An essay to compare and contrast the different views of love presented in 'Cousin Kate' (Christina Rossetti) and 'The Seduction' (Eileen McAuley)
In this essay I am going to compare the poems 'Cousin Kate' and 'The Seduction'. They both have a similar subject, love, and the damage and pain it can cause. Both poems talk about the different attitudes men and women have concerning love; the physical side of love is very important but sought after mainly by men, unlike the woman in each poem, who are easily led and focus on the emotional side. The poems were written around a century apart but still share some of the same views, however the views on the physical aspects of love are different as in 'The Seduction' it is more obvious and shameless due to society's attitude as it had matured and sex had become more acceptable. The importance of the physical aspects of love can be seen simply from the title; seduction is the act of enticing someone into performing a sexual favour. 'Cousin Kate' was written at a time when sex outside of marriage was strictly forbidden and in doing so the narrator becomes exorcized from society this is shown with 'Call me an outcast thing'.
'The Seduction' " is written in a 3rd person narrative which contrasts with "Cousin Kate" as in "The Seduction" we get an overview of the situation of the poem. It tells the story of a young, naive girl, envious of stories from magazines, who gets drunk and 'falls' for a boy, who uses her and is only interested in sex. 'And realised, for once, that she was truly truly frightened, But more than that, cheated by the promise of it all' shows us that it isn't until after she is brought back to reality and her life is consequently finished due to the prospect of having a child, that she finally matures and realises how naïve she was. It is written in the third person which allows the reader to understand the girl's feelings but still leaves a sense of detachment which makes it harder to empathise with the character, for example 'She sobbed in the cool, locked darkness of her room' conjures up a cold image but does not have a huge impact or induce a sense of great upset which would be possible using the first person narrative.
In this essay I am going to compare the poems 'Cousin Kate' and 'The Seduction'. They both have a similar subject, love, and the damage and pain it can cause. Both poems talk about the different attitudes men and women have concerning love; the physical side of love is very important but sought after mainly by men, unlike the woman in each poem, who are easily led and focus on the emotional side. The poems were written around a century apart but still share some of the same views, however the views on the physical aspects of love are different as in 'The Seduction' it is more obvious and shameless due to society's attitude as it had matured and sex had become more acceptable. The importance of the physical aspects of love can be seen simply from the title; seduction is the act of enticing someone into performing a sexual favour. 'Cousin Kate' was written at a time when sex outside of marriage was strictly forbidden and in doing so the narrator becomes exorcized from society this is shown with 'Call me an outcast thing'.
'The Seduction' " is written in a 3rd person narrative which contrasts with "Cousin Kate" as in "The Seduction" we get an overview of the situation of the poem. It tells the story of a young, naive girl, envious of stories from magazines, who gets drunk and 'falls' for a boy, who uses her and is only interested in sex. 'And realised, for once, that she was truly truly frightened, But more than that, cheated by the promise of it all' shows us that it isn't until after she is brought back to reality and her life is consequently finished due to the prospect of having a child, that she finally matures and realises how naïve she was. It is written in the third person which allows the reader to understand the girl's feelings but still leaves a sense of detachment which makes it harder to empathise with the character, for example 'She sobbed in the cool, locked darkness of her room' conjures up a cold image but does not have a huge impact or induce a sense of great upset which would be possible using the first person narrative.
