Both "The Seduction" and "To His Coy Mistress" are poems that deal with love, but they are not love poems. Do you agree with the question?

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Gareth Norman                Course Work

Both “The Seduction” and “To His Coy Mistress” are poems that deal with love, but they are not love poems. Do you agree with the question?

        

Just by looking at the title of the seduction, you can tell what the poem’s going to be about. In the poem the seduction we hear of a teenage girl (not a woman) who is seduced by a boy who takes drugs, drinks alcohol and skips school. The poem starts with him taking her to the docks where he usually goes when he has meant to be in school. The both of them start drinking Vodka and they get very tipsy. When they went back there the second time, they did exactly the same thing but this time she dressed up for him. First, they kissed, but then it obviously went further because when you turn the page the next stanza is talking about here being 3 months pregnant. Once she realised, she stayed home in her room crying to herself and getting frustrated with her magazines for not helping her. As her stomach grew bigger and bigger she began to dream about life without a child or a big stomach. There was no way that she could hide the fact that she was pregnant.

        

There is a strict pattern of four lines in each stanza except one where there are eight. In nearly every verse, there is a rhyme in the second and fourth line. This gives the poem an even structure and works as paragraphs. When each stanza starts there’s a new happening just like paragraphs. I think that this poem is good because it is very realistic because the happenings of the poem could happen in reality. It makes realise what can happen to people who makes mistakes in their life.

The poem is set in the docks next to a river called “The Mersey.” This river is shown as a dirty one, which creates an un-romantic atmosphere. “The Mersey, green as a septic wound”

The girl at first is presented as an ordinary girl that has just met a boy in a party, “After the party, early Sunday morning.” The girl is also seen as an innocent young girl because when she drank the Vodka she then “giggled” which shows that she is tipsy. Being tipsy implies that she is not used to hard drinks. This proves that she is trying to be older than she is. A giggle is also something that a young schoolgirl does, which shows the young women’s innocence. She is also presented as a schoolgirl who has a future and could do well in school, “O levels she’d be sitting in June.”

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After she finds out that’s she’s pregnant her image changes from being young and innocent to being pictured as sluty, this is implied by her sleeping with a boy she’s only known for a couple of hours, “after the party, early Sunday morning”. Then she is impregnated which shows that she has changed from a young girl to a woman. “A belly huge and ripe”. I think that she is the only one to blame for her actions as she is the only one who could have stopped her. On the other hand, you could blame some of it ...

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