Love Context Flashcards
(4 cards)
She Walks in Beauty
Written by Lord Byron in 1814.
He was known as “mad, bad and dangerous to know.”
He was involved in various sex scandals and was homosexual.
He wrote the poem after seeing a woman he found attractive at a party.
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ABAB rhyme scheme could reflect how the woman was perfect.
Enjambment suggests that the woman’s beauty is overwhelming and overflowing.
Split into 3 stanzas of equal length which again reflects her perfection.
He believes the woman’s personality was the most beautiful thing about her.
Sonnet 43
Written by Barret Browning in the 1800s.
She was put into isolation due to chronic illness and the controlling nature of her father.
Due to her confinement, her main form of communication was through letters.
Her father never wanted her to get married which is why the letters she wrote to her partner were wrote in confidence.
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The poem is 14 lines making it a sonnet which is was deemed unconventional for a woman to write as at that time they were usually addressed to the woman.
The octave introduces the idea that love is intense and is almost divine and the sestet talks about how her love was so strong she though it will outlive her.
In the octave her comments are more general words however the sestet becomes personal.
It is clear by the intimacy of the poem that it was means to be written in confidence.
Cozy Apologia
Written by Rita Dove in 2004.
Rita is an American Poet.
Was written when Hurricane Floyd was approaching and the hurricane provides a backdrop for the poem, serving as a metaphor for chaos and distraction.
Uses the storm as a way to pause and reflect on the comfort and emotional shelter that her relationship provides.
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Poem is written in free verse - conversational.
1st stanza has regular rhyming couplets which mirrors a typical love poem.
Second stanza the rhyming scheme is disrupted reflecting the disorder of the hurricane.
Could also be to show the reader that love has it’s ups and downs.
In the last stanza and ABAB rhyme scheme is reintroduced showing that although love is not always perfect, harmony ultimately be regained just like the calm after the storm.
Valentine
Poem written by Ann Duffy in 1993 as part of a poetry competition where poets were asked to write a poem connected to love.
Ann Duffy often challenges traditional ideas and gender norms in her poems.
Duffy uses the metaphor of an onion to symbolize the layers, intensity, and even the pain that can come with love
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Poem is written in free verse which shows us that love is unrestricted and has no boundaries. This structure is as though layers of an onion are being peeled back.
It is not a sonnet, nor are there rhyming couplets which suggests that she is rejecting the traditional ideas of love.
Does this to show that love should be unconfined and free and whatever a person defines it as.
