Compare and contrast the portraiture of love in the three verse forms. All three poems- ‘Plena Timoris ‘ , ‘For Me From You ‘ and ‘Poem At Thirty-Nine ‘ explore the subject of love. Each verse form, nevertheless, approaches this subject otherwise. ‘Plena Timoris ‘ by Thomas Hardy nowadayss love philosophically ; Rita Anayiam St. John in ‘For Me From You ‘ attacks love objectively, while Alice Walker explores love retrospectively. Hardy looks at romantic love and its transience ; he strongly denies the dogma of resplendent, glorious love, stressing the belief that love is passing, shattering the romantic ideal that is frequently accepted. St. John, on the other manus, looks at love in a matrimony ; whether love is needfully important in matrimony ; whether love is portion of the equation. ‘Poem At Thirty-Nine ‘ nowadayss the subject of familial love – the bond of love between the character and her male parent as the storyteller – Walker, examines the significance of her relationship with her bygone male parent.
The differences in the three verse forms can perchance be explained by the differences in cultural context in relation to aim. Hardy, in ‘Plena Timoris ‘ , purposes to stress the transience of love through the verse form. While distancing himself- the storyteller from the character, Hardy presents a ‘tryst ‘ between two ‘lovers ‘ ; this ‘tryst ‘ is presented to be a culturally good conditioned love – a love that the character and her lover believe transcends all others -before Hardy shatters this semblance, to set up his subject and convey his message. This subject could perchance hold originated from Hardy ‘s ain personal experiences with love and his first matrimony which was said to be unsuccessful and unhappy. Hardy may besides hold been inspired by the prevailing perceptual experiences of the romantic ideal at the clip, and how he ne’er experienced it. Similarly, St. John ‘s subject besides seems to be affected by cultural dimensions. The phrases ‘wine transporting ‘ and a ‘son for you in nine ‘ suggest the function of adult females in Nigerian tribal tradition while ‘in three months ‘ suggests that her reply to her suer ‘s proposal is expected in three months. The combination of the phrases alludes to the fact the matrimony may be a blend of western and autochthonal cultural practise. That the verse form is written in English and that the character has a pick of whether she should get married the suer implies that the character is good educated and that she is cognizant of her rights ; yet, she is bound by cultural restraints, as she has to bear ‘ a boy for you [ him ] in nine ‘ . Her subject – the nonsubjective scrutiny of the portion of love in matrimony is doubtless affected by this. As she examines, the western romantic ideal is contrasted to her cultural tradition of servitude in matrimony as ‘how much love ‘ is contrasted to ‘my topographic point For Me From You. ‘Poem At Thirty-Nine ‘ , on the other manus, is non affected so much by its cultural context. It is nevertheless, affected by the poet ‘s loved upbringing by her male parent, which leads her to look at her love for her male parent retrospectively and portray to the reader, the importance of familial love.
Each verse form is structured to accommodate its subject and is hence efficaciously different. While the construction of ‘Plena Timoris ‘ and ‘For Me From You ‘ are in blunt contrast, the construction ‘Poem At Thirty-Nine ‘ bears similarities to the constructions of both the other verse form. In ‘Plena Timoris ‘ , Hardy writes with a stiff manner that allows no room to maneuver. He follows the trochaic metre carefully, along with the rhyme strategy of ABBAB in all four stanzas, every bit good as a rigorous construction. It is the metre and the rime strategy which create tenseness between the capable affair and the poetic techniques. The reader feels the emotion and hears the rime echoing. The tenseness adds to the overall impact of the verse form on the reader. The verse form is stiffly structured with four stanzas and five lines in each stanza. Each stanza serves a specific intent. The first sets up the recognized romantic ideal ; the 2nd describes a tragic incident ; the 3rd relates to the character and the reader, a narrative of how love can stop in calamity ; and the last stanza delineates the realization of the impermanency of love. This is contrasted to St. John ‘s merger of stanzas, one thought intermixing into the following, each thought transporting into the following stanza.. While Hardy writes with rigidness, St. John writes in free poetry, leting the verse form to flux. She does non follow a fixed construction, rhyme strategy, metre or fixed length of stanzas. The verse form seldom even has punctuation. This manner gives the verse form a certain fluidness and flexibleness and mirrors the pouring of words, merely like the words of the suer which have ‘for yearss and yearss ‘ ‘poured and poured ‘ . This free construction does nevertheless contrast with the topic of the verse form -the deficiency of freedom if she were to sell her love to him and accept the proposal. ‘Poem at Thirty – Nine ‘ has elements of the construction of ‘For Me From You ‘ . It excessively, is written in free poetry, with thoughts fluxing from one line to another. Furthermore, it is unrestrained by rime and unhampered by metre. It does hold other elements, nevertheless, that reflect the construction of ‘Plena Timoris ‘ . A assortment of punctuation including semi colons, commas and full Michigans are used to keep the flow of thoughts. While most thoughts flow from line to line, merely a few flow into other stanzas. This is less stiff than ‘Plena Timoris ‘ and more controlled than ‘For Me From You ‘ . This contrast in the construction of ‘Poem At Thirty-Nine ‘ could be reflecting the life of the character, which is free and unrestrained, compared to the life of her male parent, which was restrained. It could besides be reflecting the two different individualities her male parent had – the free liberated adult male he was when he was cooking and the restrained adult male when working and ‘in the life he knew ‘ .
