The gender of the writer seems to have an effect on the portrayal of love, Clare is victim, describing someone who “stole my heart away complete”, whilst Rossetti is the more in-control woman which is waiting for her love in splendour of royalty. The other apparently insignificant detail is that of the poems title, which of the two the latter seems to have a deeper meaning. “A Birthday” on first impression is a situation associated with joy and merrymaking, which is partly true to the emotions the author is expressing, yet it does not mean a ‘birthday’ in the conventional sense of celebrating your birth, but in this case her ‘rebirth’. This rebirth can be interpreted as her waiting for death and her lover to be God, the images of richness and splendour can also be interpreted as in a more morose scene; the vair and purple dyes of the coffin and the fleurs-de-lis as the funeral bouqet. The title of Clare’s poem simply gives an overall of the poem following, the incident of first love and the pains as well as pleasures that the author goes through during the whole ordeal; the physical pain of blood burning around his heart to the mental pain of uncertainty to “her” feelings
towards ‘him’.
The simplicity and consequently the impressive effect of both poems is a comparison to both, they both rhyme every two lines; “shoot”-“fruit” and both flow as abcbdcec.
The poems are both divided into parts, much like paragraphs or the chapters of a book, they express slightly different emotions and change the context in every one of these ‘parts’.
The second pair of poems is “When we two parted” by Lord Byron and “Villegiature” by Edith Nesbit.These are now about a much later phase of love, showing its condition after it has somewhat decayed and the passion has fizzled out. Both of the poets in comparison to the first set seem to suffer more as a result of their relationship than have any enjoyment out of it. The most painful image presented by lord Byron is that of their parting, as well as his later questioning why was she so dear. Villegature is the more light-hearted of the two, the author going on her very own ‘holiday’, the word Villegature is French, which misleads the reader into thinking the poem will be about romance, only truly revealing the poets true emotions at the rather shocking end, “how you always bore me!”
The poems both express the expectations that the poets have of their lovers, this seems to differ with the poets gender, since lord Byron demands loyalty from his mistress, which is evident when he mentions that “light is thy fame”, fame meaning her social status is that she could be regarded as a woman of ‘loose’ morals. The demands of Nesbit are quiet different, in light-hearted humour, she expresses her lust for romance and passion, which has evidently vanished, from her relationship. The relationship is not described in great detail, but it is very likely that they have been together for a long time; Nesbit’s poem fits the description of a married couple-together for the sake of marriage. Lord Byron’s attachment to his mistress, “Long, long shall I rue thee.” Is evident through his choice of parting words in the first stance and the way he still seems to love her after all those “years”.
‘When we two parted’ portrays love which is pulled like a puppet on strings by society, when her name is spoken of badly Byron knows that he cannot continue to love her in fear of exposing their relationship. The partnership was a concealed one, “in secret we met”, kept away from the preying eyes of society for a reason that the poet does not give. Byron alternates between different emotions through the stances of the poem, ranging from his love for her to disregard of her and grieving for their dead relationship. Lord Byron also uses questions in the last two stances to draw attention to the expressions used. The two questions contrast in the poets emotions, the first “Why wert thou so dear?” questions the emotional expenditure of his lover whilst the second “How should I greet thee?” betrays the poets ever present sentiments for ‘her’, “With silence and tears.” the very same way they parted years before. The poet questioning himself gives a good insight to his emotions through his answers and their importance by the way they are made to stand out by the use of dashes after them, “A shudder comes o’er me-“.
Villvegature also highlights the importance of some phrases through the use of similes “solid self long leagues away” draws attention to the fact that he is no longer an object of great admiration or interest in the poet, she also uses the words “deep in dull books” to emphasise his insipidness and the contrast of reality to her fantasized romantic lover, who is much like a ‘Romeo’ who climbs a tree to reach his aficionado, the poet. The poem by lord Byron also shows some disappointment with his partner, perhaps more with her being disloyal to him, but he does also mention that their passion grew somewhat stale,“Colder thy kiss”. The disappointment comes from the fact that she broke all her “vows” and no longer is loyal to him.
The use of romantic imagery is evident in both poems, in Villegature it is more the nature or environment which seems to be affected by romance- “The pear-tree boughs” are mentioned three times, in the first second and third stances, the poet also talks of “pearls of song” in the concluding stance, the only aquatic gem being the pearl. Lord Byron’s poem uses imagery, which describes more of his lover than the nature or scenery, “Pale grew thy cheek” yet not much imagery is used in his poem compared to the works of Christina Rossetti or even John Clare. The reason for the contrast between the two poems may be that Edith Nesbit used excessive romanticism in her poem to fool the reader into thinking that she ‘loves’ her partner or that the poem is not a fantasy, but an actual activity, although in the first stance she does use the image of “your ghost”, which is reminiscent of a memory she had of her lover.
The last poem is “A woman to her lover” by Christina Walsh.
This is the poem, which demonstrates the expectations of a ‘liberated’ woman to her potential lover; it has an aroma of feminism about it and seems like a reasonable set of refusals that a 20th century woman could make. Aside from being very inspirational and emotion provoking, the poem also is an interesting expression of the poet’s attitude to love and life, more careful and in a way determined than the earlier poems concerning love. The author this time seems to ‘attack’ her male oppressors by generating some very persuasive arguments, such as by putting the “wingless angel” or the “doll” in, without argument, a negative light.
The poet is very critical of the average potential ‘lover’, in the first three stances, setting down a set of iron rules that he must abide to in order to be her “co-equal” in marriage. Her criticism is evident through her counter-glorification of the stereotypical, yet sadly often common desires of men are to have a “doll to dress and sit for feeble worship” or to have “my skin soft only for your fond caresses”. The use of the words “As conqueror to the vanquished” is also interesting- to me forming an image of the Spanish armada putting the capturing the helpless natives, in time turning them into “a bondslave” a slave with a ‘bond’ to its master so they could not buy themselves out after their period of servitude has passed.
The last stance concentrates mostly on what the poet expects of her lover, setting down the fundaments of the conditions in which a relationship with her could potentially bloom. Walsh uses words reminiscent of an alliance rather than the more conventional relationship of two lovers, “your comrade, friend, mate” “together” “co-equal”, giving a very lucrative description of a relationship free of the afore mentioned (wingless angel etc.) conventional entities, not wanting to be a sex toy to satisfy his clamorous desire, but to know “the purity and height of passion”, refusing to be a placid doll or a holy wingless angel and using clear and strong words to express this “fool, I refuse you!” to express her distaste for the men who take enjoyment in this. In the first stance, she expresses a different kind of disagreement than in the second or third since the latter does not require her to do any manual work, she refuses: “No servant will I be”. Another point worth mentioning of the last stance is the way the marriage is described, the imagery used being so artistic and unusual; “music of the spheres for bridal march” , “The stars to laugh with joy” ,words which emphasise how different the marriage ceremony will be if the love is true and pure, if it is based on companionship and passionate love- a contradiction of the poets most despised image of the foolish man.
