“The Beggar Woman” was written in the 17th century by William King. The poem was written when men considered themselves to be of higher importance than women. It is about a gentlemen who goes into a wood with a hunting party but the man meets with a woman and has a proposition of sex between the two of them. It appears that the man is searching for a prostitute. The poem though is not for advertising men’s superiority over women, it is appealing against it. The woman tricks the man and the poem ends with the man taking away a child he didn’t want and the woman teaches him a lesson about responsibility because the poem shows the man that he must take consequences as well. “The Beggar Woman” is laid out as a rhyming narrative with a play on words involved in the poem. In the poem it gives the idea that men in the seventeenth century took advantage of women, but the poem tells us that the woman tricks the man into giving him her baby and giving him that responsibility. “The Beggar Woman uses heroic couplets that are two lines of ten syllable rhythmical rhyming lines which are easy to remember. The poem has a play on words by using the metaphor “game.” This is used when the man is out hunting but he is really hunting women. Instead of the ‘game’ of hunting a hare, he is playing the game of hunting women. The woman gives the man a burden ‘like a cross’ of her baby to teach him a lesson as this was supposedly done to Jesus when he was tortured and killed on the cross. He had to carry his cross as a burden to the top of a hill where he was killed. In the poem the baby is used as a metaphor so as the baby is the burden and has to be carried on the mans back. “The beggar woman” to conclude is a witty poem in the form of a morality tale. The poem reverses the roles in terms of power, leaving the carefree Lord to look after the baby whilst the peasant woman leaves with her freedom. The poem uses puns and dialogue to express the tricking of the hunting Lord.
“Our Love Now” was written in the 19th century by Martyn Lowery. The poem is set up in stanzas of free verse, a man talking in one verse then the women in the next verse. The poem is a man trying to keep a relationship together by trying to prove to his partner that he still loves her and their relationship is still alive. The woman is responding by being very negative and telling her partner that the relationship is over and is contradicting everything that the man is saying. For example the man says how their relationship was a storm but the storm has passed and it is clear ahead for them both. The woman responds by saying that he is true but a storm always leaves lasting damage behind that cannot be repaired. At the end of the poem it ends on the woman’s verse and signals that the relationship is over and that she has won the argument. In this poem the man is very much a dreamer and she is a realist. The man is trying to hold something together here whereas the woman is ending the relationship. The woman finishes the poem by wining the discussion and proves to be the more powerful person in the poem. The poem is set out on separate sides of the page to show the separate peoples conversations The poem is more descriptive than “The Beggar Woman’s” narrative structure. There are more similes in this poem such as using hair to show the relationship as hair is cut it looks worse than what it was before but it soon grows back and can often be better than what the hair used to be like. The poem also talks about a storm saying that a storm will come and will be scary and worrying at the time but it will clear and the weather will improve afterwards. To sum up this poem by Love brings out the best in the male character as he tries almost desperately to rebuild a damaged relationship. He uses a series of metaphors, comparing love to a wound, a burn, a haircut and a storm. With each comparison he is optimistic about the outcome. The wound will heal, the scald will disappear, the hair will regroup and the storm will subside. We can imagine the wound relating to trust in the relationship. Perhaps one of the partners, possibly the woman, has been betrayed. The "raging storm" could relate to an argument they may have had. These images are strong visually and help us imagine the emotions that they relate to. The woman’s perspective is different; love has brought out the worst in her because she has been hurt. Whereas the final line in each stanza spoken by the man is positive and hopeful, her words are negative and bleak – "There is always a scar" where the wound was. "A numbness’ prevails" after a burn, and so on. Before she finally wins the argument and the relationship is ended.
In my opinion the poem “Our Love Now” is a more effective poem than “The Beggar Woman,” at portraying the story of the poem. This is because the structure of “Our Love Now” is more compelling and much better at showing the contrast between man and woman, “Our Love Now” ways of contrasting man and woman is by using metaphors for their relationship which I feel is much better than the narrative poem of “The Beggar Woman.” The structure is also much more free flowing and easier to understand the role of the man and woman in the poem. The message in the poem is a lot clearer shown in “Our Love Now” than it is in “The Beggar Woman.” “The Beggar Woman’s” poetic devices are hidden in metaphors and a play on words style. This poem is much more of a story compared to “Our Love now” as it tells of a meeting between a upper class male and a beggar woman. “The Beggar Woman” not only shows the contrast between male and female but also the contrast between upper class and lower class, and that upper class people in the poem are not all intelligent, clever, and worthy of their label of upper class people. I feel that the poem “Our Love Now” gets across the message of women’s passion and strength better than “The Beggar Woman,” as its structure of the poem and the contrast of females and males using metaphors is far more effective than the play on words and metaphors used by William King.
