Comparing Cousin Kate and The Seduction Essay - 1392 Words

Comparing Cousin Kate and The Seduction In this coursework I will be comparing the two poems ‘Cousin Kate’ by Christina Rossetti and ‘The Seduction’ by Eileen McAuley. The two poems have many similarities but there are also some differences between them. To begin I will give an introduction to both the poems. Cousin Kate is about a cottage maiden that is tricked into having an affair with a rich Lord. She is then betrayed by the Lord who decides to dump her. He then marries her Cousin Kate who is much more beautiful than her and who has not yet lost her virginity. The Lord completely forgets about the maid after abandoning her and leaves her all alone. The maiden later realises that she is pregnant with a baby boy who is the†¦show more content†¦In Cousin Kate the cottage maiden truly loves the lord and has an affair with him for a period of time –â€Å"Woe’s me for joy thereof† while in The Seduction the girl hardly knows anything about the boy and has a one night stand with him. The other difference is the location of the two poems. Cousin Kate is set in the countryside –â€Å"I was a cottage maiden† while the Seduction is set in the city –â€Å"the silver stream of traffic through the city†. Another difference between the two poems is the way the two women are seduced by the men. In Cousin Kate the lord seduces the women by using his wealth and treating her well –â€Å"lured me to his palace home† while in the seduction the girl is seduced without any romance or romantic feelings. She only sleeps with the boy because she is drunk. In the seduction the poet describes what happened that night in as almost dirty where the boy calls her things like â€Å"little slag,† The boy in the seduction is described as a very rough and unfriendly with the things he does- †¦he spat into the river†¦.The events that take place in the seduction are also described in a dark with the use of phrases like â€Å"the frightening scum on the river†. The women also have many different feelings towards their pregnancies at the end of the poems. At the end of CousinShow MoreRelatedA Comparison of ‘To His Coy Mistress’ by Andrew Marvell and ‘To His Mistress Going to Bed’ by John Donne2064 Words   |  9 Pages desperate begging the women for sex. However, as we know from other poems (such as Cousin Kate and The Seduction) men valued purity above most other things (when considering marriage). So we could say that these men were hypocritical for wanting their women pure for marriage but willing to have sex with them pre-marriage! These poems are both themed on love, sex, romance and seduction. However, the attitudes towards their relationships and lovers are completely diverseRead More Comparing Maturation in Sons and Lovers, Out Of The Shelter and The Rachel Papers3561 Words   |  15 PagesComparing Maturation in Sons and Lovers by D.H Lawrence, Out Of The Shelter by David Lodge and The Rachel Papers  by Martin Amis  Ã‚   Each of these three novels Sons and Lovers by D.H Lawrence, Out Of The Shelter by David Lodge and The Rachel Papers by Martin Amis, examine the transition between childhood and adulthood of the three main characters in each of the texts. Each author represents this transition by showing how all the characters deal with significant stages or events in their lives