Love Cluster Flashcards
She Walks in Beauty context
Lord Byron was a known womaniser and had many affairs with men and women
Did not follow conventions of Romantic writing all the time (he openly opposed Wordsworth and his dedication to nature)
Poem is an ode to his cousin’s wife
Title (SWiB)
Celebration of women’s beauty, but in particular, the one he was in love with at the time.
Use of present tense shows that her beauty is eternal.
1st paragraph (SWiB)
“She walks in beauty, like the night”
- Simile goes against Romantic conventions by saying darkness is attractive
- Extended simile (‘night’) used to describe woman’s appearance
- Pronoun (‘she’) creates mystery because the woman could be anyone
“Of cloudless climes and starry skies”
- Uses alliteration to juxtapose dark and light, showing her beauty is the best of both
- Imagery suggests her beauty is pure
“All that’s best of dark and bright”
- Oxymoron describes the woman as having the best of both good and evil, dark and light. Her beauty is not one-sided and is quite mysterious.
2nd paragraph (SWiB)
“One shade the more, one ray the less”
- Antithesis shows the contrast between dark and light. The sentence is balanced, like the woman.
“Had half impaired the nameless grace”
- Adjective (‘nameless’) reinforced her beauty because it can’t be put into words. It is mysterious yet again.
“Which waves in every raven tress”
- Ravens usually a symbol of bad omens, which shows the risks Byron is willing to take to be with this woman. Links to how he was a dangerous lover and was quite abusive too.
- Verbs in semantic field of movement (‘waves’, ‘lightens’, ‘walks’) makes the poem seem like a real-time description, improving the tone around the woman and the poem overall.
“Where thoughts serenely sweet express”
- Sibilance suggests how soothing her smile and thoughts are.
3rd paragraph (SWiB)
“And on that cheek and o’er that brow”
- Byron zooms in to admire her face to show how attracted he is to her. However, he is indicating that her smile is very beautiful, which could suggest how he places more emphasis on personality (which produces the smile).
“So soft, so calm, so eloquent”
- Rule of three used to show that her beauty is sophisticated and has many things to say about it.
- Sibilance makes the lines sound soothing, to complement the woman further.
“A heart whose love is innocent!”
- ‘Love’ is ambiguous because the reader doesn’t know if he’s objectifying the woman or admiring her.
- Adjective (‘innocent’) used to show that the woman’s love is pure and virtuous or that she has never been in love before.
- The poem ends like this to possibly show how the speaker has moved away from physical appearance as the poem has progressed. He has admired her character more and more.
Cozy Apologia context
Rita Dove is a contemporary poet and has seen the transition from the 20th-21st century.
She often combines historical events with her personal life in poems.
She wrote this in the context of Hurricane Floyd, which devastated the east coast of USA, including her home state Virginia.
Title (CA)
The title indicates that the poem will be warm due to the adjective ‘Cozy’.
The poem is dedicated to her husband (‘-for Fred’), which makes the poem autobiographical. It strengthens the theme of love because poems aren’t just dedicated to random people.
1st paragraph (CA)
- Domestic imagery used (‘lamp’, ‘wind-still rain’, ‘pen’, ‘page’) to show that their love is ordinary, contrasting traditional love poetry.
- Use of pronouns (‘I’/‘You’) establish intimate tone.
- Clichèd imagery used (‘chain mail glinting’, ‘shooting arrows to the heart’, ‘any hero, any cause or age’) to establish a romantic mood in the poem. Also, introduces humour as Dove exaggerates her love in this stanza.
2nd paragraph (CA)
“This post-post-modern age…”
- Tone changes to be more casual and conversational, as if she intended for Fred only to read it.
“Big Bad Floyd”
- Dove personifies the hurricane as a school bully, undermining its true force and power. She mocks the event in this stanza anyway.
“Kiss you senseless”/“Sissy names”
- Playful language used to show more humour as Dove didn’t take any previous relationships seriously.
“Were thin as licorice and as chewy,
Sweet with a dark and hollow centre.”
- Dove uses a light-hearted extended metaphor to imply that any previous relationships lacked substance and were ‘sweet’ for a few moments only. Her love for Fred is superior.
Structure/Form (SWiB)
Poem contains regular rhyme scheme (ABABAB) and 3 6-line stanzas to show the balanced nature of the woman’s beauty.
Enjambement used regularly to show how the speaker is overwhelmed by her beauty.
As the poem progresses, the speaker focuses less on physical appearance and more on inner beauty and character. The poet believes that her personality is what makes her so beautiful, although he doesn’t know her.
3rd paragraph (CA)
“Cussing up a storm”
- Colloquial language undermines storm’s power and enforces humorous tone in the poem.
“(Twin desks, computers, hardwood floors)”
- Domestic imagery enforces idea of ordinary love.
- Parentheses (brackets) continue the conversational tone of the poem.
“We’re content, but fall short of the Divine”
- Adjective (‘content’) highlights that their love is strong but nothing extraordinary, compared to idealised love (‘Divine’).
“And yet,”
- Dove creates a stronger tone here as she shows that she doesn’t care what other people think.
The poem ends with same pronouns as first line (‘I’/‘You’) to show a completeness within the poem and perfection of her love to Fred.
Structure/Form (CA)
Poem is written in free verse, to make it sound conversational.
The rhyme scheme is regular in the first stanza, setting up for a traditional love poem. However, it is disrupted in the second and third stanza, referencing the disruption caused by Hurricane Floyd.
Stanza 2 has a lot of caesurae and enjambement, mirroring the chaos caused by the hurricane and also her train of thought at the time.
Valentine context
Carol Ann Duffy often explores ideas about gender, sexuality and oppression in her poems. Perhaps it’s because she’s openly gay, that allows her to do this.
Duffy was involved in a lesbian relationship and she didn’t appreciate the scrutiny she faced for it. This could be why she criticised love and its stereotypes in ‘Valentine’.
Title (V)
Duffy may have chosen this title to set a foundation for the poem. The poem does explore different ideas around love and using Valentine’s Day is an easy way to do this.
1st paragraph (V)
“Not a red rose or satin heart”
- Symbols of Valentine’s Day are rejected instantly, which implies that they have no meaning and are too clichèd.
- This sentence is standalone, which sets the tone of the poem straight away (it is not a traditional love poem and will be quite harsh later on).
“I give you an onion,”
- Personal pronouns show that this poem is directed at a specific person (possibly the reader).
- The ‘onion’ is an extended metaphor and contrasts the first line. Duffy places a plain, banal object in the same category as traditional gifts like roses or satin hearts.
“It is a moon wrapped in brown paper”
- Duffy downplays the moon (a symbol of love and fertility) into an onion with a brown paper outside. She adds mystery because the onion is compared to a large symbol, which could imply that love has complex layers, like the onion.
“It promises light
like the careful undressing of love”
- Simile used hints that the onion is representative of intimacy and joy within love.
- Enjambement within the stanza makes the poem disjointed and makes the similes unpredictable. The reader probably doesn’t expect Duffy to make these comparisons.
