The language makes me feel very moved at some points because its very emotional and descriptive .My favourite verse was the last one because it uses strong words but with passion and a deep full meaning.
“Lethal”
Its scent will cling to your fingers,
Cling to your knife
Lethal means dangerous and I think this would describe love best because in reality love is romantic however if you don’t play it right and don’t abide by the rules then it could turn into a very nasty game. This is why love shouldn’t be messed about in the first place as it not a game in real life it could mess a persons life forever.
Its scent will cling to your fingers; this sentence basically means that love is not easy to get rid of. In my opinion I think it’s got a very sentimental touch to it and at the end of the day it makes a lot of sense.
Cling to your knife, this sentence tells us that love does end and the word cling is very negative and it gives off a bad vibe. This is when the whole poem is needed with a bitter ending.
The poem contains a couple of metaphors and similes for example
“Like the careful undressing of love”
This simile is very striking and successful because it is set out in a well thought out sentence. This means that love is gradually revealed, that there is a darker side to love which is best kept hidden. It also means that love is takes a long time to grow and show it true colours, and that it’s very fragile and soft. This simile also happens to be an extended metaphor.
“It is a moon wrapped in brown paper”
This metaphor just basically describes an onion but in a more poetic way. The moon is the actual onion and the brown wrapping paper is only describing the outer skin. Think this is a very clever idea and indeed very imaginative.
The poem only contains one use of personification; the affect is quite great because it’s giving a non human a human power.
I think through out the poem, the poet is trying to bring down love as best as he or she could.
“Not a cute card or a kissogram”
This is a good example of how the poet tries to bring down how the poet tries to bring down love as this is a clichés which means a commercial gift which brings down the image of love.
“Its fierce kiss will stay on your lips”
This means that love is bitter, sharp and strong and that the taste will stay with you.
Overall the tone starts very positive but by the end it goes negative, depressing, dull and forceful.
The poet is trying to say that love is not eternal and that it takes two people to make it a relationship work. The Message that it’s trying to get across is that love isn’t all about happiness but it also has its fair amount of bitterness. I think the whole point of this poem was to say that love is more important than presents and that it’s far more meaningful. It’s about affection, caring and taking it seriously as it’s a dangerous game to take on board.
My opinion of the poem is that it’s laid out really well and if you read it over and over again then it will make sense as there is a lot to take in. There are a lot of thoughts and emotions behind it. It made me see love from a completely different aspect of life. Basically love does contain a lot hurt, pain and sleep less nights.
First love is by John Clare. It describes love at first sight which is totally opposite fro Valentine. These two poets have completely different views on love. This poem is told by the point of view of a male.
The language of this poem is very simple and not at all powerful and strong as valentine. I think this is because Valentine shows a different side to love where as this poem tells you how it feels when you fall in love but it doesn’t tell u the truth behind it, The language makes me think if love at first sight really exists and if there is such a thing as soul mates which I believe in anyway. It also made me think if love is everlasting and I have decided that it is because I have living proof of my grandparents and my own parents who are still in very much so in love with their partners. The word used in this poem is what you would expect to hear and see because it’s a typical love poem. However you would never expect to hear words like lethal, bitter and sharp that describes love in Valentine.
The poem layout is very different to Valentine .This poem includes alliteration and alternating rhyme which was not included in Valentine. I think this makes this poem more interesting.
This poem also contains three similes but not any metaphors.
“Like a sweet flower”
“As deadly pale”
“As chords do from the string”
The first simile compares love to a flower and how sweet it is which was never mentioned in Valentine but quite the opposite actually.
The second simile describes his facial expression, but he hardly had anything on his face, it was all pale as he was bedazzled by her beauty.
The last simile describes the way he tried to communicate with her, with his eyes, I think this is a very good use of a simile and very meaningful.
“So sudden and so sweet”
The affect of the alliteration is very powerful and a good thing to use in your poem and this makes it different to the layout of valentine.
I especially like the phrase
“My heart has left its dwelling place, and can return no more”.
I think what he is saying here is that the women stole his heart and that it doesn’t belong to him any more. The way he put the words together has a big impact on the reader because it’s well said.
Reading this poem is very different to valentine as they are both so unlike and have different views on love but that was to be expected anyway. Valentine is very blunt, very honest and straight to the point. Where as this poem is what you hear about love everyday.
My opinion of the poem is that it’s very discripetive, good layout and a wide range of good words to set out the poem and on the whole very affective. This is because it talks about love how we all want to hear but on the other hand Valentine talks about reality of love.
Overall I prefer Valentine and I think it’s mainly because it’s not a typical, soopy love poem but with a twist and also because it’s very realistic. The poet is not afraid to talk about love being lethal and bitter instead of romantic and sweet.