This poem hit the spot. Mentally that is. Why? Well, when I first heard of the assignment I knew immediately what the poem had to convey: first love. There is nothing sweeter, more captivating than that first glance at love. It had to display the awkward feelings of love, the power of looking at each other, a poem that would describe the ye oulde 'butterflies in the stomach ' but in a closer to life way. In addition, it had to pack a sort of negative outcome of first love because it is not always perfect. When I began my search I must admit I avoided any sonnet or love filled poem written by Mr. Shakespeare. He has reigned with his sceptre long enough; moreover I don 't really like his sonnets. True, they are full of beautiful imagery and …show more content…
And stole my heart away complete"
Although the poem could have this happy end, it could conclude with the rejection of first love (see section images of nature).
On a side note I just wanted to say that this poem reminded me of a poem we did last year or the year before called La belle dame sans merci. Both poems deals with the same theme, unanswered love. Only they each tackle the topic in a different way.
Form
First Love used a non-traditional yet simple form. This might be because John Clare came from poverty and was not educated and therefore could not use a sophisticated form. He also uses a non-traditional form because his feelings are all over the place. It also uses a simple a, b, a, b rhyme scheme. This unison simplicity in combination with the directness of his emotions makes it such a powerful love poem. It is pure, and recognizable. Like Pim Fortuyn supposedly said what the people always thought but never said; John Clare shows us what we all have felt but could never describe. The simple rhyme scheme also displays a form of tranquillity: a minimalist, calm, layout in contrast with a disorientated content.
Images of Nature
The poem also uses images of nature. John Clare uses the line "are flowers the winter 's choice?" Here he could be comparing his rejection by her to the coldness of winter. While many love poems choose summer as an image of an everlasting beautiful love, Clare shows us the opposite. So the poem sort of rebels against what
The tone of the poem is simple with broken down sentences. Adolescent love is simple much like childhood love. There are the sweaty hands, heavy breathing, butterflies in the stomach, but when kids fall in love, its not true love, it most likely is just a crush. The words that are used in the poem are not complex but short and meaningful. When reading between the lines, and reading the poem more than twice, it is much easier to put two and two together and have a better
James Fenton and Carol Ann Duffy are both contemporary poets. Their poems ‘In Paris with You’ and ‘Quickdraw’ both include the themes of the pain of love. This essay compares how the two poets present the pain of love in their poems, exploring things such as imagery, vocabulary and form and structure.
mind. It suggest the poet see it as love or nothing and that he was
Within Edna St. Vincent Millay’s poem, “What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,” she explains that young love, although fantastic, fades with maturity, but reminiscing upon those memories causes the heart to ache. Millay beings her poem by illustrating the numerous “love” encounters of the character being depicted. Millay states, “what lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why, I have forgotten, and what arms have lain under my head till morning,” (lines 1-3). The author flashes back to the past life of the
“Love Poem” by John Frederick Nims is an excellent of example of an author using many types of literary terms to emphasize his theme of a love that is imperfect yet filled with acceptance. In, this poem Nims uses assonance, metaphor, and imagery to support his theme of “Imperfect, yet realistic love”.
In conclusion, the poem points the inevitable cycle of natural and emotional events and the power that love has to go beyond that cycle. This is why the speaker assures that the way he has loved is something that
Throughout “Love Should Grow up Like an Wild Iris in the Fields” Susan Griffin provokes the readers to think twice about why they consistently enslave themselves with the burden of daily monotony, instead of enjoying the simplicity of love. Griffin uses two metaphors in her poem when describing love, as a flower, as well as the iris of an eye. Her comparisons are both interesting as well as accurate.
A poem is a piece of writing that partakes of the nature of both speech and song that is nearly always rhythmical, usually metaphorical, and that often exhibits such formal elements as meter, rhyme, and stanza structure. In her poem, “Variations of the Word ‘“love”’,” Margaret Atwood introduces to her audience the word “love” from many different perspectives. Google defines “love” as “an intense feeling of deep affection”, or “having a deep feeling or sexual attachment to (someone).” But “love” is not something that can easily be described. Atwood goes on to present and portray the word through different illustrations, beginning with cliché examples and ending with her own personal scenarios. The author’s tone and metaphorical language effectively conveys her perspective of “love”.
There are many different themes that can be used to make a poem both successful and memorable. Such is that of the universal theme of love. This theme can be developed throughout a poem through an authors use of form and content. “She Walks in Beauty,” by George Gordon, Lord Byron, is a poem that contains an intriguing form with captivating content. Lord Byron, a nineteenth-century poet, writes this poem through the use of similes and metaphors to describe a beautiful woman. His patterns and rhyme scheme enthrall the reader into the poem. Another poem with the theme of love is John Keats' “La Belle Dame sans Merci,” meaning “the beautiful lady without mercy.” Keats, another nineteenth-century writer, uses progression and compelling
The poems broader theme is that you can’t always have what you want in life because the tone of longing in
In this compare and contrast essay I will compare four poems in detail and mention two in the passing to find similarities and differences. The poems and sonnets I have chosen to compare are ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ and ‘My Last Duchess’ by Robert Browning and Sonnet 18 and Sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare
I interpreted this poem as a very sad one. A love unrequited by the pursued. In the first two lines the poem tells you to forget about the love you share and hear a tale of this. Not to literally forget, but possibly put aside. The man is a winter breeze, cold and rough and sort of roams the land. The woman is a window flower, shut off from the outside. This sets up the separation.
The structure of this poem is rather notable. It mimics the structure of a Clare sonnet, fourteen lines, iambic pentameter, AABBCCDDEEFFGG rhyme scheme. Both Italian and Shakespearean sonnets tended to be love poems. However, the Clare sonnet doesn’t quite fit properly with either, it’s a touch more simplistic in nature, which lends this poem something akin to irony. This poem isn’t simply a love poem, it’s poem about the frustration of love along with being a cautionary tale. It has a more
There is a difference between loving someone and being in love. Loving your family or loving a friend is an example of one type of love. It is a type of love when you care about the person a lot and have an emotional attachment. Loving your wife, husband, boyfriend or girlfriend are examples of being in love. This type of love is stronger because you have a passionate desire for the person and or deeper affection for them. To either love someone or be in love the emotion is powerful and can make a person feel and do many wild things. In the poem “Annabel Lee” written by Edgar Allen Poe explains his love for his dead wife, Annabel Lee. Edgar Allen Poe uses symbolism, repetition, and fairytale like words in his poem to convey those
Poetry is a varied art form. Poetry is expression with words, using aesthetics and definition. Word choice in poetry is the single most important thing. Devices such as assonance, alliteration and rhythm work in a poem to convey a certain image or to facilitate understanding. Similes and metaphors can take two unlike objects, such as a potato and cinderblock, and if done the correct way use them to describe how Abraham Lincoln dealt with scoundrels. Poetry is beautiful. One of the best genres in poetry, let alone a great literary movement is Romanticism or the post-enlightenment Romantics.