Comparison of 'Cousin Kate' and 'The Seduction'
Jen Pascoe 22nd January 2002
Comparison of 'Cousin Kate' and 'The Seduction'
I will be comparing the poems 'Cousin Kate' by Christina Rosetti and 'The Seduction' by Eileen McAuley. After reading both of these poems I have found that there are many similarities but also many differences.
'The Seduction' and 'Cousin Kate' are both written in a narrative style and set in stanzas. 'Cousin Kate' is split up into six stanzas, each with eight lines. 'Cousin Kate' is in the form of a letter from the maid to Kate to explain how she feels. The first two stanzas talk about meeting the Lord and their relationship. The third and fourth stanzas talk about Kate breaking them up and Kate's relationship. Finally stanzas five and six talk about how the maid feels she is better off than Kate and how she has her son. The poem is split up in this way to give a sense of pace and rhythm. What happens to the girl is predictable and so the rhyming scheme reflects this.
'The Seduction' is split up into fifteen stanzas, 14 with 14 lines each and one with 8 lines. The 1st, 2nd, 6th, 7th and 8th stanzas talk about what happens after the party, at the Docks. This is fairly unorganised, representing how unorganised the girls feelings are and how she keeps looking back hoping to change the past. Stanzas 2, 3, and 4 talk about how they met at the party and what they talked about. Stanza 9 (the longest stanza) is about how the girl feels when she finds out she is pregnant. Stanzas 10, 11, 12 and 13 are where the girl is questioning herself about her future and in stanzas 14 and 15 she has decided that she would rather die than be seen pregnant. It is organised in this way in the later stages of the poem to split it up into understandable sections.
The themes of the two poems are also very similar. They both talk about pregnancy and relationships. In both poems the women become attracted to men, become pregnant and are then left. In 'Cousin Kate' the maid is more worried about being left by the lord, as although her son is illegitimate she is proud of him. In 'The Seduction', the girl is more worried about becoming pregnant. This is because the girl isn't even 16 when she falls pregnant and feels she has missed out on her life.
In both poems the male is in charge of the relationships. In 'Cousin Kate' the maid says "he lured me to his palace home" and in 'The Seduction' the poem says "he led her to the quiet bricks of Birkenhead docks".
In 'Cousin Kate', the maid who the poem was about, it is written in first person narrative, tells the story. This is because it is in the form of a letter. In 'The Seduction', the poem is written in the third person.
'Cousin Kate' is about a cottage maiden who is seduced by a powerful, rich lord. The lord then left the maid, and married her cousin, Kate. The maid talks about how everyone thinks Kate is good and pure but they say the maid is unclean, and an outcast. The cottage maiden has a son by the lord which although she is quite ashamed of him being illegitimate, she is proud of him. She says "my fair-haired son, my shame my pride". The maid also knows that Kate is unable to have children and the lord desperately wants a son to become his heir.
'The Seduction' is also about a young girl being seduced. The girl gets drunk at a party and meets a man who appears to be older than her. The girl fell pregnant and then worries about what will happen to her teenage years. She says it would be better to starve yourself than to be pregnant and for everyone to make assumptions.
The two poems are both set in different times and different places. 'Cousin Kate' was written in about 1860. 'The Seduction' is set in the 1990s.
'Cousin Kate' is set in the countryside. The cottage maiden says "I was a cottage maiden, hardened by sun and air". This tells me that she was used to being outside and wasn't protected. The poem also says that the lord watched Kate at work. It says "he watched your steps along the lane, your work among the rye." This tells me that both the maid and Kate were farm workers and so, not very well off.
The setting of 'The Seduction' was very different. The actual seduction was not very glamorous at all. The poem says "he led her to the quiet bricks of Birkenhead docks". The poem tells us that he led her there so they could not be seen. We are also told that the boy sat down in the darkness. Another phrase used to describe the setting is "the Mersey, green as a septic wound". We are also told that the girl sits facing the "frightening scum on the water" these images are not very pleasant, and so neither was the place where the seduction actually occurred.
The poem creates an idea of the maids' feelings in 'Cousin Kate'. The maid says "contented with my cottage mates"; this is before she meets the lord. This tells us that before the maid met the lord she was very happy with her life and not worried about anything.
The phrase "woe's me for joy thereof" tells me that the maid was upset because she didn't have fun anymore. She feels that the lord has taken away her life and the fun she used to have with her friends. The maid is now full of sadness.
