Essay

ESSAY 3
In the following paragraphs the way in which love is dealt in the poems “First
Love” by John Clare and “Marrysong” by Dennis Scott will be analyzed.

The poem “First Love” isabout the passionate love that the speaker is feeling for
a woman, an unrequited love, his first love. The language is connected with feelings and

there is repetition of words such as “seemed” toconvey the idea of uncertainty, the

speaker´s world is upside down because of love. This poem it is more connected with

physical appearance and body disturbance than with personality. Thepersona describes

the woman he loves as very beautiful, and what he feels when he sees her (he feels like

fainting and blind, he cannot move). To describe this types of disturbance the speaker

usesanaphora and personification (`My face turned pale as deadly pale, My legs

refused to walk away´).

On the other hand, the poem “Marrysong” is about the relationship between a

wife and ahusband, they are not strangers as in First Love. The poem is an extended

metaphor in which the man “explores” his wife’s constant changes in personality

and finally accepts her the way she is.This poem is more about personality and not so

connected with physical appearance or body disturbance as the other poem is. It is

connected with nature, the man compares the woman’s mind andpersonality with

natural landscapes (“That territory, without seasons, shifted under his eye”), he uses lots

of images to describe the changes in personality (“Roads disappeared. The map was

nevertrue”) ( visual imagery. (“The day before there were stones in her voice”)(

auditory imagery. In this poem the persona is more mature, as he accepts his wife the

way she is and tries tounderstand her.

In conclusion, love in both poems is very different. In First Love, the persona is more childish, immature, his love is unrequited. It is his first love. On the other hand, Marrysong is...