cousin Kate and the Secuction coursework

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Compare and contrast “Cousin Kate” By Christina Rossetti and “The Seduction” By Eileen McCauley paying close attention to the presentation of men and the Treatment of women.

 “And he muttered little Slag“The Seduction”

We have been analysing two very interesting poems, “The Seduction” by Eileen McCauley and “Cousin Kate” by Christina Rossetti.

“The Seduction” was written in the1980s and “Cousin Kate” in the 1860s. Both poems deal with the issue of teenage and illegitimate pregnancy. They are different in that “The Seduction” was written in a more recent time, and set in “Merseyside” where there was a high teenage pregnancy rate at the time. This poem talks about a girl who had been to a party and met a boy who had ‘quite enchanted’ her. He gets her drunk, takes her down to the docks, and takes her virginity. The girl discovers she is “three months gone” and thinks her life is ruined.

“Cousin Kate” is also about a young girl losing her virginity out of wedlock, but this poem was set in the country in the 1860s, where getting pregnant out of wedlock was unacceptable in society and highly frowned upon.

In this poem a rich lord fools around with a young “cottage maiden”. This results in her getting pregnant, the lord does not intend to marry and make an honest woman of the cottage maiden, Instead he marries her “Cousin Kate” and “Cast” the cottage maiden aside.

“The Seduction” portrays the young girl as “truly truly frightened” and she can’t think of anything worse than being pregnant.

In comparison “Cousin Kate” portrays the cottage maiden as “shameless” and she sees her pregnancy as “a gift” even though the lord chose Cousin Kate over her.

In this essay I will compare and contrast the two poems, paying close attention to the treatment of women and the presentation of men.

 “Cousin Kate” uses quite a rural setting, which contrasts with the urban setting used in “The Seduction”. Despite the time period, teenage pregnancy in an agricultural community is less expected and more frowned upon than a teenage pregnancy in a rural area like Merseyside, Liverpool, where there is a high teenage pregnancy rate. Therefore, the cottage maiden will have been shunned by everyone for getting pregnant, whereas the probability of a young girl becoming pregnant in Liverpool in the 80’s is greater as in the case of the girl in “The Seduction”

We can tell that the cottage maiden in “Cousin Kate” lives in a rural area because Rossetti writes “I was a cottage maiden/Hardened by sun and air” this shows me that the cottage maiden spent a lot of time working outside maybe on a farm.

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Eileen McCauley writes “he led her to the quiet bricks of Birkenhead docks…Far from the blind windows of tower blocks”. The verb “led” shows how the boy is in control of the girl; he is leading her away from the busy city to a quiet place where no one will see them.

Personification is used here when McCauley writes “quiet Bricks” and “blind windows” this emphasises how desolate and secluded the area he is taking her to is, so he can take advantage of her. The simile “the Mersey, green as a septic wound” shows us that the river he ...

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