Desire Flashcards
TS1: Both poems use natural imagery to show their overwhelming desire
(Loves philosophy)
“sunlight clasps the earth and moonbeams kiss the sea”
L= personification, puts image of them kissing and embracing in her head, sun and moon shows his love is ever lasting through day and night
form antithesis, overwhelming nature of desire, present day and night
D= element of air is missing, love is essential as air to human survival
C= romantic poetry associated with intense youthful passion
TS1: Both poems use natural imagery to show desire
I Think of Thee
TS1: “set thy trunk all bare”
L= metaphor, she wants him to be with her, intimate realitonship, needs him like nature, compared to nature as he is a important part of her life
I= nature could also suggest how as nature is made by god and is destined to be there so is she with him
C= browning grew up with strong christian beliefs
‘Thoughts do twine’
L=verb thinks about him on a level is cerebral
I= wants intimate physical and sexual relationship with him
short poem, speakers emotions highly intense
TS2: Both speakers show desire through religion
Loves philosophy
“law divine”
L= religious semantic field, implies she should obey gods law and mingle with him to get desire , law is persuasive, must be done
C= ironic as writer was atheist and didn’t believe in god and left wife,expelled from school for leaflet about atheism
TS2: Both speakers show desire through religion
I Think of Thee
“palm tree”
L= noun palm tree symbolises moral goodness, she wants him for goodness
C/D= Browning grew up in christian house, suggests she worships and idolises him, wants him as he is holy. people layed palm trees at Jesus feet
TS3: Whilst in loves philosophy the barrier is unrequited desire and he tries to persuade her , in I Think of Thee the barrier to their desire is distance
(Loves Philosophy)
“why not i with thine?”
L= rhetorical question, his desire is unrequited by her, for rels to work she needs to love him, Rhetorical Question makes her think and want him.
‘Fountains mingle’
In nature elements mingle, it is natural they should mingle physically
I= increased scale shows they can become greater together than apart
TS3: Whilst in loves philosophy the barrier is unrequited desire, in I Think of Thee the barrier to their desire is distance
(I Think of Thee)
“instantly”
L= adverb, she wants him their asap, cant hold back desire to have him there, distance makes it hard, very strong desire
“Renew thy presence”
L= verb, suggest her desire must be solved, has to have him there, desires him to be near
Structure: I Think of Thee has a petrarchan sonnet with the volta coming early to show desire whereas Loves Philosophy uses a rhetorical question to show desire
(Loves Philosophy)
“kiss not me?”
rhetorical question after each stanza, demonstrates desire, needs to get her to question herself and want him like how he desires
constructing philosophical argument
Structure: I Think of Thee has a petrarchan sonnet with the volta coming early to show desire whereas Loves Philosophy uses a rhetorical question to show desire
(I Think of Thee)
volta comes in early, illustrates how she wants him there so much and has a strong desire to see him
context ( i think of thee)
The speaker is vulnerable in admitting to the lush and ardent quality of her thoughts concerning the lover; in contrast to the restraint and decorum of Victorian England, the speaker of this poem is not holding back. Instead, her initial proclamation (“I think of thee!”) lends the opening a kind of rushed, flushed, and urgent feeling, as though the speaker simply cannot hold back what she’s feeling.
