Blinded
Temptation is all around us. It is so difficult to not give in seeing as our desires effortlessly take over. In the poem “For That He Looked Not upon Her” by George Gascoigne, the speaker's tone is to resists temptation from the beauty of a lady who may have malicious intentions. The pain the man feels to have to look away because he feels guilty that This is achieved by devices such as form, diction, and imagery.
In structure of this poem is an english sonnet. Though it does not follow the rules of iambic pentameter but uses a common rhyme scheme. This gives the reader an effect of steadiness throughout the poem. The final two lines are a couplet are, “So that I wink or else hold down my head, Because your blazing eyes my bale have bred” which reveal what the speaker feels of his true misery. The structure of an english sonnet normally tells a theme of love and beauty, and it's ironic that Gascoigne uses it to tell about a man and his pain of love.
The diction that is produced in the poem is seen throughout the poems entirety. Words like “trustless, mishap, grievous, and bale” all give off gloomy undertones. This gives the reader a feeling of empathy for the speaker. All he wants to do is be able to love this women, but isn't sure that he will be able to trust her before he is hurt by her. On
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In line 5, “The mouse and which once hath broken out of trap, Is seldom ‘ticed with the trustless bait” shows the reader what the speaker sees of himself. The speaker is to afraid that if he is tempted it could lead into a huge trap. On lines 9 and 10, “The scorched fly which once hath ‘scaped the flame, Will hardly come to lay again with fire” the speaker is describing that he doesn't want to get burned by a woman of such beauty. Each metaphor give a tone of fear and despair of not being able to get what you truly
Examining the literary terms used in this poem, one should mention alliteration first. It is used in the following line: “There are those who suffer in plain sight, / there are those who suffer in private” (line 1-2). Another literary device,
For his poem, Gascoigne uses specific word choices to set the tone of the poem. He uses exaggerated diction to convey his misery and heartache. In the poem, he uses phrases such as, “louring head so low” and “your blazing eyes my bale have bred.” Gascoigne cannot face his love because he is still deeply in love with her and is mesmerized by her beauty. In the phrases, “lies aloof for fear of more mishap” and “still in doubt
The speaker begins the poem an ethereal tone masking the violent nature of her subject matter. The poem is set in the Elysian Fields, a paradise where the souls of the heroic and virtuous were sent (cite). Through her use of the words “dreamed”, “sweet women”, “blossoms” and
In romantic words, the poet expresses how much she does think of love. She state it clear that she will not trade love for peace in times of anguish.
“The Roman Baths at Nimes,” a sonnet, has a unique modified structure which resembeles the main purpose of the poem. Originally, a sonnet was structured as “one strong opening statement of eight lines, followed by a resolution to the emotional or intellectual question of the first part of the poem” (Strand 56). The contemporary sonnet comes in two forms, the Petrarchan and the Shakespearian. Both have fourteen lines but they differ in their rhyme scheme. Cole combines the elements from the original and Shakespearean sonnets to form a unique structure for his poem. He uses a modified rhyme scheme of aabcbcdedefghh, which very closely resembles the contemporary form of the Shakespearean sonnet (because of the final couplet rhyme hh) but not exactly. He incorporates the features of the antique sonnet by presenting his internal struggle in the first ten lines of the poem and in the final sentence, resolving the conflict.
Since the character is illiterate, he has no ability to determine his true feelings for the loved one. Additionally, this use of repetitive words in the poem also shows the lack of diction by the character. When words are repeated, it typically tells someone that they are either confused or have a weak vocabulary. Since it is implied that the man had a small lexicon because of his illiteracy, the poem reveals his ideas in a simplistic and repetitive wording
The poem makes an almost undecipherable, literal tone within the sound of the rhyme scheme, also creating calm peace with a mostly unpleasant situation. An example is the reoccurring line, “I have a rendezvous with Death” (Seeger 1, 5, 11, 20). The word “rendezvous” is a nice word where a person would meet somebody out of free will, even like two lovers seeing each other. Regardless, death is the unknown for many humans to fear. The narrator has arranged to meet with an experienced person known as death.
...e speaker admits she is worried and confused when she says, “The sonnet is the story of a woman’s struggle to make choices regarding love.” (14) Her mind is disturbed from the trials of love.
