This Elizabethan sonnet by George Gascoigne is a tortured self-confession of one “He” who “looked not upon her.” Gascoigne effectively illustrates the speaker’s paradoxical feelings for a woman through a series of literary devices such as extended metaphors, imagery, and alliteration, developing an easily identifiable conflict between the speaker’s desire for his lover and fear of being hurt again. The first stanza introduces us to the central paradox of the poem: why does the speaker “take no delight” in ranging his eyes “about the gleams” on his lover’s beautiful face? To answer this question, the speaker employs two extended metaphors that vividly illustrate this conundrum. With the first metaphor, the speaker compares the relationship between himself and his lover to that between a mouse and a baited trap, revealing that behind the appeal of love lies danger and harm. His description of how the mouse “hath broken out of trap” further suggests that he views life without love as most desirable freedom that must be achieved through a hard battle; quite contrary to common intuition. He showers her with harsh accusations: “trap”, “trust-less bait”, “mishap”… that make …show more content…
The powerful image of fire, both visual and thermal, is prevalent throughout this stanza, and the speaker’s self-comparison to a “scorched fly” shows us how deeply the speaker has been hurt. The end rhyme of the second and fourth lines between “fire” and “desire” suggests that the two are tightly connected; this flame is a flame of desire within the speaker’s own heart. Just as the fly is attracted to the bright, burning fire and is ultimately scorched by it, the author is hurt with his own flaming desire. This metaphor is so powerful that it carries, or rather, burns, into the final couplet, where his dangerous desire is reflected in his lover’s “blazing
Relationships begin based on a mutual attraction and often end due to betrayal and loss of love. Because of the end of relationship, it’s common for people to feel deceived and lament the loss of their lover. In “For That He Looked Not Upon Her,” Gascoigne utilizes a sonnet form, metaphors of the mouse and fly, and grievous diction to address the sadness and frustration of betrayal experienced in the speaker’s broken relationship. Gascoigne’s structure remains typical for the time period, but adds an opinion different from many sonnet writers of the time, addressing the negatives following an ended relationship. Through the use of a traditional sonnet, Gascoigne keeps the structure of the poem predictable and constant.
The last two lines say: “where a man learns the danger of words/where even a curse can start a fire” (22-23). The reference to fire and heat pertains to the men and their inner struggles. Heat in the fields is not only experienced as a physical quality, but a mental one as well. This provides added imagery of the men working in the fields, that wasn’t offered in the beginning of the poem, creating additional imagery to support the struggles of working in the
The capacity to feel betrayed has caused people to avoid certain situations because of deep embedded pain. The sonnet “For That He Looked Not upon Her” by author George Gascoigne is a sonnet that deals with the pain a certain man endured and why he does not “look upon her”. The man, or speaker, explains his emotions and thoughts on why he does not look upon a certain woman's eyes. The author conveys the speaker's complex emotions by using literary elements: diction, metaphors, imagery, and more.
In the poem, “For That He Looked Not upon Her,” the poet, George Gascoigne, communicates his fickle attitude towards his lover. With the use of standard Shakespearean sonnet form, exaggerated diction and vivid imagery he explains why the speaker is bound to avoid his ex-lovers eyes, since they can spell him to live a life with further deception and heartache. Gascoigne’s practice of sonnet form consists of the “ABAB” rhyme scheme, couplet, and four stanzas adding emphasis on the protagonists reluctance to see his lover’s face. As the poem progresses it becomes clear on why the speaker is warry. The poem includes paradoxing examples that elaborate his complex situation.
The brief flash-back to the man standing below who has “no such illusions” of the moon, provides the reader with a nod back to reality as well as yet another reminder of the queerness of the Man-Moth and his “false” perspective. The last two lines of this stanza are the richest, stating, “But what the Man-Moth fears most he must do, although / he fails, of course, and falls back scared but quite unhurt. These words encompass a raw human instinct, the will to do what we fear most. However, the fact the Man-Moth remains unhurt in the process also exudes a sense of the human error of misperception, like the common fear of spiders or a child’s fear of jumping into a swimming pool.
West shifts the tone throughout the line ‘She watched flames run lovingly over everything,’ which suggests that the fire is how the woman feels in her own society creating a deeper thought for the readers to think on. Similarly Feaver makes this shift of tone through a imagery of, ‘Then a rabbit shot clean through the head’ implying that the situation has escalated in this moment preparing to reveal deeper happenings afterward in the poem. Both poets do this to introduce topics involving admiration with death, and physical desire. West reveals this from stanza 5, ‘the raging beauty of it, the glorious energy-’ she personifies this ‘energy’ a glorification of death and danger. This intense tone crushes the tone used previously which was a lighter ambiguous tone of the topics.
