欢迎来到留学生英语论文网

当前位置:首页 > 论文范文 > English Language

How is the theme of love explored in 2 poems which you have studied in class?

发布时间:2017-12-07
该论文是我们的学员投稿,并非我们专家级的写作水平!如果你有论文作业写作指导需求请联系我们的客服人员

How is the theme of love explored in 2 poems which you have studied in class?

The nature of love has been explored throughout centuries of love poems including William Shakespeare’s ‘Sonnet 16’ and John Cooper Clark’s ‘I Wanna Be Yours’. Through ‘Sonnet 116’ Shakespeare endeavours to define ‘Love’ — what is it and what does it look like? ‘Sonnet 116’ expresses that true love is constant and can overcome all difficulties; love is timeless and doesn’t waver, instead it lasts forever. Punk poet’s ‘I Wanna Be Yours’ is a declaration of love through everyday objects. This poem has a strong central message and is casual yet still manages to show the writer’s deep love for his girl. The theme of love can be explored in many ways, especially in these two famous love poems.

In ‘Sonnet 116’, Shakespeare makes it very clear from the first line that true love is unwavering and could conquer any obstacles that arise. It is emphasized that nothing can ever change love if it is true and that throughout all complications, love will prevail. The quotation 'Love's not Time's fool' demonstrates that no matter how old the lovers get, their love would not have swerved even until the death. Shakespeare goes on to define love by what it doesn’t do, even as people and circumstances change, love stays constant throughout. Love is powerful, even when people try to destroy it, love never dies. Shakespeare describes love as an ‘ever-fixed mark’, which means that it doesn’t just come and go, but instead is a consistent and unmovable mark. Further into the sonnet, Shakespeare expresses that mortality isn’t an issue for true love, because it never fades even when all the youth and beauty disappear. Love does not change as the days go by, but rather remaining as strong until the lover’s day of death. In the end, Shakespeare claims that if anyone proves him wrong then he will take back everything he wrote and that no man has ever truly loved before.

The idea of marriage is present in the very first line, however, Shakespeare’s definition of marriage is different from others typically view it, as a ‘formal union of a man and woman, recognized by the law’; instead, Shakespeare emphasizes a more idealistic vision of a ‘marriage of true minds’, suggesting a deep understanding between two genuine equals — rather than just a legal bond. During Shakespeare’s time marriage was definitely not an association of two equal people: women basically had no control after being married off by their parents. Shakespeare emphasizes that those type of relationships are obviously not True Love, as it should focus on equality, faithfulness and forgiveness. In lines 3 and 4, Shakespeare introduces Love through what it’s not: ‘Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds,’ explaining that Love is not something that changes, which obviously states that Love is eternal. The main idea of the Sonnet appears in Lines 5-8, which compares Love to the North Star, coincidentally a star that never changes position in the sky. This metaphor extends throughout the poem; The North Star represents the stable point in which the stars revolved around, making it central to navigation, in which sailors used to calculate their location. Love is also portrayed as an unwavering star ‘That looks on tempests, and is never shaken;’ , suggesting that even when overcome by difficulties, love will not falter. Shakespeare uses nautical imagery to create a mental picture of Love as a star leading us through life and The North Star being the constant Love that never wavers. Line 10 ‘Within his bending sickle's compass come;' makes use of alliteration and personifies love and time. Line 11's 'Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks' shows that time is short whereas love is eternal, proving that time has no grasp over true love. In the quotation, through the use of personification, the 'his' signifies that the 'brief hours and weeks' belong to time. The passing of time has no effect over true love because it is everlasting.

Much like ‘Sonnet 116’, ‘I Wanna Be Yours’ also makes it clear from the first line what the author’s intentions were: in this case, this poem is a declaration of love from the author to the girl he loves. This poem is about a love that has not occurred yet and defines that love is about the actions and the things he is willing to do in order to have her love. The central message is desire and the lengths people would go to for people they love. Clark shows all this through the everyday objects that the ‘girl’ probably uses and need. By expressing his love through the objects that she use, it allows her to relate and understand how deep his love for her really is: For example, ‘let me be your vacuum cleaner’ suggests that he wants her to need him as much as she needs a vacuum cleaner to clean the dust in her house and also because he wants to be as close as possible to her.

The structure of the poem is simple with three stanzas in total. Most verses are very straightforward in meaning and the feeling in this poem stays the same all the way through because it is a very repetitive poem. This poem makes you think about how loving someone so much that you are willing to do anything and provide all for them. Clark uses the term ‘Ford Cortina’ as one of the daily objects, he cleverly chose an affordable family car which also happened to be the best selling car in Britain during the 70s; this not only allow people to relate but also suggests that he is not very high class or very rich; the author also shows his qualities, for example: ‘i will never rust’ shows that he is reliable and gives a reason why she should give him her love. ‘you call the shots’ is a very sweet line, showing that even though he loves her very much, because he is willing to wait for her to ‘call the shots’, to make the decision to date him and to let him love her. There is a play on words in lines 11 and 12 ‘let me be your dreamboat when you wanna sail away’ the meaning is not literal because being a ‘dreamboat’ means being handsome, so other than being a boat for her to sail away, he also means for her to think that he is handsome. Lines 7-9 is slightly different from the rest of the Poem, where an analogy of ocean is used in ‘deep as the deep Atlantic Ocean’, repetition is also used in line 9 to emphasize just how deep his love is for her and to reaffirm his feelings. The last 2 lines ended it on a meaningful note, saying that ‘i don’t wanna be hers i wanna be yours’, it reassures the girl that there really is no one like her and that she is extremely special to him.

These two poems are different in the way they express the theme of love and are love poems that convey love in the most unique ways. Where ‘I Wanna Be Yours’ declares love in a casual way, ‘Sonnet 116’ is traditional and attempts to defines Love. Sonnet 116’s theme of love is showing unwavering and timeless love and basically answering the question — what is love? Shakespeare describes his perspective of what love is and shaping it from what he think love isn’t. Clark’s ‘I Wanna Be Yours’ describes the theme of love through specific objects that we need in our lives, and through the actions we are willing to commit to show our love; he shows his love through what he is willing to do for ‘her’.

上一篇:Why Teach Vocabulary Through Literature? 下一篇:Comparative Analysis of English and Bade Proverbs: Exploring Form and Content