How love makes us see the change of English literature

Literature changes with time. To explain it to us, our professor decided to give us three poems that talks about love using metaphors. The catch is that each poem is from a different century and each poem has a gap of about a couple of centuries between their publishing dates.

We had to read each poem and explain how they were different from each other and also note how English literature changed over time. Read along. Also note that, these are solely my thoughts and not exactly what the poems mean.

Here are the poems...


Poem I: Poem from circa 1600

My love is like to ice, and I to fire:

How comes it then that this her cold so great

Is not dissolved through my so hot desire,

But harder grows the more I her entreat?

Or how comes it that my exceeding heat

Is not allayed by her heart-frozen cold,

But that I burn much more in boiling sweat,

And feel my flames augmented manifold?

What more miraculous thing may be told,

That fire, which all things melts, should harden ice,

And ice, which is congeal's with senseless cold,

Should kindle fire by wonderful device?

Such is the power of love in gentle mind,

That it can alter all the course of kind.

Poem II: Poem from circa 1800

My love is like a red, red rose

That's newly sprung in June:

My love is like the melodie

That's sweetly played in tune.

So fair art thou, my bonnie lass,

So deep in love am I :

And I will love thee still, my dear,

Till all the seas gang dry.

Till all the seas gang dry, my dear,

And the rocks melt with the sun:

And I will love thee still, my dear,

While the sands of life shall run.

And fare thee weel, my only love.

And fare thee weel awhile!

And I will come again, my love,

Though it were ten thousand mile.

Poem III: Poem from circa 2000

From time to time our love is like a sail

and when the sail begins to alternate

from tack to tack, it’s like a swallowtail

and when the swallow flies it’s like a coat;

and if the coat is yours, it has a tear

like a wide mouth and when the mouth begins

to draw the wind, it’s like a trumpeter

and when the trumpet blows, it blows like millions…

and this, my love, when millions come and go

beyond the need of us, is like a trick;

and when the trick begins, it’s like a toe

tip-toeing on a rope, which is like luck;

and when the luck begins, it’s like a wedding,

which is like love, which is like everything.

How I think the poems are different:

So, we are provided with three poems of different time period, where poet of each poem takes the liberty of using metaphors to describe their love as best as they could in a more dramatic way. Though all three poems were about love, we notice a few mentionable differences. Each of the poem follows a different diction and a different syntax, best suited to their time period.

The first poem uses seemingly more complicated words with a syntax that might make modern grammarians scratch their heads. The second poem was more straightforward with the diction and syntax, while the third, more recent poem felt like a drunk man speaking. Also, dialect was very common in the second poem.

How I think English literature changed over the ages:

Even though all the three poems are written about one topic in the same format, that is by using metaphors, each poem still holds its own uniqueness. We notice some clear differences occuring in different aspects of the poems with the passage of time. For example, the tone of the first poem (written circa 1600) was more solemn. The poet seemed quite serious about his love and used heavier metaphors like ice and fire to describe his love life. These metaphors might sound like a cliche nowadays, but never-the-less, they do not falter the seriousness of the atmosphere of the first poem.

The tone of the second poem was more carefree and cheerful and reading it, I felt like the poet was newly and madly in love and was still living in some dreamland while he wrote that poem. The words felt fresh and blossoming and boosts some sort of roamntic energy within the readers. The third poem created a more garbled situation, as if the poet had been moonstrucked and was speaking too many words too fast. The mood was jittery and restless, just like so-called modern "love".

Aside from the differences of mood and tone, we also notice differences in use of metaphors, meter, allegories and analogies and much more. Hyperboles such as comparing one's love with endless ocean or ice and fire are also frequent.

As a last note, I would like to say that with the passing of time, English literature has become simpler and more relatable. 

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