With reference to the four poems you have studied, compare and contrast the different attitudes and feelings these present about love and loss.

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Poetry Coursework

With reference to the four poems you have studied, compare and contrast the different attitudes and feelings these present about love and loss.

Answer: For my poetry coursework I have decided to compare 4 poems. These are 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci', 'Remember', 'At Castle Boterel' and 'Stop All The Clocks.'

'La Belle Dame Sans Merci' can be looked at on many different levels but on a basic level it is about a knight that is infatuated with a beautiful women. 'Remember' is a poem written by a women who says when I am gone forget me and move on with your life. The poem portrays love and loss. 'At Castle Boterel is a poem about a man who is remembering his wife. This memory is triggered by his surroundings. This poem is mainly about loss. 'Stop All The Clocks' is a poem about 2 lovers who have been separated as one has died, the poem expresses how the person has to cope with the death of their partner.

'La Belle Dame Sans Merci' is about how a knight is attracted to a beautiful woman that has no mercy. There are 2 poetic voices in the play these are a person observing the knight and the knight himself.

In verse 1 there is a representation of winter. This is show by the quote

"The sedge has wither'd from the lake" This is said by the observer.

This symbolises that the knight is about to die. This image shows how winter causes death. The fact that there are no birds shows there is nothing able to stay alive. In verse 2 the knight shows how he is tired and how he is preparing for winter. In context this verse is about being gloomy. The general theme of the verse is a gloomy mood. The following quote shows that the knight is preparing for winter.

"Sa haggard and so woe-begone?"

In verse 3 the poetic voice that he is very ill.

"I see a lilly on thy brow"

Which symbolises that he is a very pale and he is almost on the verge of death. The woman that the knight is infatuated with is like poison. He is also ill because his love is fading. From verse 4 to 6 there is a much happier feel to the poem. In verse 4 the poetic voice has changed to the knight and he is describing the women he is infatuated with. The following line shows he loves her beauty.

"Full beautiful - a fairy's child, Her hair was long, her foot was light and her eyes were wild"

It shows how he thinks the woman is delicate. He finds her eyes mysterious. In verse 5 the knight is describing how he love the women. The women looks back at the knight as if she loves him, the knight finds the women very erotic. In verse 6 the knight puts the women on top of the horse and he is mesmerized by her look. The knight doesn't remember anything about the whole day except that he was with that beautiful woman. In verse 7 the beautiful women speaks in tongues to the knight and he understands every thing that she is saying. The knight believes that the beautiful women told him when she spoke in tongues to him that she loved him. The knight has become totally enchanted by the women. In verse 8 the beautiful women has take total control over the knight, she take the knight into a cave. In verse 9 he says
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"And there she lulled me asleep."

The beautiful women tricked him into sleeping and there he had a dream. This dream came instantaneously, in which he sees other people that have suffered the same fate at the hands of a beautiful women. In verse 10 the knight describes the dream, the dream tells the knight he has been taken in by the women's spell. In verse 11 the knight is warned about the women and how she is evil and will cause him immense pain. Then he awakes from the dream and is on the cold ...

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