The above shows that the she is of working class status, which I think is important to get across straight away to show how later in the poem rank is pulled to out do another status. At this point in the poem we get the impression that she was happy with the simple life she led. The line ‘contented with my cottage mates’ also backs up that she was happy and ‘contented’ with life and her peers.
She is ‘hardened by sun and air’ shows that she works outside and is used to all kinds of weather. Also after we are told of how her life used to be happy and she was ‘contented’ with it we are then asked the question “Why did a lord find me out’ once again showing how she wants her old life back and that nothing good has come of the relationship the line is also repeated twice to show the bitterness and the resent she feels towards the lord, this compares with the regret and anger of the girl in seduction as she sobs ‘in the cool, locked darkness of her room.’ This shows how both poems show the regret of having the relationships.
Both girls in the poems come across as naive and vulnerable towards the opposite sex as they are both easily seduced. Also both men use some sort of method to seduce the girls, the lord uses hi social status and the boy in ‘seduction’ uses alcohol to make the girl easier to seduce and use. Also the girl in ‘seduction’ gives the impression that she has never been drunk before as she is nervous and ‘giggled, drunk and nervous.’
In the second stanza we find out how easily led and gained the girl is in ‘Cousin Kate’ we find how the lord ‘lured’ her ‘to his palace home,’ The word ‘lured’ most commonly used as a negative word like he used false pretences. The lord used the girl as his ‘plaything’ and ‘wore’ her like a ‘silken knot’ easily undone and ‘changed like a glove.’ This shows the lords mistreatment and opinion on women, that he thinks they are there for his pleasure and don’t mean anything to him, I feel that Rossetti says this to show the poor treatment of women in her time. This also relates to the way the boy treats the girl in ‘Seduction’ calling her a ‘little slag’ showing his little regard for women and his intentions.
The girl from ‘Cousin Kate’ feels she is now an ‘unclean thing,’ no longer innocent but dirty and used, the line ‘Who might have been a dove’ backups the above, as doves are related to peace and cleanliness, but she is no longer able to be this. The girl in ‘Seduction’ also feels she is no longer innocent and clean as she ‘ripped up all her ‘Jackie’ and ‘my guy’ magazines up.’ These magazines were made and perceived to be for innocent girls and she obviously feels she no longer deserves them, as she is no longer innocent.
In the third stanza of ‘Cousin Kate’ we see more how the girl was picked out and of the narrators bitterness towards her being the one to be ‘lifted’ ‘from mean estate’ rather than her. The lord is made out to be more like a stalker in the third stanza as ‘he watched’ the girls ‘steps along the lane.’ We also see that the lord takes her from her life and that she isn’t really talked to or conversed with at all the lord just ‘lifted’ her ‘from mean estate’ this once again shows the girls lower status her being from ‘mean estate’ and also that he was just looking for anyone and he just chose her.
In stanza four of ‘Cousin Kate’ we see the contrasts between the narrator and the girl, how the narrator wasn’t pure and was cast by and the girl ’were so good and pure’ that he ’bound her with his ring’ almost like he tied her down. Now the narrator is ’an outcast thing’ and the girl is ’good and pure.’
This shows how both women in the poems were once innocent but are now dirtied no longer clean. Their lives have been permanently changed because of the men but the men just carry on, the lord just chooses someone else, and isn’t seen as a ’thing’ by the ’neighbours.’ Once again showing the social status and acceptance of women.
In both poems the men are the dominant figures they ’capture’ and ’lead’ the girls as they wish. One example of this is when the boy in seduction leads the drunken girl:
‘ He led her to the quiet bridge of Birkenhead docks.’
In the fifth stanza we find that the narrator has learned that the lords love ’was writ in sand’ showing it was easily changed like the sea washes away the sand. Also the narrator shows that she is no longer naive and with hindsight she knows it was wrong, if she was to change places with Kate she would know not to trust the lord, we know this as she says:
‘If he had fooled not me but you.’
’If you stood where I stand.’
This relates with ‘Seduction’ both poems show how the girls have learnt from their mistakes and now know where they have gone wrong but also it is to late for them both.
In the final stanza of ‘Cousin Kate’ we find that the narrator has had a child which is the lords and that Kate can not bear children. And ‘for all your clothes and wedding ring’ Kate will never have that joy. We also again are told about the narrator’s shame of the relationship but also the pride she gained in the form of a child
‘My fair haired son, my shame, my pride.’
In complete contrast to this the girl in ‘seduction’ is devastated of her pregnancy, ‘she broke the heels of her white shoes (as she flung them at the wall).’ This shows her frustration at her one night of weakness and the realisation that her life has changed forever, and her once hope of ‘o-levels’ which at one point she boasted to the boy, she ’talked about school, in a disjointed way. About o-levels she’d be sitting in June.’ where blown.
Both poems are like a life lessen, showing how one night of weakness or any moment for that matter can change your life not just for that moment but forever.