Later in the poem, the maid says "now I moan an unclean thing". The maid feels that she has been spoilt or at least tainted by the lord. Before she met him the maid was clean and pure. "Even so I sit and howl in dust" tells me that the maid was very upset by being rejected by the lord. The word howl refers to animal imagery, possibly a wolf. This helps us to understand just how upset the maid is, and how she sounds when she cries.
When the maid says "I would have spit into his face" she is displaying her anger for the lord. The maid feels angry with him as he rejected her for Kate; the lord just cast the maid away. When describing her son the maid says "my shame, my pride" even though her son is illegitimate, the maid is proud of him and loves him.
The maid's feelings vary greatly through the poem, at first she feels excited and love struck with the lord. Then her feelings changed to anger and sadness when the lord rejected her for ...
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When the maid says "I would have spit into his face" she is displaying her anger for the lord. The maid feels angry with him as he rejected her for Kate; the lord just cast the maid away. When describing her son the maid says "my shame, my pride" even though her son is illegitimate, the maid is proud of him and loves him.
The maid's feelings vary greatly through the poem, at first she feels excited and love struck with the lord. Then her feelings changed to anger and sadness when the lord rejected her for Kate. At the end of the poem, the maid is still angry but also has a sense of pride. She feels smug as she has a son and she knows that Kate can't have one. She says "your father would give lands for one, to wear his coronet". This is telling us that the lord wants a son to inherit his wealth.
The feelings of the girl in 'The Seduction' also change. In the beginning of the poem the girl is excited in meeting the boy. She tries to impress him, when he gives her the vodka she "knocks it back like water". She is also nervous in the beginning of the poem. "She giggled" tells us that she is nervous and still probably trying to impress the boy, she wants him to know she is interested in him. "She nodded quite enchanted" that he amazed the girl, she took in every word he said. 'She chattered on' tells us again she was nervous.
We also learn that the girl was expecting a romantic relationship to begin. "Reminded of numerous stories from teenage magazine"' tells us that she related this experience to unrealistic and probably fictional stories.
After this point in the poem, the girl's mood changes. This is where she discovers she is pregnant. The poem says that "she sobbed". This shows that she must be very upset. The poem also tells us that "she ripped" all her teenage magazines up, the use of the verb ripped tells us that the girl was very angry. She tore up the magazines very violently. The magazines represent the teenage life she feels she has missed out on. The word ripped is onomatopoeic, we can visualise the sound that would be made when the paper was torn. "She flung them at the wall" also tells me that the girl was angry. The verb to fling is very powerful. It tells us how the girl threw her shoes.
The poem goes on to say that the girl was "truly frightened". The scale of her fear is emphasised by using the word truly. This tells us that the girl is really scared, she experiences true fear. The poem also says that the girl is "cheated by the promise of it all". The girl feels betrayed as she has missed out on her childhood and she has lost her innocence.
The poem says that the girl cried because "she missed all the innocence around her". The girl feels that she has left her childhood and wanted to be young and carefree again. The poem also tells us that she wanted her innocence back. It says she has missed out on all the "parties where you meet the boy next door". Finally the girl says:
"Better to starve yourself like a sick precocious child
Than to walk through town with a belly huge and ripe."
Here the girl is saying that she would prefer to die than for people to see that she is pregnant. She feels ashamed of what she has done and doesn't want anyone to know about it.
The girl in 'Cousin Kate' and the boy in 'The Seduction' have similar characters. In 'Cousin Kate' the lord seems very powerful, the maid says "he lured me to his palace home". This tells us that the lord is powerful and cunning. He has power because of his money and uses it to get what he wants. The verb lured tells us that he planned to take the maid there. The bait for the plan was his riches, or as the poem puts it "his palace home". The poem also talks about how the lord goes about seducing Kate. The poem says "he lifted her from mean estate to sit with him on high". The word lifted makes the lord seem powerful as he can just pick her up and force her to be with him. He can easily change her life by lifting her out of her old one.
The question "why did a great lord find me out and praise my flaxen hair?" This tells me that the lord is a smooth talker and complimented the maid; he did this so she would begin to like him. Another example of the lord scheming is where the maid is talking about what would have happened if the lord was with Kate first and she says "if he had fooled not me but you". The maid says that he fooled her into being with him. The lord tricked that maid.
We also learn that the lord likes to get his own way, he is selfish. The lord changes things to suit himself. The maid says he treated her like his "plaything" or a toy. The lord simply picked the maid up when he wanted her and then dropped her when he wanted too. She also says that he "changed her like a glove". The lord made the maid suit him and when she didn't he simply discarded her. This shows that the lord didn't really care about her. The maid also says, "he wore me like a silken knot". This tells me that he was with her to make him look good; he doesn't care about her feelings. This shows that the lord didn't care about the maid.
