Compare and contrast any two love poems you have read, discussing their themes, their use of language and their appeal to an audience

The aims of this essay are to look at twain love poems by devil different authors and to show how they are similar and in what shipway different. The two poems I will be looking at are The Passionate shepherd to His Love by Christopher Marlowe and The Bait by John Donne. The first by Marlowe for the most part, seems to deal with the joy of new-found love and seems to dwell on the positive aspects of trance and passion. The second poem by Donne by contrast is less romantic in tone than Marlowes poem. Here Donne talks about sex, seduction and sadness lots using rattling(prenominal) suggestive images and ch totallyenging the idealised view of love.Marlowes poem is set in a pastoral setting and the word shepherd in the name is an image and this word itself tells us it is in a pastoral setting. In the first stanza of Marlowes poem it says in the first two opening linesCome die hard with me and be my loveAnd we will all the pleasures proveHe, the narrator tries to persuade his w oman of the street by being very forthright and by being very bold, telling her what he is going to give her. However, in Donnes poem, which is parody of Marlowes, Donne has the same two opening lines but the last two of the first stanza are very different. Of golden sands, and crystal brooksWith silken lines, and silver hooks.The difference here is that Donne says that we will go to the acresside but instead of looking at valleys, mountains and hills which is what Marlowe says, he and his mistress will have a lot of fun.In Marlowes poem he says,And I will make thee beds of roesAnd a thousand fragrant poises,A uppercase of flowers, and a kirtleEmbroided all with the leaves of myrtleWhat Marlowe means is that, not solo will he take her into the countryside but he will dress her exchangeable the country side meaning flowers. But Donne says,There will the river whispering runWarmd by thy eyes, more than the sunAnd there thenamourd fish will stay,Begging themselves they whitethorn b etrayDonne is severe to say that she will get in the water and her eyes alone will warm the water more than the sun, which is an example of hyperbole. He says that when she does get in the water and baith, the fish will nibble. This creates a raunchier image, also it brings in the element of physical contact.In the next stanza Marlowe then says, A enclothe made of finest woolWhich from our pretty lambs we pullThis suggests that not only will he protect her but also he will provide her with wealth in an attempt to influence her decision. In Donnes the approach is different. In the fourth stanza Donne says, If thou, to be seen best loth,By sun or moon, thou darkenst bothDonnes message, which he is trying to put across, is that the sun and moon are bright, but you are brighter. As you can see Marlowes way of wooing her is very different to Donnes way. Marlowe has a flatter approach whereas Donne makes his point very clear in the start of the poem, which is come to bed with me.Marlowe ends his poem with a very interesting stanza. In the first two lines of this stanza he says, The shepherds swains shall dance and singFor thy delight each may morningHw is trying to say to her that he will get all his friends to dance for her and that if all these things do matter to her, she should come and live with himIf these delights thy mind may move,Then live with me and be my love.But when Donne ends his poem, he says, For thee, thou needst no such feigningFor though thyself art thine own baitHe says that you are not just fit to catch the fish but you are also able to catch the fish but you are also able to attract them referring to her beauty. To end the poem Donne says, Donne says, That fish, that is not catchd therebyAlas, is wiser far than I.What Donne is trying to say is that each fish that is not caught by her beauty, is cleverer than him. From this it is clear that he is love sick.It is very clear that Marlowes approach is innocent and evokes idyllic images. Donne is much more down to cosmos and realistic using words like coarse and bold and slimy. His poem is therefore more sensuous, suggestive. Marlowe employs language, which maintains the sense of innocent beauty. He uses words like pretty, purest, fragrant, and finest.The rhyme scheme in both poems is very strong to make a good argument because in their own ways they are both out to woo the woman and also to show their passion and determination. Also in Donnes poem he is very precise and radical about what he says, getting to the point very quickly. Donne uses the same rhyme scheme as Marlowe but to different affect. This is underpinned by his use of words that would not normally be associated with love poems such as treacherously, traitors, strangling and deceit.We have analysed two very different poems yet we have show that there exist many points of contact. Ultimately, the poems are both about love and this theme blinds them most closely. No two love poems are alike, but this only serves to illustrate the many-faceted nature of love itself.