Chose 2 of the love poems listed below and compare them base on their theme, structure, imageries, persona, etc.

Love Poems

To My Dear and Loving Husband ' by A . Bradstreet and To Helen ' by E . Poe

Statement : For both poets , Poe and Bradstreet , love is the essence of life and existence it is a strong personal feeling which help heroes to survive

Love is an exceptional feeling experienced by human beings only . Love is a unique feeling which has been poetized from ancient times . Thousands of poems and pieces of music have been devoted to love and lovers making the theme of love the al issue of all ages and

times . Anne Bradstreet and Edgar Poe belong to different historical epoch , but both of them show the importance of love for them . To My Dear and Loving Husband ' by A . Bradstreet was written in 17th century and To Helen represents tradition of 19th century . For Bradstreet and Poe love is the main thing in human 's life . Both examine deep personal feelings of their poems and their striving desire to love . Both poems have much in common describing personal feeling of the poets nevertheless each of them is marked by specific details called writing style

To My Dear and Loving Husband ' and To Helen ' narrates from different persona . The speaker in To My Dear and Loving Husband ' is a woman , and loving wife , while in To Helen ' the speaker is a man who declares his love to a girl , Helen . Difference in genders has a great influence on the atmosphere in the poems . In Helen , male speaker gives rise to a complex package of feelings : longing , passion , lust . In To My Dear and Loving Husband ' love is different : it is a mature feeling of a wife to her husband based more on friendship than longing as in To Helen

In To Helen ' Poe uses different methods and themes to create a message of the poem . Poe depicts deep personal feelings through the themes of desire , vigorous nature , and a dream . All the themes are hidden and expressed though symbols and metaphors

To the glory that was Greece

And the grandeur that was Rome (Poe , 9-10

The meaning is hidden but Poe hints that to gain a love of a woman can be compared with the glory of Greece and Rome . Poe bases the poem To Helen ' on comparison technique . He states that the beauty of his girl is compared with Greek ideal : Thy hyacinth hair , thy classic face (Poe , 7 , he compares that the beauty of Helen is like those Nicyan barks of yore (Poe , 2 . In the poem Bradstreet also uses comparison and metaphor to unveil her feelings and emotion : I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold (Bradstreet , 5

In To My Dear and Loving Husband ' Bradstreet depicts that love of wife and husband differs from feelings of young people . For marriage couple love is also a spiritual experience , based on emotions and psychological states , but it is a mature love based on friendship and mutual understanding

'If ever wife was happy in a man

Compare with me ye women if you can (Bradstreet , 2-3

The wife 's emotions are of personal character . The reader does not know about the felling of the man , but probably he is also devoted to his wife who extremely loves him

In both poems love is eternal value , but it deals with a life of a particular man and a woman . The characters of both authors have a strong emotional experience . On the other hand , the symbolic meaning of love is the same . For Poe and Bradstreet love symbolizes our life . Passion longing , friendship , marriage are closely connected with each other becoming integral parts of life . Poe compels the readers to think about the meaning of their life . In this poem Poe depicts the truth of life trying to find the essence of our existence : the truth of love

The heavens (Bradstreet , 10 ) in To My Dear and Loving Husband 'serves as a symbol that the desire to find old truth , and the symbol of maternity

The structure of the poem is different . To Helen ' consists of three verses for five lines each . Each verse represents a separate idea logically ended . In To My Dear and Loving Husband ' the structure is asymmetrical the first verse consists of 4 lines , the second consists of 5 lines , and the ending has 2 lines . It is necessary to admit that this structure helps Bradstreet to draw readers ' attention to deep emotional feelings and longing that is hidden in the poem

Poe admires beauty of a woman through image of an ideal person while Bradstreet does not idealize her love . It seems that physical relations are not the essence of life , but passion and lust are evident in both poems . Poe underlines the idea that people do not pay much attention to their life spending precious time . The spiritual experience , emotions and psychological states are strong , and mirrored in the text . Poe idealizes romance and love . It is possible to predict that love is eternal value which can lead to sufferings , but it does not influence the essence

Through the theme of dream Poe depicts that life struggle forces people to look for essence of life and existence , which is nothing more than a Holy Lamd . The main message of the poem is that every person tries to find the truth of life but understands that his love . This poem appeals to everyone to be more attentive to his life . Poe pays a special attention to virtues of conciseness , strong , clear imagery , symbolism understatement . For Brandsteet physical experience of her husband is seemed unessential , unimportant

In To My Dear and Loving Husband , the language of the poem is simple but this simplicity appeals to readers at once . The language of Poe is vivid and pretentious : yon brilliant window-niche (Poe , 11 . It is possible to conclude that using different stylistic devices poets create a strong image of love as an essence of our live . They use a very effective rhetorical strategy which helps them to uncover the message of the poems . Metaphors always make more emotional and vivid

References

Bradstreet , A . To My Dear and Loving Husband . Available at ( HYPERLINK "http /www .wwnorton .com /college /english /nap /To_My_Dear_and_Loving_Husba nd_Anne .htm http /www .wwnorton .com /college /english /nap /To_My_Dear_and_Loving_Husban d_Anne .htm

Poe , E . To Helen Available at http /rpo .library .utoronto .ca /poem /1626 .html

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