Poetry Theme Project: Cruel Love

Anahi Ramirez

8/22/14

P.2

AICE English Literature

The Theme of Cruel Love• Love poetry has been one of the most popular

theme/topic throughout all eras of literature.• Whether if it a wretched love, a delight joy of love, or

simply as complementing someone’s looks and appearance throughout the poem as shown in Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare, love poems have been an ongoing thing and it will still be through the modern era of poetry in literature.• The following poems are more about wretched love when

men are victims of a woman who either do not love back or used them for lust.

“Song: Why So Pale and Wan, Fond Lover?”By: Sir John Suckling pg. 5

Theme: Love

Theme: LoveSummary of “Song: Why So Pale and Wan, Fond Lover?”

• The song “Why so Pale and Wan Fond Lover?” focus on a man was trying to win the heart of a lovely lady. Unfortunately, the poor fella was rejected by her and seeks to the speaker for advice. The speaker basically asks what is wrong in the first two stanzas on why the man was depressed and gloomy. As for the last stanza the speaker tells the man that weeping and moaning about the woman will not impress her or make a difference.• Ex:

Theme: LoveSpeaker and the Subject

The speaker is a male who is giving advice to someone about love.

The poem is written and addressed in third-person. Ex: she, her, Prithee.

The poem addresses to a man who heart is broken and blinded by “true love”. The speaker just tries to comfort him but with little effect.

Theme: LoveStructure of the Poem

The structure of the poem is pretty consistent. It has five and eight syllables in a pattern for each stanza in a form of a rhythm.

The first and third line of each stanza has eight syllables.“Why-so-pale-and-wan-fond-lo-ver?”

The second, fourth, and fifth line of each stanza has five syllables.“Pri-thee,-why-so-pale?”

Like most songs, the stanzas must be consistent in form of a rhythm and have consistent syllables. It is used for repetition of phrases to show the speaker’s understand over why the man is crying over a woman.

Theme: LoveStyle and Devices of the Poem

Repetition- it repeats the phrases “Prithee, why so pale?” in the first stanza and “Prithee, why so mute?” in the second stanza.

Alliteration- the constant w is repeated in the third line of the second stanza“Will, when speaking well can’t win her,”

The poem uses repetition to emphasize how the man should not cry over something that is not even worth crying about.

Using alliteration, the speaker is telling the man that he can’t simply win her over with words.

Theme: LoveTone and Word Choice

The speaker expresses frustration in the last stanza to show that the man is crying over a woman that is not even worth crying for. To him is like he is saying “If she do not love you back then it is her loss. Forget her already.”

In the beginning the speaker expresses concern over the melancholic man and tries to comfort his broken heart.

Using concern and frustration as a tone, the author is trying to show how frustration it is to comfort a man who is too deeply in love and cannot move on with his life.

Theme: LoveWalsingham

By: Sir Walter Raleigh pg. 9

Theme: LoveSummary of Walsingham

• The poem “Walsingham” is more or less a conversation between the speaker and a desperate man. The man’s lover ran away and he tried to find her in the town of Walsingham. The speaker kind of guess why the man’s lover ran away and tells him a lesson about women and love in general based on his experience. Although the man knew why his lover left him, he still has not given up hope to find her and reconcile their love.

Theme: LoveSpeaker and SubjectThe speaker

is a man who is talking to another man regarding about the man’s lover whereabouts .

The poem is written and addressed in second person with bits of first person.

Using second person, the author uses you to show the reader that it is a conversation between two people.

The poem is addressed to a stranger in search for a runaway love. He also briefly describe himself in first-person when referring to the woman’s whereabouts.

Theme: LoveStructure of the Poem

The structure of it is very consistent in terms of length and stanza. The rhyme structure is a, b, c, b then d, e, f, e, etc.

The structure of the poem shows that it is more used in a casual conversation between two people rather than a song.

Theme: LoveStyle and Literary Devices

Comparison- The speaker compares the woman’s beauty and grace to an angel.

Metaphor- The speaker compares love to a careless child.

Metaphorically speaking:Child= LoveToy= Life of loveNew= Love has blossomedOld= Love has diedMoral of the stanza-

Women are evil. They always use love against men. Once the love dies, they left in search of a new one.

The man loves the woman so much that he describe her as a perfect goddess even though he is old.

Theme: LoveTone and Word ChoiceThe tone of

this stanza would be hopeful because although the love has died the man still believe that he can repair back the love they once have.

The man is feeling miserable because his lover left him without any reason why. He is basically clueless.

The man is lamenting how his love left him because he is losing his manhood. As they age the love dies.

The poet/author is trying to use hopeful, lament, and miserable as a tone to show the reader that the man really loves his lover that he was devastated when she left him. Because he still has faith on love even learning from the speaker about his mistake and the horrible truth about women, he still believes that love can be revived.

Theme: LoveQuotes from Both Poems for

SupportFrom “Why So Pale and Wan, Fond Lover?”

From “Walsingham”