It has been said that “beauty is pain” and in the case of this poem, it is quite literal. “For That He Looked Not Upon Her” written by George Gascoigne, a sixteenth century poet, is a poem in which the speaker cannot look upon the one he loves so that he will not be trapped by her enhanced beauty and looks. In the form of an English sonnet, the speaker uses miserable diction and visual imagery to tell the readers and his love why he cannot look upon her face. Containing three quatrains and a rhyming couplet at the end, this poem displays a perfect English sonnet using iambic pentameter to make it sound serious and conversational. This is significant because most sonnets are about love and each quatrain, in English sonnets, further the speaker’s
By disregarding the woman’s looks, the male speaker obsesses over loving her for her personality, and by changing the words within this sonnet, Mullen denounces this archetype within sonnets. Sonnets that focus on romance typically use this male character that admires and adores a woman, but the speaker usually ignores one aspect of who the woman is, which is why Mullen completely breaks away from the sonnet structure. Mullen breaks down the classic male speaker by making her sonnet comedic, which allows the audience to understand love should not be based on one aspect. One should love the whole, not just a
In Sir Philip Sidney’s Poem, “Thou Blind Man’s Mark,” Sidney presents a male speaker who struggles with a inner conflict of the human trait, desire. This desire is what the poem centralizes on and he wrestles with the human trait desire which causes conflict in his life and his mind. He knows he must deal with it and tries to figure out how to subdue or erase it completely. The motivation driving him to write the poem, is his burning ambitions and his want to always rise through problems. But the desire to rise above every ambition of his is dragging him down in his personal life.
The sonnet “For That He Looked Not upon Her” , written by english poet George Gascoigne, tells of a story between a man and a woman, and the speaker goes into details about their relationship with each other. The speaker describes his complex relationship with the woman, and using literary devices such as a confusing and conflicting tone, and almost victim-like metaphors, describes his attracted, but yet doubtful attitude towards the woman. The confusing and conflicting tone set within the story helps describe and expand the complex attitudes of the speaker. The speaker’s use of this tone shows how he has conflicted feelings to the woman, as if he wants to chase after her, but he knows that nothing good may come out of it.
The burning symbolizes the force of eros consuming the subject which causes the subject pain. The ‘cooled’ and ‘burned’ also create a juxtaposition that can be analyzed to express what turmoil the mind is undergoing. The subject directly says, “I was crazy for you” This line clearly expresses how significantly the madness has advanced because she admits, that the longing made her crazy. However, after the object is obtained the fire is slightly distinguished the subject is not as
The verses structure and poetic technique notable, particularly in the use of a refrain of ‘thou art fair’, enclosing the love comparisons and giving them further significance and intensity. The framing effect is furthered by the addition of ‘all’ to the end refrain, giving a sense of conclusion to the bridegrooms feelings. The difference in description of the first comparison ‘thou hast doves’ eyes within thy locks’ compared with the rest of the passage, where the body part appears first, and the metaphor second, is also interesting, as if the bridegroom speech’s structure develops after the first comparison and his way to express his love becomes more concrete. Further inversions can be seen in the order of features described. Gianni Barbiero suggests the order is ‘poetic, not logical’.
Love’s connotation to fire is a common constant in both literature and in daily spoken word. Society dubbs passionate and intense love “fiery,” while particularly dedicated couples are considered twin flames. However, love can “burn” if one is not careful. In Purple Hibiscus, the main character Kambili’s trauma caused by her father’s physical abuse limits her initial perception of healthy love. Adichie uses the contrasting parenting styles of Eugene and Ifeoma, along with the symbol of fire, to indicate how domestic violence can negatively impact a child’s development.
The two poems I will be comparing and contrasting in this essay are two of William Shakespeare 's most popular sonnets. Sonnets in chapter 19, 'Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? ', and in chapter 23, 'Let me not to the marriage of true minds, ' of our Literature book. Both of these poems deal with the subject of love but each poem deals with its subject matter in a slightly different way. Each also has a different purpose and audience. In the case of 'Shall I compare thee ' the audience is meant to be the person Shakespeare is writing the sonnet about.
In these short poems, the authors utilize particular rhetorical techniques and methods to reflect the speakers’ personality and motivation. Therefore, presenting the speaker becomes the main focus of the authors. In Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 and Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess,” both poems reflect the speakers’ traits through monologue, figurative language, and symbolism. However, these two speakers’ personalities are different due to their attitude toward their beloved. The speaker in Sonnet 18 is gentle and delighted but frustrated because the ideal metaphor comparison of summer is not perfect for describing his beloved; the poem thus suggests that the way you love others reflects how you feel about yourself.