The lord usually gets his own way. The maid says (about Kate), "he chose you". The lord can take his pick and has no trouble in getting what he finally decides he wants. The poem also says that the lord uses his money to get what he wants, including women, "nor bought me with his land" tells me this. If the lord cannot get his own way, he will use his money to change the situation. The poem says "he'd not have won me with his love nor bought me with his land". This suggests that the maid doesn't think that Kate actually fell in love with the lord, she just fell in love with his money.
We are also told that the lord is quite possessive. The line "he bound you with his ring" tells me that the lord married Kate to make sure she couldn't leave him. The word bound gives me an image of the lord tying Kate up, as if so restrain her, she would then really be his.
The lord doesn't care about anyone else's feelings; at least he didn't seem to care about the maid. The maid says "chose you and cast me by". The lord simply rejected the maid without even thinking about how she would feel.
We also learn a lot about the character of the boy in 'The Seduction'. The boy is quite powerful. The poem says "he led her to the quiet bricks of Birkenhead docks". This makes me feel that the boy must have had some power over the girl or she would not have followed him there. This quote also tells me that the boy must have known what he wanted to do as he took her to such a remote place.
"With fingers that stroked her neck and thighs" also tells me that the boy must know what he wants, and he is not shy about going about getting it. I feel that the boy had planned to find a girl at the party. "As he bought her more drinks" tells me that the boy planned to get the girl drunk, and then she would do what he wanted. This shows that the boy must be very scheming but also quite clever. "He swiftly contrived to kiss her" tells me that he must be quite devious as he "contrived" suggests that he had planned this all along. The lord from 'Cousin Kate' is also scheming and powerful.
We learn that the boy in 'The Seduction' is not a very nice person. The line "he spat into the river" shows that he has no manners. He also tells the girl how he takes "sweet paint thinner" and his "dads magazines" down to the river when he should be at school. This tells me that he might be a dropout and doesn't have very much to look forward to in life. We also learn that the boy, like the lord, is very two faced. While the lord is with the maid he is still looking to replace her with someone he sees as better. While the boy was with the girl in 'The Seduction', "he muttered little slag". The boy has no respect for her, he doesn't care about her feelings, he just wants to make himself look good, again like the lord.
However, the boy knows that what he's doing is wrong. The poem says he "fumbled in a bag" to give her the vodka. This proves that he is nervous, possibly because he knows that what he is doing is not the right thing to do.
One difference between the boy and the lord is that the lord doesn't really have to try to impress the maid or Kate. He can just use his power and money. The boy in 'The Seduction', however, has to try to impress the girl. The poem tells us he is wearing a leather jacket; this could be to make him look older or more sophisticated. "He told her about football; Sammy Lee and Ian Rush" also suggests that the boy is showing off. He tells her about football because he knows a lot about it and so shares all his knowledge in the hope that he will look intelligent and so he will impress her.
The use of language is also very important in both poems. Imagery is a technique that is used frequently in 'The Seduction' and in 'Cousin Kate'. In 'Cousin Kate' the maid says ' even so I sit and howl in dust, you sit in gold and sing'. This creates an image of how bad Kate is feeling. The use of the world howl gives us an understanding of how upset the maid is and how bad she feels. The use of the word howl makes us compare her crying to the sound of a wolf. There is a lot of imagery in 'The Seduction'. The setting is described using phrases such as "the quiet bricks of Birkenhead docks", "far past the silver stream of traffic" and "far from the blind windows". Adjectives such as quiet, silver and blind build up a picture of the setting. Also the use of "the silver stream" tells us that the girl is drunk by using alliteration to create a slurring sound. In 'The Seduction' there are similes such as "his eyes as blue as iodine" and "the Mersey, green as a septic wound". These similes help to create a picture of the setting by giving the reader something to compare with. In 'Cousin Kate' the metaphor "your love was writ in sand" is used. This tells us that the maid thinks Kate's love is temporary and fake. She believes it could simply be washed away.
A lot of the language used in 'The Seduction' is symbolic. "So she followed him there all high white shoes" is an example of this. It is important that the shoes are described as white as white is a symbol of purity and purity is a strong theme is both of the poems. Later in the poem it says "and on that day she broke the heels of her high white shoes". This is telling us that she has lost her innocence and is no longer pure.