Not only the words, but the figures of speech and other such elements are important to analyzing the poem. Alliteration is seen throughout the entire poem, as in lines one through four, and seven through eight. The alliteration in one through four (whisky, waltzing, was) flows nicely, contrasting to the negativity of the first stanza, while seven through eight (countenance, could) sound unpleasing to the ear, emphasizing the mother’s disapproval. The imagery of the father beating time on the child’s head with his palm sounds harmful, as well as the image of the father’s bruised hands holding the child’s wrists. It portrays the dad as having an ultimate power over the child, instead of holding his hands, he grabs his wrists.
At the start, the first stanza of the poem is full of flattery. This is the appeal to pathos. The speaker is using the mistress's emotions and vanity to gain her attention. By complimenting her on her beauty and the kind of love she deserves, he's getting her attention. In this first stanza, the speaker claims to agree with the mistress - he says he knows waiting for love provides the best relationships. It feels quasi-Rogerian, as the man is giving credit to the woman's claim, he's trying to see her point of view, he's seemingly compliant. He appears to know what she wants and how she should be loved. This is the appeal to ethos. The speaker seems to understand how relationships work, how much time they can take, and the effort that should be put forth. The woman, if only reading stanza one, would think her and the speaker are in total agreement.
The different rhyme schemes in each stanza (first four lines: abab; next four lines: cdcd; last five lines: eeffgg) helps create a sense of joy and amusement in the poem. A metaphor is used to imply that humans “mirror” God. There is alliteration in lines 4-5 and in “fickle fruit”, adding to the joy of reading the poem. Another literary device found in this poem is an allusion towards a character from Greek mythology by the name of “Sisyphus”, in connection to God’s affliction and to the poems implication that it is a hard world. God is viewed as a symbol of equity, and is depended on as a savior. There are numerous shifts in how complex or simple each line is, adding on to the climax of his notions. The poem ends with irony, with the line “Yet do I marvel at this curious thing, To make a poet black and bid him sing!” which accentuates the contradistinction of the disability of Sysyphus and the ability of a black poet. The speaker also utilizes a metonymy when he refers to humans with “flesh” reflecting
George Gascoigne himself seemed an interesting man by the fact that he experienced a lot of different lifestyles of being a soldier, farmer, a member of british parliament, and finally a writer. Also, I find the poem particular interesting because it’s very relatable. I’ve found that beauty is a very easy thing to fall for, and once you make an attempt to follow with it a lot bullshit occurs that you don’t think about. But what I find quite more interesting is the style of the poem. The poem is a traditional sonnet with 14 lines and an ending couplet. It also has an iambic pentameter. This interest me because it looks just like a Shakespearean sonnet that we discussed about in class. Finally, the rhyming couplet at the end of the poem is interesting. “ So that I wink or else hold down my head, Because your blazing eyes my bale have bred.” lines 13-14. This line especially stands out to me because it shows a lot of emotion that the speaker feels. It shows how the girl has made him suffer through the temptations of her beauty. I like the use of the word bale. I was unfamiliar with this use of bale because it was used differently in the 1500s. This bale means evil suffered; physical torment or mental suffering. I find all these things very interesting about the subject of the
The use of metaphors seems to shine through each of the three sections in the poem. The first section of the poem the speaker compares his love for his mistress to “vegetable love” (Marvell 11), in which, he is telling his mistress his love for her grows slowly. The speaker imagines his love for his mistress turning into ashes, while the chance for them to sleep together will be lost forever. In the final stanza he uses the word sun for imagery, when he replaced the word son with sun (45). The switching of imagery and metaphors in the poem, is to confuse the audience in order to persuade that that she is submitting to him. The allusion of this poem occurs in the first
First of alll, the poem is divided into nine stanzas, where each one has four lines. In addition to that, one can spot a few enjambements for instance (l.9-10). This stylistic device has the function to support the flow of the poem. Furthermore, it is crucial to take a look at the choice of words, when analysing the language.
The first quatrain In this sonnet the speaker starts to reveal more about the relationship between him and the Dark Lady, and also his fear of growing old. He starts the sonnet by saying “When my love swears she is made of truth/ I do believe her, though I know she lies” (1-2). In these first two lines the speaker contradicts himself right away by saying that he believes her, but knows she is not telling the truth. He is very aware of the delusion he is in, but he is willing to let it pass. He is willing to let it pass because of the mutual dishonesty that exists in the relationship. In the next two lines, he talks about youth, and age. He is talking about the Dark Lady considering him a younger ma...