The tone and temper of all three verse forms are basically different. Hardy changes his tone invariably, in concurrence with his narrative. In the first stanza, as the ‘lovers looked ‘ and ‘laughed and leant ‘ , he maintains a composure, about dulcet tone, puting up the scene and decelerating down the gait, and making a temper of repose and peace, before all of a sudden rushing up the gait in a bustle of activity, as the ‘men came up to them ‘ . The tone alterations and there is a sense of urgency and hurt in the tone, accentuated by a broad usage of punctuation- commas, semi colons, full Michigan. In the 3rd stanza, his tone them becomes semi-detached, grave, as in four short deep statements, he sums up the ‘woman ‘s ‘ life. Throughout the stanza, the temper is sombre, and serious, which aids Hardy ‘s intent as he changes tone in the last line of the stanza ; the tone going philosophic, possibly even condescending, as Hardy stresses -‘so much for love in this person sphere ‘ . St John on the other manus maintains a tone of withdrawal and disillusion throughout the verse form as she weighs his offer ‘For Me From You ‘ . Her tone is sardonic at times, such as when she ‘go [ Es ] to a market stall ‘ and ‘ask [ s ] how much ‘ and compares love to an object on sale in the market. Her down tone makes the reader sympathize with her. Her tone of withdrawal and depression is accentuated by the somber temper, possibly even one of humdrum, which prevails throughout the verse form. This changeless unchanging temper is contrasted to the varied, ever-changing temper in ‘Plena Timoris ‘ . The temper in ‘Poem At Thirty-Nine ‘ , on the other manus, is a contemplation of her love for her male parent. It is a mixture of plaint, nostalgia and passionate avowal of both – the love the individual feels, and the debt she owes her male parent, even though he has passed on. The tone in ‘Poem At Thirty-Nine ‘ is that of fear although, rather often, it is intimate with the reader. The tone is particularly reverent as she describes how ‘he cooked like a person/ dancing/ in a yoga meditation/ and craved the juicy sharing/ of good nutrient ‘ and at the same clip confidant as she goes on to depict how ‘he would hold grown/ to admire/ the adult female I ‘ve become ‘ . This reverent and adumbrate tone makes the reader empathize and possibly makes the reader reverent excessively.
The linguistic communication in the three verse forms is every bit different as the tone and temper in them. The linguistic communication in ‘Plena Timoris ‘ is really formal and nonsubjective. The distant-narrator-from-persona consequence allows Hardy ‘s subject to be conveyed through the narrative of the character, and aids the suspension of incredulity.
This is contrasted to ‘For Me From You ‘ and ‘Poem At Thirty-Nine ‘ in both of which the character and the storyteller are the same. This makes it much more intimate and informal, even colloquial at times. It makes it particularly intimate in ‘For Me From You ‘ in which the linguistic communication is about watercourse of consciousness and the reader hears every idea of the character. The character is presented to be engaged in an mute conversation with her suer and, the reader ; and the reader hears as the ‘words come muscled, come hotfooting ‘ , ‘come ‘ : ‘proposing ‘ and ‘disposing ‘ every bit good as the character other emotions and feelings. ‘Poem At Thirty-Nine is less intense in that mode, and is less intimate, but personal all the same, leting the reader to sympathize.
