people’s lives.

‘‘First Love’’ has three stanzas each with eight lines each. Each stanza has a theme, for example in stanza one the theme is. There is also enjambment between stanzas. The effect of the enjambment is to make the poem sound smoother. At the beginning where there is most of the enjambment the tone is very joyful and happy, but as we move down the poem the tone becomes more serious and sad and there becomes less enjambment. The rhyming scheme of ‘‘First Love’’ is ABABCDCD. I think this is effective because it emphasises the last words on the line.

However ‘Let Me Not’ is divided into three quatrains with a rhyming couplet at the end, just like ‘shall I compare thee’. This poem’s rhyming scheme, like all Shakespearean poems, is ABABCDCDEFEFGG. There are 10 syllables to a line in this poem. The structure of the poem is very similar to ‘shall I compare thee’. There is a natural break in the sonnet after line 8. The sonnet changes after the first eight lines because the theme changes. It changes from positive thoughts to not so positive. After line 8 he is talking about if he is wrong and if love cannot conquer all then all his writing is wrong and no man has ever really loved. This is very effective I think because love is unpredictable and it can change instantly just like this sonnet. So the natural change is the change of topic. In Line 8 ‘ Whose worths unknowne, although his hight be taken’ this means that a star’s height can be estimated but you cannot judge its power to guide and direct people’s lives. In other words the star’s power is inestimable. This is a metaphor of love, Shakespeare is saying that love is the star that guides the ships and you cannot judge its power to bring people closer together!

In ‘‘Let Me Not’’ Shakespeare writes about how strong love is when it is true love. Shakespeare also expresses how love is unbreakable and eternal. Shakespeare has a very unique style of writing and is very selective when choosing his vocabulary. However ‘First Love’ is a very emotional and personal poem I feel that I can imagine what John Clare was going through.

Personally I think that Shakespeare presented his theme of love in the best way because he uses several techniques. This is also because it has a wide variety of different uses of language.