The poem “Villegiature”, after reading the poem I can conclude that the poem is about a romantic interlude. I think that all four titles are different because they all have a different suggestion.
The structure of the poems is not particular varied apart from one of the poems that is “How do I Love Thee?” The poems “Villegiature” and “A woman to her lover” both have four stanzas but have a different amount of lines in each stanza. “Villegiature” has four lines in each stanza and “A woman to her lover” has seven lines in the first stanza, five lines in the second stanza, seven lines in the third stanza and ten lines in the fourth stanza. “How do I love thee?” has only one stanza that is fourteen lines long. Referring to the length of the lines “A Woman to her Lover” is the only poem that has some lines longer than others otherwise all the poems have similar length lines in the poems. “A Woman to her Lover,” the structure adds different meanings to each stanza. “Villegiature,” the structure adds emphasism of her feelings. In the poem “First Love” the structure has given it a beginning, middle and end. In the poem “How Do I Love Thee?” the structure is very simple and is continuous, putting one point across. The benefits of this are that the poem is sustained and is also a constant flow, it is uninterrupted. In the poems where there is more than one stanza it suggests to the reader that there is a change of direction, mood or idea.
In each poem there are similarities between the way in which the poem is written. In stanza one in “A Woman to Her Lover” it is opened with the lover wanting her to do what he wants her to do, giving her no choice, only to bear his children, to be a housewife and do all the tures, but she refuses to be a slave and stresses her emotions and strong feelings. “If that be what you ask, O lover I refuse you!” she doesn’t want to be just a material object and used.
In the poem “Villegiature” the opening stanza is describing where she is and what is going on. “My window framed in pear-tree bloom, white curtained shone, and softly lighted.” Here it explains that she is in a room with attractive natural images, all pure light and romantic, suggesting that it is about love. “your ghost last night climbed uninvited,” this is where the question of a previous lover comes in, but he enters the room uninvited, not wanted.
In the first stanza of “First Love” it is putting forward the fact that it has never happened before. “I ne’er was struck before that hour,” never happened before, “struck” emphasising the fact of powerful and sudden occurrences. “With love so sudden and so sweet,” alliteration attracts us to the feeling he has, then using a simile in this quote saying her face, like a pretty flower,” Her face it bloomed like a sweet flower.” Then goes to saying, “My life and all seemed to turn to clay,” saying that he can’t do anything about it. He had no control of himself.
In the second stanza in “A Woman to Her Lover” it is about perfection in everyway. “or if you think to wed with one from heaven sent whose ever deed and word and wish is golden,” another question, describing someone angelic and everything they do is perfect. The first line is similar to the last line in the first stanza. “If that be what you ask, fool, I refuse you!” Any man that wants that is a fool.
In the poem “ Villegiature” the second stanza is about the way in which she sees him. “Your solid self, long leagues away,” his physical form is far away. “Deep in dull books, had hardly missed me,” when he was alive he was always reading books, working and he didn’t miss her. “And through the blossom climbed and kissed me,” all very romantic, he kissed her.
In the poem “First Love” it is still describing the scene and what his love is doing to him. “And then my blood rushed to my face and took my sight away,” it is embarrassing for him, he’s blushing and she notices then she is so beautiful he went blind. “Seemed midnight at noonday,” it had turned his world upside down. The quote “Words from my eyes did start,” says that there is lots of eye contact, the way they are communicating. His heart is pounding so hard it feels like his blood has burnt round his heart.
In the third stanza in “A Woman to her Lover,” it is about sexual desires, and her being a sex slave. The quote “Or if you think in me to find,” is a question, scenario. “Than satisfy your clamorous desire,” to satisfy his sexual desires, nothing but. The quote “My skin soft only for your fond caresses,” is saying her body is only there for pleasure, he doesn’t love her, and she’s an object to him. The quote “My body supple only for sense delight,” is again saying that it is only for sexual pleasure, and no mutual pleasure.
In the poem “Villegiature” the third stanza is again using natural imagery and romantics words. “The pear-tree boughs hung white above you,” the pear trees branches are full of romantic white flowers, romantic natural imagery. The quote “And half forget I did not love you,” is suggesting that she no longer has feelings for him but he is so persuasive that she almost forgets that she doesn’t have feelings for him.
The third stanza in the poem “First Love” is the last and is about the suggestion of her not returning his love. Throughout the stanza confusion is shown through questions. “Are flowers the winter’s choice?” “Is love’s bed always snow?” suggesting that she isn’t returning the love. It goes back to his opinion, her face so beautiful, and that he can’t control his feelings, ”My heart has left its dwelling place.” “And can return no more” explains that he will be in everlasting love.
In “A Woman to her Lover” the last stanza is about the equality they have until they die, religious imagery in love and married purity. “That I shall be your comrade, friend and mate,” list of three companionship qualities. The good and bad times together, the enjoyment of it is put forward in the middle of the stanza. If he changes she would become his wife. “Until we reach the very heart of God,” referring to religious aspects.
The poem “How do I Love Thee?” is the last poem that only has one stanza. The poem is about the way she loves him. The poem opens with “How do I Love Thee? Let me count the ways,” she wants to count the ways that she loves him.
There is no repetition used in the poem “Villegiature”. There is no repetition used in the poem “First Love”. In the poem “How do I Love Thee?” there is repetition used once which is the phrase “I love thee” which is repeated six times reinforcing the theme of the poem. There is no repetition used in the poem “A Woman to her Lover”.
There are no similes used in the poem “Villegiature”. In the poem “First Love” there is a simile used on the third line, “Her face it bloomed like a sweet flower,” interpreting her face is like a pretty flower. There are no similes used in the poem “How do I Love Thee?” There are no similes used in the poem “A Woman to her Lover”.
In the poem “Villegiature” a metaphor has been used, when she really shocks us with how boring he is, shows intent feelings, a metaphor showing his elegance. There are no metaphors used in the poem “First Love”. There are no metaphors used in the poem “How do I Love Thee”. In the poem “A Woman to her Lover,” there is one metaphor used in the fourth stanza in the eighth line. “And we shall have the music of the spheres for bridal march,” meaning music of the heavens.
In the poem “Villegiature” there is a lot of natural imagery, “Framed in pear-tree bloom,” “I watched the still and dewy lawn. The pear-tree boughs hung white above you.” All the natural imagery is creating a romantic feeling and affect to the poem. There is no imagery used in the poems “First Love” and “How do I love thee?” In the poem “A Woman to her lover” there is imagery used,”…the very heart of God,” the imagery given is a religious affect.
In the poem “Villegiature” the tone is romantic because of the words softly lighted, pear-tree boughs hung white above you and pearls. The poem “First Love” has a romantic tone, words such as flowers, sweet and bloomed. In the poems “How do I Love Thee” and “A Woman to her Lover” the tone is confusion.
There is no personification used in any of the four poems.
In the poems “Villegiature,” “First Love” and “How do I Love Thee” there is no assonance used. In the poem “A Woman to her lover” there is assonance used, for example: will and vanquished and golden and worship. This doesn’t matter because poems aren’t about rhythm, they are about the meaning as well.
All the poems I have chosen are all quite similar in their title because all but “Villegiature” give the suggestion of love. The forms of the poems are all is also very similar in the way that the poem is delivered. The content of the poems are quite similar but the words in the poems have different meanings. Out of the four poems I like “A Woman to her Lover” because I like the way that it is perceived from men only wanting women for sex. It has a strong meaning to it.