A broad scope of poetic techniques are employed by the three poets to efficaciously convey their several subjects. Sound devices, literary devices, imagination are used to show positions efficaciously. Metaphorical linguistic communication, initial rhyme, verbatim, enjambement, sarcasm is used liberally. By alliterating the phrases ‘lovers looked ‘ and ‘laughed and leant ‘ at the start and terminal of the first paragraph severally, Hardy bookends the portraiture of the romantic ideal, efficaciously making a relaxed, composure atmosphere with the about lyrical repeat of ‘l ‘ . There is besides a certain implicit in sarcasm in the first of the two phrases. The fact the ‘lovers looked ‘ is dry as they ‘look [ erectile dysfunction ] ‘ but do non see. The ‘lovers ‘ are looking at love but non seeing what it truly is. The ‘lovers ‘ do non see the ephermerality of love. They besides ‘lean [ T ] ‘ on love and ‘laugh [ ed ] ‘ in love but do non appreciate that their love is non that alone and that it may stop, and that possibly, it may stop in calamity. In the 3rd stanza, Hardy uses verbatim to do it more existent for the reader as the reader learns at the same clip as the character ; every bit much as the character about the calamity of the ‘woman ‘s ‘ love. Hardy besides foreshadows the way of the verse form through his rubric -‘Plena Timoris ‘ , intending “ a adult female full of fright and apprehension ” . When the verse form starts of in a peaceable oasis, as portraiture of the prototype of cloud nine, one admirations why a adult female, so deep in love would be full of fright and apprehension. This uncertainty stays in the reader ‘s head throughout the stanza, decreasing impressions of the romantic ideal in the reader ‘s head. Rita Anyiam St John besides makes effectual usage of the rubric. She names the verse form ‘For Me From You ‘ . This makes the reader admiration merely what if being given to her and by whom. She so repeats this line several times during the verse form, particularly in the 3rd stanza, where she capitalises the line for entire accent. When it is eventually revealed that it is the function for her from him -if she accepts, the reader comprehends the inequality of the matrimony -further cogent evidence that love is non needfully portion of the equation in the matrimony, although her suer is seeking to conceal that by his seductive words. This is augmented by two present uninterrupted verbs -her suers words ‘come ‘ : ‘proposing ‘ and ‘disposing ‘ . They resonate through the stanza ; he is ‘proposing ‘ invariably, alluring her ; piece at the same clip, ‘disposing ‘ invariably – distributing with this expostulation and that obstruction. An of import technique used by St John is watercourse of consciousness. The whole verse form seems to be in signifier of a watercourse of the consciousness of the character and the storyteller. This really efficaciously allows the reader to sympathize more accurately with the character and storyteller, therefore helping her intent. There are several metaphors in this verse form every bit good. She compares herself to an object for sale in a ‘market stall ‘ . This reduces her self-respect to that of a quantifiable object – nothing, eliciting poignancy in the reader, for the indignity of being bought and sold – for love being bought and sold. Another effectual metaphor is that of ‘this dark room ‘ where the dark is symbolic of her being in the dark about whether she should accept the proposal, her being in the dark about ‘what ‘ she is ‘buying For Me From You ‘ . Alice Walker besides uses poetic techniques, although non as extensively. The lone simile Walker uses is to compare how her male parent ‘cooked ‘ to ‘a person/dancing/in a yoga speculation ‘ . This is a good crafted simile, as it non merely shows how good he was, but how passionate it made him – how liberated it made him. It is besides good worded as the words ‘dancing ‘ and ‘mediation ‘ are juxtaposed and are incongruous, merely like the separate individualities of her male parent -when he was making what he was passionate about, and when he was ‘writing sedimentation faux pass and cheques ‘ . It may be argued that comparing cooking to dancing and yoga speculation is inflated, but, it does shrewdly depict his love for cooking and how it liberated him, and reflects John walkers love for her male parent as the liberated, passionate adult male.
All three verse forms elicit rational and emotional responses from the reader. ‘Plena Timoris ‘ being formal and nonsubjective elicits an rational response from the reader as the reader ponders the message presented by Hardy. Emotional responses are drawn from the reader merely when Hardy describes how ‘a adult female ‘ ‘drowned herself for the love of a adult male ‘ and when ‘the miss ‘s bosom shuddered ‘ . In the first case, the reader is shocked as the reader learns the rough worlds of the romantic ideal and how it can stop in calamity. In the 2nd case, poignancy is aroused in the reader as the reader feels sorry for the character, who has had to endure a barbarous grief as she comes to gain the transience of love. Similarly, ‘For Me From You ‘ elicits a powerful rational response as the reader contemplates love objectively, in the watercourse of consciousness with the character. The drab temper and the degage tone consequence in a deficiency of emotional response from the reader, although the reader sympathises – to some extent – with the quandary of the storyteller.
In contrast, ‘Poem At Thirty-Nine ‘ does non arouse much of an rational response from the reader, but educes a strong emotional response from him/her. The reader is engulfed by the tone of plaint of the storyteller and a sense of poignancy is aroused in the reader. This is augmented by the description of the reticent life the character ‘s male parent had, tendered by the fantastic personality he showed as he ‘taught ‘ her about ‘telling the truth ‘ and accentuated by the character ‘s love for her male parent, about up to a psychotherapeutic minute. There are psychotherapeutic minutes in ‘Plena Timoris ‘ and ‘For Me From You ‘ every bit good. In ‘Plena Timoris ‘ , it is when the character and the reader semen to realisation about the transience of love ; the katharsis augments the impact of Hardy ‘s message on the reader. Similarly, the psychotherapeutic minute in ‘For Me From You ‘ arises when the character ‘see [ s ] what I am purchasing For Me From You ‘ and realises that she is purchasing herself a function for ‘days endless and uncountable ‘ . There is a certain similarity in the psychotherapeutic minutes of ‘For Me From You ‘ and ‘Poem At Thirty-Nine ‘ Both arouse an extent of poignancy in the reader and both psychotherapeutic minutes lead the character to confirm their belief in themselves.
In the terminal, all three verse forms agree that while life forms love, love does n’t determine life. While love can come and travel, life will transport on ; while love may non be a portion of life, life is a portion of everything ; and while life may go through away, love can last everlastingly. While love may be passing, while love may be undistinguished, it can still traverse cultural boundaries, it can still traverse coevals boundaries, and it occurs in all climates.
