Maiden In Cousin Kate example essay topic

Comparing "Cousin Kate" and "The Seduction" I am comparing " Cousin Kate " bye Christina Rossetti and " The Seduction " by Eileen McAuley. I will look at five points of the poems, language, theme, mood and structure. Although the poems were written at very different times they have many similarities and differences. Cousin Kate is a pity-full and sympathetic poem. Cousin Kate makes me feel sorry for the main character because of the language she uses like " Now I moan, an unclean thing, who might have been a dove". The Poem "The Seduction" is a sympathetic poem, but you feel that the girl is a bit stupid.

The poem The Seduction makes me want to tell the girl how silly she was to do what she did when she was drunk and not to realise how untrue the boy's intentions were. It is hinted at that the two only met on the night of the party because there is no name given, no history given and the girl would have been shown where the boy went when he skipped school before that. What happened that night led to her becoming pregnant " By stupid, stupid promises only tacitly made " She feels more hurt as the young girl doesn't love the boy and thinks that there is no possible chance that the two would do this together. She is also afraid about what others would think of her. When she throws her " high white shoes " at the wall, it really shows that she is very regretful of the night, as the shoes were part of the night and she wants nothing to remind her of it, and the shoes were considered to be worn by girls that would do anything just to sleep with a man.

Also the final stanza of the poem describes what the young girl is feeling. It implies that the girl does not want this child at all " Better to starve yourself, like a sick precocious child" Life in the 1800's was hard for young girls such as the maiden in Cousin Kate. Girls were looked upon as an object that made the house of a man look nice and respectable, now-a-days, or at most 30 years ago girls have the same rights as men and are looked upon as something that can sometimes be taken advantage of. Another way that the poems share similarities and have differences is how each of males in the poems felt about each of the girls and what the local people thought of them.

The Lord in " Cousin Kate " did not have true feelings for her and used her. The narrator was a cottage maiden and she was unaware of how pretty she was and hadn't experienced love before " He wore me like a silken glove". When the Lord showed her feelings she fell for him because of the things she said and did. Also the lord found it easy to get the narrator because of her situation "fill my heart with care". When he had finished using her he went on to her "Cousin Kate" but treated her differently, and as far as we know treats her with care and respect, but in the end, the girl feels almost as if its all worth it, because she has a beautiful young baby boy and the lord and "Cousin Kate" have been together for ages now, and there is no sign of Kate becoming pregnant. In the seduction, many thoughts and feelings are apparent, at first (although drunk) the girl is flattered and overwhelmed by the young boy, and probably feels that this is one of the good boys who just wants to be friends, or maybe she knows about his true intensions and she is too drunk to see the bad points or do anything about it.

Towards the end of the seduction she knows she is pregnant (3 months in) and is really depressed and is wondering how she is going to tell her parents and what the people around her will think of her. She rips up her magazines and throws them.