aqa poetry comparisons - love and relationships

 Memory or ending of a relationship

When we two parted- Byron (man)         

Form:

·         Four regular 8 line stanzas

·         Regular rhyme scheme

·         Accentual verse

o   Sounds improvised and casual

o   Allows emphasis on certain syllables which highlights the speaker’s pain

Structure:

·         Past, present and future- Shows his long lasting sorrow

·         Close juxtaposition (the fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect) of present and past show no change in feelings

Language:

·         ‘When we two parted’- personal pronoun- addressing his lover directly- making the poem more personal.

·         ‘Sever’- this violent imagery suggests that the parting was painful and traumatic for the narrator

·         ‘Pale grew thy cheek and cold’- describes his lover as a corpse- suggesting her feelings for him have died-rhythm stops on this line- like life as he feels lifeless like the relationship

·         ‘A knell to mine ear’- metaphor- suggests that her name sounds like a death knell to him- reminds him of the death of the relationship

·         ‘In silence I grieve’- silent as he can’t of express pain-  mourns relationship

·         ‘With silence and tears.’- repetition from first stanza emphasises secrecy and sorrow- he’s still hurting and is unable to move on

Walking away- Day-Lewis (man)

Form:

·         1^st person

·         Enjambment and caesura contributes to the rhythm of the poem, sounds like natural speech

·         Regular rhyme scheme reflects the steadiness of the fathers’ parental love and the repetition of the A rhyme reflects how the memory of that day continues to affect him

Structure:

·         1^st two stanzas are a memory

·         Last 2 stanzas are the effects

·         Last two lines= conclusion- he understands that whilst it was a painful event, it was a necessary part of his son’s development

Language

·         ‘Like a satellite Wrenched form its orbit, go drifting away’

o   Like a satellite- negative simile- to drift away makes the son sound helpless and in danger, the simile also emphasises how the father has stopped being at the centre of the sons life

o   Enjambment puts ‘wrenched’ at the start of the line, emphasising it. Reflecting how the father found the separation sudden and painful

·         ‘like a winged seed loosened from its parents’ stem’- natural simile contrasts with the satellite simile ins stanza 1- loosened is less painful and forced then wrenched. This shows that the father is coming to terms with what happened and understands it is natural

·         ‘Gnaws at my mind still’- gnaws in animalistic and vicious- the father is still affected by seeing his son go through the tough process of growing up

·         ‘How selfhood begins with a walking away, and love is proved in the letting go’- the change to a steadier rhythm underlines how that father had come…