Compare the ways in which a sense of drama and romance is created in the poems 'The Highwayman' and 'Sovay'

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Compare the ways in which a sense of drama and romance is created in the poems 'The Highwayman' and 'Sovay'

The poem 'The Highwayman' was written by Alfred Noyes in 1907 it tells of a love between Bess, the Landlord's daughter, & the highwayman.

The poem 'Sovay' is actually a ballad about a man and a woman in love, and the woman testing the man's love for her.

In both poems the main theme is romance, but drama is also a theme in both poems, a comparison can be made between both the poems.

Alfred Noyes uses colours when adding to the romance in the poem, for instance when he is setting the scene in the beginning he uses 'the purple moor', purple being a romantic colour. In comparison, in Sovay colours are used to add to the setting, and not in a romantic way.

The way he adds Romance is apparent in the scene description when Noyes adds adjectives such as when describing the road through the moors he writes 'The road was a ribbon of moonlight' this conjures up romantic imagery which heightens the sense of romance throughout the poem. In comparison Sovay uses speech to show the romance of the poem and heighten the sense of love between Sovay and the man, ' For it's a token from my sweetheart'.

The way that Noyes describes the highwayman is once again romantic. He describes the highwayman in stanza 2. 'Breeches of brown doe skin' doe skin is soft and smooth and is suggestive of romance and love and once more the usage of colours the browns and reds that Noyes uses all represent romance and love. In Sovay the women is described as 'She dressed herself up in man's array' which is made more dramatic as it then states ' With a sword and pistol all by her side' this is a dramatic description, unlike the highwayman which is a romantic description.
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The colours purple, tawny, red & claret are all used to put emphasis on the relationship and romance of Bess and the highwayman, as reds are romantic colours which are associated with love and romance. Likewise as purple can be seen as a romantic colour and can be linked to feelings of romance. However the use of tawny which is a light brown colour is a little different it can be seen as a romantic colour however it isn't always seen so the use of this colour in my opinion isn't romantic however it is used to describe ...

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