In the poems Porphyrias Lover, First Love and La Belle Dame Sans Merci a range of experiences affected by love are exposed

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Charlotte Clements         11H

Compare and contrast the work of three different poets and show their varying portrayals of love. You should also refer to the poets’ use of style and language.

Different forms of love are explored in love poetry, some look at the happiness and joy typically associated with love whilst others expose the depressive heartache and vulnerability that people experience when they are in love. In the poems ‘Porphyria’s Lover’, ‘First Love’ and ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’ a range of experiences affected by love are exposed. ‘First Love’ explores the physical and emotional affects of unrequited love much like in ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’ where the poet examines the overpowering nature of love and lastly an obsessive and more sinister side of love is captured in ‘Porphyria’s Lover’. Each poem focuses upon a different theme of love challenging the stereotypical idea of the effects, actions and emotions associated with love.

In the poem ‘First Love’, Clare explores the overwhelming and devastating effects of unrequited love. The effect of this type of love is distressing with powerful physical and emotional effects which are conveyed in Clare’s actions which leave him vulnerable. Clare was “struck” by the emotional force of love conveying the sudden and unexpected nature of the situation. The use of onomatopoeia in the word “struck” creates a harsh sounding word reflecting the way in which love came over him. The personification of the word “struck” captures the way in which love inflicts pain upon Clare subsequently making him weak and vulnerable. As she “stole my (his) heart away” Clare is left defenceless to the women’s power and effect on him.  Much like the knight from “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” he becomes fascinated by her and loses control of his physical movements and appearance. Clare’s physical reactions are strong as his “face turned pale as deadly pale” as the colour is drained from his face, sinister and deadly imagery is created portraying the unpleasant side of love. “Palely loitering” the Knight from “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” also suffers from similar disturbing physical reactions. Clare compares his life to “clay” hinting at how his life was once aimless and formless but now after his traumatic experience with love he “can return no more” to how he once was much like a changed form of clay. The idea of clay captures his vulnerability but also the idea that he is easily influenced with no control over his emotions; he allowed his life to be changed and moulded by her love. At the start of the poem the pace is fast and reflects how the feeling of love has “struck” him suddenly. The use of enjambment in the first verse allows the poem to flow so the pace is consequently quick. The use of enjambment in ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ captures the fluid movement of him strangling Porphyria. The fluidity  that is captured in consequence of using enjambment is oxymoronic as what should have been a violent and horrific action is portrayed in a calm and peaceful manner. The different uses of enjambment contrast each other. When Clare’s sight is taken away from him he has yet again fallen victim to another physical attack as it “seemed midnight at noonday”. It is as if she is now the brightness in his life and like a world without sun, without her he cannot survive. She has the power of his welfare and happiness much like Porphyria who makes the cottage “blaze up” upon arrival. Both women have a great deal of power over their admirers leaving the men weak against their actions. The poem has a natural iambic rhythm that conveys the poet’s speaking voice making the poem flow with ease. The iambic metre breaks down in the third verse which slows down the overall pace of the verse. As the pace deteriorates so does Clare’s experience and view to love. The slower pace allows Clare to address the reader in an engaging manner asking “Is love’s bed always snow?” Clare’s experience of love is one of unrequited heartbreak, he feels rejected and isolated from his loved one. The poem challenges the stereotypical view of a warm, passionate and caring love as for Clare it was a cold, harsh and unloving experience.

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In the poem ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’ Keats explores the power of love and its effects upon its victim.  Keats takes form of the narrator in the first three verses who discovers the heartbroken “knight-at-arms”. The mood is gloomy with depressing undertones as the “sedge wither’d from the lake” we get an overall sense of lack of life or purpose. Winter is associated with death and emptiness much like the Knight’s aimless actions. The environment reflects the unhappiness of the “haggard and so woebegone” knight. Pathetic fallacy is used to match the weather with the knight’s mood which is ...

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