In the third paragraph he states that every time he hears her name it reminds him of funeral bells, this is shown when says
“they name thee before me, a knell to mine ear”
this shows that he thinks that it’s her fault and that he never really loved her or that he is over her. He also uses the word “rue”, which means regret; this shows that regrets ever knowing her.
In the last paragraph he is accusing her of everything, he says
“In silence I grieve, that thy heart could forget, thy spirit deceive”
when he says, “thy heart could forget” he is saying that she is the one who forgot about him. He also says “ thy spirit deceived” which means that she tricked him into the relationship.
Lord Byron wrote this poem after his secret relationship with Lady Francis ended, he uses the poem to show how he felt and to say that he never liked and is over her. He also uses the poem to blame her for the relationship not working out for them.
The next poem I am going to discuss is “A Red, Red Rose” by Robert Burns. Robert wrote this poem before leaving Scotland; the whole poem describes his love for his country, Scotland. At the start the reader will think that he is talking about his love for his wife or his lover, but until the end you realise that he is writing about his love for a lover or wife.
In the first poem he describes his love is the same, as first day he loved Scotland, he shows this by saying,
“that’s newly sprung in June”
this shows that he really loves Scotland.
Throughout the poem Robert use nature to describe his love, he uses the words “sea, rose, sun and sands”
This shows that he really loves his country.
Robert Burns is different from Lord Byron from the sense that Byron is judgmental and he blames others whereas Robert isn’t upset about leaving his country.
The third and final poem is “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” by John Keats. The poem is based on the painting “La Belle” by the French artist, Roletti. The poem is about John Keats finding a knight who is wounded and who tells John about his encounter with a woman who bewitches him with her beauty.
The whole describes the sympathy John has for the knight. The poem is written to show that the woman is the evil person and that the ‘brave’ knight is easily entranced by her. Although the poem doesn’t have that much to do with love and relationships the poem is written to show that in relationships the beauty of a women doesn’t always show the personality of a women.
So far the statement is true, that males and females poets do have very different opinions, but different males poets also have different opinions. To get my final thought I will have discuss the remaining three poems.
The first poem is “A Birthday” by Christina Rossetti. The poem is about someone’s birthday; it is most probably her birthday or her husbands or a family member’s. Christina uses similes and nature qualities to describe her love. Examples of these are, “like an apple tree” and “rainbow”. The poem shows the love that she has, it also shows that it is not lust because she is describing how she feels and not how her husband looks. This is shown when the first few lines start with the phrase
“My heart is“ this shows that it is true love.
The next poem is called “How Do I Love Thee” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. The poem is about the love that Elizabeth has for her husband. The whole poem is about how she feels about him. Like “A Birthday” the poem is also about love and not lust. The poem is a question, how do I love thee, which she is also answering. She starts most of the lines with the words “ I love thee”; this shows that she is in love and that it is not lust.
The third poem is “A Woman To Her Lover” by Christina Walsh. The poem is about her opinions on how women are treated by their lovers, she probably wrote the poem after her own experiences in her relationship/s. The starts off with her describing relationships were the women being treated like slaves and are made to do all the work. This is shown when she says “do you come to me to bend me to your will” this means that do you want me to do all the work while you do nothing.
The next paragraph is about when women are worshiped by their lovers; this is shown when she says
“whose every deed and word and wish is golden”,
this means that the woman’s lover will do anything for and will over treat her.
In the third paragraph it is about women whose lovers only have married them for lust, this is shown when she says
“ then gratify your clamorous desire”
this means that don’t expect me to be someone who will satisfy yours desires.
The opinions of the poets are that male poets tend to think more about lust than love. They also think that if the relationship doesn’t work out then it is the woman’s fault. Female poets tend to think more about love than lust, they also think that men only get married because of lust than love and that they are thick headed and that they believe that they are right in everything.