"To compare the attitudes towards love at the time both poems were written

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To compare the attitudes towards love at the time both poems were written

“The Despairing Lover” written by William Walsh was written pre 1900 whilst the second poem “I Wouldn’t Thank you for a Valentine” by Liz Lockhead was written in the 1990’s. These poems are almost a century apart. Attitude towards love changes over time and these poems represent this. I Wouldn’t Thank you for a Valentine is about how people think about Valentine’s Day in the 1990’s, while The Despairing Lover is showing what people think  and how important they see love in the 1990’s.

  In “The Despairing Lover” William Walsh sets out the poem like a story with a beginning a middle and an end. This narrative structure of the poem gives the poem three clear stages this making the poem clearer to the reader and enables the poets written words to portray his ideas with the poem. In the first stanza William Walsh is seen to be in ‘anguish’ over his loss of his lover. However in the second stanza his mood swings to being just unhappy to suicidal, “it’s torment projecting and sadly reflecting’. This also shows how the poet William Walsh’s mind is working. In the third stanza, the poet realizes he might get ‘a new love.’ William Walsh realises his loss and believes he can find someone else. The words used in the despairing lover shows Walsh emotions, for example the use of the word “anguish” instead of angry is used because it is more dramatic. After reading the first two stanza’s the reader is almost positive that the poet is going to commit suicide and is just leading up to a big climax where he jumps. However there is an unexpected twist where the poet just calms down and thinks he can find love again. This shows the poet’s structure of the poem and how the poet’s mind is working. The haste of the poem suggests that’s he’s thinking rashly, this woman has obviously clouded the poets mind and judgement and he can’t think clearly. This enables me to come to the conclusion that the poet isn’t a strong enough to cope with this matter by himself. This also shows the poets frame of mind. It suggest the poet see it as love or nothing and that he was obsessed with this girl. It gives an insight into his relationship with this girl that it was only a one way thing, he really loved her but she didn’t really love him and that’s why he is really upset. In the despairing lover, the idea we get of the setting is the Cliffside where he wants to commit suicide. He chooses somewhere like a cliff to kill himself as it is a lot more dramatic to jump of a cliff. This could also show us that the poet is maybe doing this for attention and that he was never really going to kill himself but was just trying to make a scene this is another insight into how the poet is thinking. The setting also shows the time when the poem was written, as at that time  it would be very typical way to commit suicide by jumping of a cliff or a building. While in today’s society, a typical way to commit suicide would probably be to take an overdose of tablet or slit your wrists. In addition, the idea of the poet committing suicide because of love tells us a lot about the poet. You would expect that if anyone  was going to kill themselves it would  the woman out of the relationship, as they are more in touch with there emotions. It is very much role reversing. This poem was set in a time where men were seen to be hard and tough and would get on with things even if you broke up with your girlfriend. This is a very stereotypical view of men at this time. William Walsh is seen to be very anti-stereotypical, as he is the one that’s hurting and not the woman. In the despairing lover there are three different tones. At the beginning of the poem the tone is very angry he shows this by using words such as “anguish”  instead of angry, this is because it gives of the feeling that he is drowning in the hatred he fells for this woman. The tone of the poem changes in the middle of the poem to a more suicidal fast paced tone. This is because it is where all the action is, where he wants to “leap” of the cliff and kill himself. The word “leap,” suggests that he doesn’t want to injury himself, he really wants to kill and hurt himself badly. The poet isn’t slipping or falling by accident of the cliff he wants to jump as far as he can so he can’t change his mind and no-one tries to stop him. The poet William Walsh uses images such as a steep mountain. He uses the mountain to show his feelings towards love. At the top of the mountain, he is in love while at the bottom he isn’t. In the poem, the poet is at the top of the mountain and in love. However, he wants to jump of to the bottom of the mountain so he is not in love. A mountain is very steep to climb so this suggest that it will be very hard for the poet to fall back into love. The poet William Wash refers to the woman as “Phyllis the fair.” This suggests that the poet doesn’t see the woman as beautiful in a sexual way but see her for her natural beauty. As well as this reflecting what time it was written but also shows how much the poet loved this woman. The word fair, also gives us an idea of when it was written because in today’s society you wouldn’t really describe someone as fair. During the course of the poem the reader comes across some adjectives which have double meanings. One of these words is “deep.” This carefully selected word suggest that it could be describing the big drop of the cliff. However, the poet could also be referring to how much he was in love with the girl. Also the word “steep” has two meanings in the poem. The word “steep”  is suggesting that the poet is referring to how big the cliff is. However, the word could also suggesting the poets mental journey he has to take to fall back in love with another female, as he thinks he has been hurt so much that it would take a long to recuperate and to try to love again. This shows the reader the emotional damage this woman has done to him. Both this words  reflect the poets feelings towards his lover. The poem and the poet suggest that love at the time it was written was to be all or end all. It is seen to be the most important thing in their lives in that tie period. While in today’s society people care more about having a job and money and a nice place to live. It is show in the poem that love was to be all or end all by the way the poet is threatening to kill himself over his break up from his lover. It is also show by the extreme and raw emotions the poet feels for his lover “ resolves in despair.” The word “resolves” tells the reader that the poet is determined to be sad, for example he could be made king of England but he would make sure he didn’t smile or look happy about it! The sex of the poet on me as a contently reader affects my attitude towards the poet. Even though in today’s society which I live in male’s are much in touch with there feminine side and some male’s today might have a similar reaction, I still would see this as a female reaction and a bit strange for a man to act this way. In addition to the way I feel as the reader the time era it was set in, this type of reaction would be unacceptable for male’s to act at this time. Woman were the one’s who had usually had the “complicated,” “hard time,” to get over things. As a reader I think the poem gives an insight into what people thought of love at that certain time. Also I believe it changes the stereotypical view of what a male thinks about love at that time. The main morel of the poem is don’t rush into and fall in love hastily as you may end up getting hurt. This is ironic as he the poet is the one who hastily wants to kill himself after his lover has broken up with him. As well their being a main morels there are others as well such love isn’t always good and the world doesn’t stop spinning, when you get dumped!

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  I would not thank you for a valentine written by Liz Lochead is structured like a list. This suggests to the reader that the poet is recalling memories about Valentines Day from her past, perhaps even bad memories and that is why she is so resentful about Valentines Day. The poet Liz Lochead uses a lot of repetition in the poem. The poems title is repeated a lot which helps the poet get her idea across about valentines day and provides a lot of emphasis. Also she uses repetition to make you believe that valentines day is an ...

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