Analyze Poems Marrysong And First Love English Literature Essay

Even though his love with her is like the ‘shifting [of] seasons’, it changes frequently yet he leaves no stone unturned to know her ‘geography’ and explore her ‘landscapes’. He uses geographical scenes to describe his love. It is this use of these different landscape that makes this poem unique. Scott conveys his wife as a ‘unknown terrain’ and therefore his whole marriage is not going to be an easily passable or effortless journey yet it will be worthwhile. The poem is sketched as a beautiful scenario but something wrong with the tone. Lines like ‘map was never true’ and ‘Roads disappeared’ create an aura of mystery.

As any marriage, her love for him varies, it has its ups and downs like the ‘unexpected hill[s]’. The poet is almost complaining about the changing moods and emotions of his wife towards him. He makes us sympathize with him, mostly because his affection for her is apparent but we do not know how much love, if it all she holds for him. She restricts him from getting into her mind and understanding her as she ‘walled’ her hurt and ‘anger’ deep inside.

Their relationship is one of wonderment and it conjures curiosity. Mostly because their characteristics are completely diverse form each other. She is so difficult to understand, it is almost like he is a sailor and her mind or heart is his destination but he is going frantic as he does not know which route is true and which is one false. He tries to ‘map’ her therefore interpreting that he is controlling and composed while she is jovial. He still admires her while she seems a little insensitive towards his feelings. However, no matter what she does he will still love her. His affection is very apparent, as he lives in the hope that one day he will ‘learn’ her.

His love for her is immutable and is like a carving on a stone not quite different than the love we see in ‘First Love’.

‘First Love’ is a poem written by John Clare which encapsulates the experience the poet has falling in love for the first time and rejoicing it. However there is sadness and a feeling of dissatisfaction hovering in the background. In the poem we see love as an instant attraction and he says it was a love ‘so sudden.’ His happiness relies on the innocent love towards a girl he has only just seen, yet feels instantly transfixed and ensnared by.

The first stanza itself shows how sudden and unexpected the feeling is, as he had never been ‘struck before that hour’. This is followed by sibilance alliteration ‘ so sudden and so sweet’ further emphasizing on the shock and bewilderment of the overwhelming feeling confirming it is a new experience. He uses his ‘heart’ as a symbol that she has ‘stolen’ completely ‘away’ however unknowingly. Its almost like Mary has cast a spell on him. His life, his emotions were all now just focused on this one girl so much so that it ‘seemed midnight [to him] at noonday.

As the poem progresses the poet seems depressed that the love he encompasses for Mary will never be fulfilled. The stanza begins with the poet asking rhetorical questions. In the first question he refers to flowers again like in the first stanza when he says ‘her face bloomed like a sweet flower’ it shows how innocent the love is and as they were never in physical contact even virginity. Also Clare admits that him and Mary could never be together as shown forth by the comparison of ‘flower’ and ‘winter’. According to him it will be as hard for their relationship to bloom as it would be for a flower in winter and slowly it will wilt and die. The second question shows his desperate depression. It clearly implies love as cold, deceitful and to be treated with caution. But he himself dove into it and continually obsesses about her. Love has a very strong physical impact within his body. These new feeling seem to have shaken him with surprise. The line ‘my heart has left its dwelling place’ exhibits the sense of loneliness and desertion that he feels.

Both the poets seek happiness by truly loving their specific objects of love. It is an unflinching love infused with purity, passion to the extent of their love being pious and all this is not only in a bid to love but also in a hope to be loved just as much in return. They also realize the importance of the title and have therefore used them very aptly as through them we can start predicting what the poems have. They are both very lyrical. By ‘Marrysong’ we can know that the poem is about a marriage, which like the notes of a song will have its ups and down. ‘Song’ creates a certain sense of joy and brings happiness that circumscribes around while the central theme remains marriage. We know it directly through the title that it’s going to be a very intimate poem as it’s virtually like a song portraying their married life. Similarly, ‘First love’ is a title, by which we clearly know that the poem is very innocent as its his first try at love.

These poems are similar yet distinctly individualistic. Both of them portray for the man to be the victim and the woman to be the one inflicting the pain knowing or unknowingly. In ‘Marrysong’ the poet is has to ‘accept’ the ‘landscape of her mind’ proving that she is the one with the upper hand in the relationship, in first love ‘all seemed to turn to clay’ conveys the strong affection he attained for her and that the woman would be in control of their relationship as she could mould and re-mould him as per her wish. The poems also have nature as a factor that makes them correspond to each other. In ‘First Love’ she is compared to a flower as mentioned above but in ‘Marrysong’ she has been compared to an entire terrain. The poems could also be said to hold a different ground as first love is a poem of inaction but in ‘Marrysong’ the poet tries to learn the ‘jaunty helpless journey’

I feel as if both the poems hold a lot of sentimental value for the poets. In the poem ‘First love’, its clear that love he has is the sweetest, noblest and deepest love he has witnessed in his entire life so much so that it later drove him to insanity. Therefore more than first love I would consider it to be his true love. The poet has been successful in conveying the impact of his emotions throughout this poem. Likewise, ‘Marrysong’ clearly exposes the complicated mind of many women. I personally really like the poem and I believe that it is true in the case that every new couple has to go through these transformations and tides. This poem though doesn’t only show the ‘helpless journey’ but even tells us how to deal with it or survive through it. He faces the challenge. He stays home as “the hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread” as said by Mother Teresa. He makes the effort rather than just ignoring without making any efforts as even God only helps those who help themselves.