These two poems have many things in common. For example the both have similar treatment of these young women because they both end up alone, disillusioned, betrayed and loss of innocence but above all this they end up pregnant. They have both been used for sex and have suffered the consequences because they now have no future ahead of them.
They are also different in many ways too. The girl in ‘Cousin Kate’ is lured into bed because this guy makes her feel loved and wanted. Also this ‘cottage maiden’ is lead to a ‘palace home’. She is also described as ‘good’ and ‘pure’ and the poem is set in the 19th century. (Pre 20th century). Whilst the girl in ‘The Seduction2 is lure to a river bank and this guy gets her drunk and she becomes more and more vulnerable. She is described as a typical teenager ages 16, who just went to a party and came out alone and pregnant. Also she is unlike the other girl because she is not treated well; she is insulted because she is called ‘little slag’ which isn’t friendly. This is an example of modern vocabulary because ‘slag’ is used in today’s society.
The mood in ‘Cousin Kate’ changes from happy and joyful to sad and miserable. It does this because at the beginning this young women is innocent and pure but at the end she is judged by people who thinks she is a piece of filth just because she is a single mother who had sex before she was married. We know this because it says
‘He changed me like a glove’.
This proves that the lord is a womanizer and only cares about himself and not his child. Even though his ‘Cousin Kate’ is infertile ‘the lord’ wants an heir, but still he will not even consider admitting that this innocent child is his. Even though she is a single mother she is still proud of her son and this proves that something good can come out of a terrible relationship. Whilst she is proud whenever she looks upon her child she still calls him her shame, because this reminds her of how she was used and cast aside.
The mood in ‘The Seduction’ is the same. It starts off all happy and suddenly changes to depressing, but this girl is not judged as much as the ‘cottage maiden’. She was still in secondary school about to sit her O’levels. In comparison to the ‘Cottage Maiden’, who generally didn’t have any future, no education and was basically a nothing in person, the girl in the seduction could have a future because there are services in today’s society to help her have a full education and continue with her life. She was left to pick up the pieces and raise there child after this boy left her after he got what he wanted. We know this because it says
‘And they talked about school in a disjointed way’.
This also tells us that he was only interested in having sex and not about her life or chatting in general.
Christina Rossetti uses words such as ‘outcast things’ and ‘even so I sit and howl in dust’ to describe this women as a piece of filth and dirt. Just because she had sex and got pregnant before she was married she is looked down upon even though it wasn’t really her fault; she was used by ‘the lord’, this is all because he wanted sex from her and didn’t care about what affects could happen because after he was done with her he would move onto her ‘Cousin Kate’. He rejected his own child which isn’t very manly. A real man would've owned up to the fact that he has a child and would’ve helped look after him.
I find them very effective because they give the poem a sense of misery and sadness. This is successful because it fits in with the content of the poem; also they give the feeling of unwanted ness and depression which also works really well with the poem, because this ‘Cottage Maiden’ is discarded and miserable because of the ‘lord’. He has taken away her youth and has not even thought about the consequences of his actions, he is just happy that he got what he wanted.
The language in ‘The Seduction’ paints a bleak picture of the night’s events, for example words like ‘leather jacket’ and ‘river bank’ gives us a visual image of how filthy this place is. They didn’t go to a hotel or anything they did it on a muddy and disgusting riverbank. The poet also uses words such as ‘he spat’, ‘muttered little slag’, ‘kisses of nicotine’ and ‘as he bought her more and more drinks’ This creates the image of a horrible, dreadful and unappreciated idiot on a riverbank with this pure and innocent girl. This guy could careless about this girl as long as she will sleep with him; he only cares about himself. This young woman who thinks this guy is great and will love her for her is just getting used for sex.
They make me feel very sorry for this young women because she is just being
cast-off and she is the one who is going to end up heartbroken, alone and pregnant with no future to look forward to. This guy has taken her entire future for one night of passion.
I preferred ‘The Seduction’ poem because it seems more up to date and realistic and it is set in the 20th century; so it’s warning young women about the consequences of there actions. It also describes a poor innocent girl who has been taken advantage of and nobody seems to care for her which make me feel bad because she is alone in this world at the age of 16. Even though the other poem is good it just is a little bit dated. I also feel sorry for the ‘Cottage Maiden’ because she is alone and pregnant but she got treated with respect at the beginning the other girl didn’t; she was treated with no respect at all.
I think that the attitude towards teenage pregnancy has not changed much because guys do this to young women and its wrong, no women, whether she is old or young, should be treated with no respect or dignity.