Another example of this is in 'The Seduction' where the girl rips up all her magazines "until they were just bright paper, like confetti strewn on the carpet". The confetti is linked to weddings. The word confetti is used as it is immediately linked to marriage, and again purity.
Finally, 'The Seduction' says "with a softly rounded belly". The word belly is used because it is a childish word and so reminds us that the girl in the poem is still a child.
Symbolism is also used in 'Cousin Kate'. The maid says "you sit in gold and sing". Gold is a symbol of wealth and riches, singing represents happiness. The maiden says "so I sit and howl in dust" as dust is a symbol of poverty and dirt. The maid is saying she feels lonely, dirty and unhappy.
Another technique used in both poems is repetition, which is mainly used for emphasis. In 'The Seduction' it says "by stupid, stupid promises". This could be an example of the girl realising her guilt and beginning to face up to the mistakes she's made. It tells us how she feels about the events by repeating the things that keep going over in her head. In 'Cousin Kate' the maid asks her son to "cling closer, closer yet". This is because she wants the reader to know how much she cares for her son and wants to look after him. It reassures the reader that although he's illegitimate and his conception was a mistake, her son is loved very much.
Contrast is another theme that featured greatly in both poems. In 'Cousin Kate' the contrast between Kate, the maid and their relationships is decreased a lot. The poem says that while the lord was with the maid he "changed me like a glove" but when he was with Kate he "bound you with his ring". This shows he has a different attitude between each woman, and also has different attitudes towards each person. The poem also says:
"So I sit and howl in dust,
You sit in gold and sing."
This talks about the situation of both of the women after Kate has married the lord. The two women are said to be sitting in either gold or dust and either howling or singing. These are very different and create a clear difference in how life is for them. Another comparison used in the poem is:
"O cousin Kate my love was true,
Your love was writ in sand".
This is used to describe the maid's feelings about Kate's relationship. She says that although she really loved the lord, Kate does not. Finally in 'Cousin Kate' the maid says "yet I've a gift you have not got". By this she means that she has a son and as she later goes on to say ("and seem not like to get") Kate will possibly never have a child. The maid knows how much the lord wants one "to wear his coronet" or gain his inheritance.
There are also many comparisons in 'The Seduction' of before and after the girl becomes pregnant. Before she was pregnant she dreamt of holidays and teenage parties. After she is pregnant the girl says:
"Where were all the glossy photos of summer?
Day trips to Blackpool, jumping all the rides"
After she is pregnant she no longer feels that she will be able to go on these trips and follow these dreams.
Before she is pregnant, the girl used to read teen magazines such as 'My Guy' and 'Jackie' but after she became pregnant she couldn't read them anymore, as she felt betrayed and cheated by all the stories and promises in them. The poem says:
"For where now was the summer of her sixteenth year?
Full of glitzy fashion features, and stories of romance?"
She feels that she has missed out on opportunities that other sixteen year olds have.
Also before she falls pregnant, the girl is planning to sit her O levels in June. Afterwards she says:
"Better to be smoking scented drugs
Or festering visibly unemployed
Better to destroy yourself in modern man made ways
Than to fall into this despicable man made void."
She is now saying she would prefer to take drugs, become unemployed and destroy her life than to become pregnant. She describes becoming pregnant as falling into a "despicable feminine void". This means that she feels her life is now empty; pregnancy is like a female disease, guaranteed to spoil your life.
Both poems also contain questions. In 'Cousin Kate' the maid says:
"Why did a great lord find me out
And praise my flaxen hair?
Why did a great lord find me out
To fill my heart with care?"
She is questioning herself and makes the reader do the same. This is done to give the impression that the maid is confused. She isn't used to receiving attention from men and doesn't really know what to do. After she has taken the decision about what to do about the lord, she hints that she regrets her relationship with the lord by asking questions.
The girl in 'The Seduction' also admits that she regrets her fling with the boy by asking questions, the tenth, eleventh and twelfth stanzas are all asking questions for example "how did she feel betrayed?".
Both of the poems make the reader feel sorry for the girls featured in them. 'The Seduction' makes you feel sorry for the girl by using phrases such as "and he muttered little slag" and '"she sobbed in the cool locked, darkness of her room". From these phrases you learn that the girl is unaware of what the boy is really thinking about her. She also seems to be unaware that she could get pregnant.
'Cousin Kate' makes you feel sorry for the maid by using phrases such as "Not mindful I was fair" and "now I moan an unclean thing that might have been a dove". These phrases tell the reader that she was innocent and unaware of the consequences when she met the lord.
