Compare and contrast the pre-20th century love poem 'Cousin Kate' by C. Rossetti with the late 20th century poem 'The Seduction' by E. Mcauley.

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Essay question: compare and contrast the pre-20th century love poem 'Cousin Kate' by C. Rossetti with the late 20th century poem 'The Seduction' by E. Mcauley.

As part of my year 10 coursework for English I have been asked to read love poems and look at the similarities and the differences between the two poems, Cousin Kate and The Seduction. One of the writers of the poems Christina Rossetti was very famous for her poems and the role as an early feminist she was born on 5th December 1830 and died on 29th December 1894 at the age of 64. Her poems were famous for the way she spoke about unrequited love to earthly love she was a devout (seriously religious) member of the Church of England who never married. Her feminist desires caused her a life long struggle by constantly attempting to reconcile her own often-conflicting ideals towards religion, ambition and the Victorian womanhood. Rossettis view to being a nun of art. Has also influenced the way in which her poetry has been made. Because Rossetti never married, the central themes of her poetry were considered to be renunciation and sexual frustration and the hope for a better life after death. My first impressions of the poems were that I realized that they are not stereotypical love poems they have pessimistic and optimistic endings. Pessimistic ending was 'The Seduction' as there was no hope but in 'Cousin Kate' there was hope, an optimistic ending.

The differences in the poems are numerous involving narrative, female characters, male characters, settings and seductions showing disillusionment. The settings of the poems are different because in 'The Seduction' its set in an urban (built up) area with lots of buildings and skyscrapers around we can tell this by.

" Far past the silver stream of traffic through the city, far from the blind windows of the tower blocks."

This is also due to 'The Seduction' being set in the 1980s compared to Cousin Kate, which is set in the 1800s. 'Cousin Kate' is set in a rural (countryside) area this is shown by.

"I was a cottage maiden"
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Other differences involve the male and females the males in the poems were of different class. In 'Cousin Kate' the man was very upper class and a lord whereas the man in 'The Seduction' was working class.

"He spat in the river, fumbled in a bag".

As for the females in both of the poems they are very different in many ways, as the female in 'Cousin Kate' was mature than the female in 'The Seduction' we can tell this because. When the female in 'Cousin Kate' found out she was pregnant she takes it ...

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