When the reader firsts reads the poem, we get the impression that the lord is a mean man who is a person who messes with ladies to get them into bed. He treated the cottage maiden inadequately, then goes out and gets married to her cousin and knows this will upset her genuinely. Christina Rossetti uses word like “lured” to describe how the lord got the cottage maiden, “lured” shows the lord slyly attracted her to his home by complementing her beauty. When he had her he treated her as a toy, a “plaything” as Rossetti describes. Christina Rossetti shows that there was no commitment by using a simile “he wore me like a silken knot” “wore” suggests her imaginary links her treatment to that discard clothing, also using the simile “he changed me like a glove” this suggests that he could rid himself of when he suited, he saw her as an object. She uses the word “fooled” in stanza five signifying the lord tricked and deceived the cottage maiden. Rossetti also shows the reader that the cottage maiden think Kate is after the lords money and power and the lord uses this to influence women. Rossetti suggests the lord is selfish and vain, by referring to the way she describes him although she is very bias towards men.
There are many contrasts between the maiden and Kate like love, Rossetti describes the cottage maiden’s love for the lord as “true” meaning it is really happening, it exits; subsequently she describes Kate’s love for the lord using a metaphor, “writ in sand” showing it could be washed away by the sea. Another dissimilarity is marriage, the lord changed the cottage maiden “like a glove” showing no commitment, although with Kate he “bound you with his ring” showing dedication and assurance. Treatment by the society also contrast between the both, “the neighbours call you good and pure” about Kate “pure” meaning she is free from faults and sins, Rossetti Describes the cottage maiden as “an outcast thing” signifying the society respects Kate and shuns the cottage maiden because of how the maiden got pregnant outside of marriage and Kate is married to the lord. They all deeply disrespect the cottage maiden for the reason that she had sex before marriage. I have noticed the difference between them both also they’re living conditions, as the cottage maiden, “howls in dust” Kate, “sits in gold and sings” she is affluent and blissful in her affluent surroundings, whilst the cottage maiden is full of jealousy and hatred. Finally the boy is a big contrast as the cottage maiden has a gift Kate has not got, in the result of Kate not being able to have children, the cottage maiden gloats about this changing our attitude towards her in stanza six making us feel sorry for Kate.
‘I wish I could remember’ is a poem about someone looking back on a meeting that took place between the figure and someone else. They cant remember because they didn’t think it was important at the time so they didn’t think of remembering it. The poem shows they cant remember what the weather was, ‘summer or winter’ showing that they didn’t even pay particular attention to something as large as that, neither could they remember weather it was “bright or dim” this contrasts highlight her total lack of any memory to work on, compounding her sense of desperation. Repetition of the word ‘first’ shows the author is very precise and leaves the reader in no doubt she wants to know the very earliest meeting, it is a lexical set of time, also ‘day’ ‘hour’ and ‘moment’ shows a lexical set of time and with the purpose of Christina Rossetti is being very explicit. Rossetti has also used punctuation that emphasises the determination to remember, she uses comers after the words day and first. Alliteration in addition emphasises determination, moment, meeting and me all start with the letter ‘m’. ‘Rossetti suggests it wasn’t worth remembering at the time using the word, “unrecorded” out of the quote “so unrecorded did it slip away”, “slip away” shows it went away slowly, using a verb it suggests a gentle gradual process, “that would not blossom yet for many a may” blossom being the metaphor that suggests slow growth of her love, however the simile ‘as traceless as a thaw of bygone snow’ shows there is no memory of the meeting, it melted away like snow, leaving no sign it was ever there. She blames herself for not realising its importance the words she uses to describe herself “blind and dull” shows this, she is being self critical. Christina Rossetti uses a lexical set of sight using both, see and foresee in the quote “so blind was I to see and to foresee” she also uses a lexical set of nature showing the slow development of the growth which, as the quote implies, came naturally. In the sestet it show the reader why she wants to remember, the reason being they were the best days. It starts with “if only” detecting a desperate tone. Rossetti uses and exclamation mark in the sentence: “a day of days!” which emphasises its importance. The punctuation, a comma and a semi colon shows extra emphasise. Mean, meant and much shows she didn’t realise the significance. There is an echo of the first line, a circular movement. If she knew what she knows no she would have remembered it when it happened, this gets revealed in the very last line, “did one but know”.
There are many differences between the two poems, one of which is the structure cousin Kate is a lyric Ballard, which is a poem of about 40-50 lines, which express thoughts and feelings of the poet, or imagined speaker. Tones of lyric ballads often change, but are personal and reflective dealing with powerful emotions such as love, anger and betrayal. ‘I wish I could remember’ is a patriarchal sonnet, which is a very structured regimented poem, which consists of fourteen lines with a set rhyme scheme written in iambic pentameter, lines of ten syllables, which is very difficult to write. The petarchan sonnet; octave- is to present the following ideas, the sestet- completes the idea or to comment upon it. Rossetti’s view on the two poems show positive thoughts for “I wish I could remember” by suggesting it was the superlative days in effect of her wanting to remember, however she has vast pessimistic views on cousin Kate showing antagonism and discontent. One wants to retain information and one wants to overlook. On another point of view they are both dismal people as on is saddened as they want to forget and has something there that is going to remind them of it, “Cousin Kate” and the other “I wish I could remember” is upset while they cant memorize the thing they want to recall. They are equally from a female perspective, which is strange as the author, Christina Rossetti is a female and they usually write from a male point of view. My personal view on ‘Cousin Kate’ is that it is a heartbreaking account and shows immense sentiment furthermore with ‘I wish I could remember’ I didn’t really enjoy this poem it was very tedious and it wasn’t very ‘to the point’ of who what they forgot.
