How do poets from the pre 1914 poetry present their ideas about love and relationships Essay Example For Students

How do poets from the pre 1914 poetry present their ideas about love and relationships Essay The poems I have chosen to write about are They flee from me by Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542), The unequal fetters by Anne finch (1661-1720) and To his coy mistress by Andrew Marvell (1621-1678). I chose these poems because I found them attention-grabbing and remarkable as they all are based around the same topic of love and pretence. Also I liked these poems because of the fact that they have a message that is still true even in todays world. Wyatt wrote this poem as an epigram of what court life would be like and what would come along with it. They flee from me is a poem of love and what Thomas Wyatts attitudes are of love and hat it can do to you. The main theme of this poem is that women did just about anything to be with Thomas but eventually in hardly a long time they fled from him as the title suggests They flee from me. However an important theme is the uncertainty of life in the court of a cruel, fickle tyrant like Henry VIII. This suggests that although the life in the court of Henry VIII may be appealing and attractive it also comes with great dangers. The poem is set in the 16th century. And is basically about Thomas Wyatts life and mainly in relation to women and what he thought of them. Coming from the title They flee from me something is running away from Wyatt. And this something is women. The poem was written from a male point of view so this could mean that the whole poem was to one side i. e. biased in the favour of men. The type of language used is 16th century and uses words that we do not usually use now. Some of these words are guise, forsaking and newfangleness. Although there are these words, the poem is still understandable and they all blend in with the poem. Similes are used such as gentle, tame and meek and they are In the poem Wyatt mentions They flee from me that sometime did me seek which implied that women would seek for him wanting to be with him and now They flee from me as if they have found someone else to love and desire. Wyatts use of this language is significant for the reason that all the words a written as if they have their own special meaning and have a relation to the poem which helps explain the message within the poem. In the first verse women are considered to be gentle, tame and meek. This is all of what Wyatts first impressions of women were when he would encounter them at the beginning. However, Wyatts first impressions on women would change not long after due to them moving on to the next man that caught their eye, as if they were wild and do not remember Wyatt and the times they had. He also says that the women were able To take bread at my hand but now they range. This is the part when women were referred to being animal-like. At the beginning of the poem, I have seen them gentle, tame, and meek, To take bread at my hand; and now they range. This is all to do with animals being tame and gentle to start off with, but eventually they range and move on as if moving to the next prolific land to graze. In verse two Wyatt talks of a woman in particular he met before. He talks of a memory of a pleasant time he had with a special woman. He says Twenty times better, but one in special. He talks of the woman as a pleasant guise with her loose gown from her shoulders did fall. Compare How Poets Present The Effects Of Conflict EssayShe says that the reason why women are restricted and persuaded to marry young is that their virginity shows loyalty to men and that they only have their first sexual intercourse once married. Men considered virgins to be special as she hadnt had any offspring with other men. So, women were considered as property. Men wanted to make sure the woman was theirs only and only produced that mans offspring. It was all about men, women and breeding rights. Verse four explains that men are also tied down slightly because the woman knows once shes married thats it no more messing around. But for men, they still are begging love again. Men become begging slaves, larger slaves of Hymen. As if theyre like dogs on a chain; like dogs of desire, At the full length of their chain. Men continue to be begging for love again with other women. In the whole poem there are four different separate stanzas. Each stanza talks of the difference between men and women when it comes to love. There are five lines in each stanza and four lines in each verse rhyme with each other. My final poem I have chosen is To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell. The poet emphasizes time and that we should make the most of it whilst we are still young and have our beauty. This is the main theme of the poem. Verse one is about how there is not enough time in the world. Andrew says that her coyness is wrong and she should be alive and make the most of her time. The whole message of the first verse is that his girlfriend deserves o be treated well and rightly and that she should also decide on how she treats herself. He uses geographical words like Indian Ganges and Humber. The poet deliberately uses hyperbole and over exaggerates to get his point across to his girlfriend. Marvell uses humour, flattery and biblical and geographical references as a way to show off his intelligence. In the middle of the first verse, he says that she can refuse him for ever until the conversion of Jews to becoming Christians. Two hundred to adore each breast, he admits that she deserves him to admire the different parts of her body. Throughout the poem, Andrew uses metaphors to describe the way he feels about his mistress. In the second verse, he has a change of thought about her. He begins to scare her into being with him, as if he is threatening her with the fact that time is running out. That long-preserved virginity, he says that she should give up her virginity. And your quaint honour turn to dust, if she still wont give up her virginity; her honour, it will not be useful and will go unused and cherished. In the final verse he tells her to use up the time we have now otherwise we wont know what could have been. He constantly uses the word now as a way to make her do what he wants and he makes sure she listens because he tells her that everything should be done now. He also says that life is very tough pleasures with rough strife.. ron gates of life and that they have defeated time we cannot make our sun stand still we will make him run The structure of the poem is very simple. It has rhyming couplets. This can allow the poem to make a number of cleverly phrased and memorable comments. The first stanza is a thesis that explains and concludes one side of the argument he is making. The second stanza is an anti-thesis that explains and concludes the other side of the argument. And the last stanza is a synthesis that is the conclusion of the whole argument he has made.