I feel more sorry for the maid in 'Cousin Kate' than the girl in 'The Seduction'. This is because I feel that although the girl in 'The Seduction' knew what she was doing was wrong, she did it anyway. She didn't have to have sex with him and although she liked him and it appeared that he liked her she should have known better.
I feel more sorry for the maid because she says "O cousin Kate my love was true, your love was writ in sand". She truly loved the lord, more than she believes Kate does. The maid also seems innocent. Another reason I feel sorry for the maid is even when she was with the lord, they didn't have a proper relationship, he didn't treat her very well. She felt like his 'plaything'. She didn't mean anything to him.
In 'The Seduction' the atmosphere is conveyed well. In the beginning of the poem there is a sense that something will go wrong. Descriptive phrases such as "the quiet bricks", "far past the silver stream of traffic" and "far from the blind windows" are a sign that things do not all go well. The adjectives are used to show that no one will be around to see what's going on.
Another sign that something is going to go wrong is that the poem keeps reminding the reader that the girl is very drunk. We are twice reminded about the number of drinks she's had, these are "he handed her the vodka and she knocked it back like water" and "as he bought her more drinks". The poem says she sat "her head rolling forward". This shows that the girl is not in control of what she is doing.
The imagery used in the poem is not very positive. The girl is said to be "facing the frightening scum on the water". The use of 'frightening scum' gives a very unpleasant image of the water. In the beginning of the poem the scum she faces is only on the top of that water, in the later stages of the poem, she feels the scum facing her is the rest of her life. "The Mersey, green as a septic wound" is also a negative simile. It gives a bad image of the setting, which gives an image of bad things to come.
After the girl has discovered she is pregnant, the atmosphere is very powerful. Using strong verbs such as 'ripped' and 'flung', 'cheated', creates this.
At the end of the poem the girl is very depressed. She says:
"Better to starve yourself like a sick precocious child-
Than to walk through town with a belly huge and ripe."
We anticipate what will happen in the future.
The atmosphere also changed in 'Cousin Kate'. In the beginning of the poem the atmosphere is good. The maids says "contented with my cottage mates" which tells me that she is happy with her life before she met the lord. After this point she becomes angry and depressed. This is because the lord has left her for Kate. She becomes enraged and jealous.
I believe that 'The Seduction' is aimed at a younger audience than 'Cousin Kate'. 'The Seduction' uses much simpler language, although this could be because 'The Seduction' was written much later. Both poems warn about pregnancy but 'The Seduction' is easier to understand for people my age. I found 'The Seduction' easier to understand and relate to because the language is more modern. In 'Cousin Kate' the maid says "the neighbours call you good and pure, call me an outcast thing". In 'The Seduction' it says:
"And better now, to turn away, move away, fade away,
Than to have the neighbours whisper that you always looked the type".
In both examples the girls are worried about what other people (the neighbours) think of them.
The mood of both poems is quite angry. In 'Cousin Kate', the mood changes from excitement to anger and jealousy. The maid is excited because about her future with the lord and their relationship. She is then angry about the lord leaving her to be with Kate. She is jealous of Kate because she took the lord away from her. However, the maid also feels quite proud because she has a son and Kate does not, she is smug.
In 'The Seduction' the mood also changes from excitement to anger. She too is excited about her relationship with the man. She is angry because the man left her, instead of feeling proud or smug at the end of the poem, she is depressed.
The tones of the two poems are very different. In 'Cousin Kate', the writer (Rosetti) seems to be very sympathetic to the maid. She says that the maid has sex with the lord because she loves him and does not criticize her behaviour or suggest that she has done anything wrong by doing this.
The tone of 'The Seduction' however, does seem to criticize the girl. The writer (McAuley) seems to criticise the girls behaviour, she makes out that the girl deserves what happens. The phrase "and he muttered little slag" suggests this.
I have found 'The Seduction' easier to understand, mainly because the language is simpler and the images described are more modern. However I prefer the imagery used in 'Cousin Kate' because I feel it is more original and interesting. I prefer phrases such as "his plaything and his love" and "he wore me like a silken knot" to his "eyes as blue as iodine" and "green as a septic wound". On the other hand, I think the symbolism used in 'The Seduction' is very effective, i.e. the confetti and the high white shoes.
I feel that the main reason I prefer 'The Seduction' is it's easier to relate to for my age group. It is very hard to imagine what it would be like to be singled out by a great lord and then to be left for her cousin and having the lords baby on the way. I find it much easier to relate to 'The Seduction' as I can understand how it must feel to have a 'one night stand' and then become pregnant.
