Comparison of Three Poems - A Literary Essay Sample

Poems are of great importance in the society as they help in educating the society and dissemination of information through the use of various poetic skills such as rhyme, repetition, pentameter, imagery metaphor among others. This proves the need to understand how to interpret the various artistic styles employed in poems. Interpretation of poems requires various skills and requires the society to get acquainted with the knowledge and skills that help them to understand and decipher the meanings of poems in the society. This paper seeks to examine the three poems, Upon the breeze she spread her golden hair by Francesco Petrarch, My ladys presence makes the roses red by Henry Constable and My mistress eyes are nothing like the sun by William Shakespeare. Analysis of the three poems would help in referencing of the poems to seasons, identification of how the poems use images in nature, how the images are used in the poems and their meanings in the poems and finally, there is the analysis of role of images in the poems.

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In the poem, Upon the breeze she spread her golden hair, by Francesco Petrarch, the author talks about a season of nostalgia where he remembers the object of his affection and the person to whom he declared his love, this is therefore a season of sadness. There are various images used in the poem and these are such as the sun, knot and bow. In this manner, the golden hair is used to show the elegance that the lady in question exhibits, others such as thousand gentle knots and sweet light represent the feeling that the persona had while his love was still alive. The images are used to bring out the hyperbole and exaggeration in the poem to represent the feelings that the poet experienced. They help to show the audience the experiences that the persona went through while he was in love and how he wishes to have a repeat of the same. In this manner, the persona makes an allusion to the Cupid, the Roman god of love who is seen as archer and whose arrows pierce the heart and causes people to fall in love.

In the second poem, My ladys presence makes the roses red by Henry Constable, the persona appreciates the elegance of his love and this depicts a season of love and a happy mood. The images in nature are such as roses, leaves, lily, sun, marigold, flowers, ground and rain. The images are used to bring about connotation in the poem as they help in bringing out positive connotations such as a compliment and appreciation of the lady. In this poem, the author acknowledges the beauty of the lady and the admiration he has towards her and compares the same to roses, lily and marigold. In this case, the images are used to mean the beauty of the woman and the elegance that she portrays in the society. The images are therefore used to bring about imagery and to help in applying artistic skills in the poem.

The third poem, My mistress eyes are nothing like the sun by William Shakespeare is used to reference a season of contempt as it is evident that the poet negatively criticizes the lady. This is therefore a season of disdain and scorn as it is evident that the poet does not acknowledge any feature of the lady under discussion. Some of the images used are such as the coral, snow, roses and ground. The images are used to compare the beauty of the lover to other beauties and negatively criticize the lover of the speaker. This is applied through the use of imagery such as nothing like the sun, her lips are less red than coral; compared to the white snow, her breasts are dun colored and her hairs are like black wires on her head. Such representations show negative imagery on the personas lover. The role of the images is therefore used to bring out the metaphor in the poem and hides the negative perception of the persona regarding his lover. The use of metaphor is very effective in criticizing the lady and shows the view of the person regarding the shortcomings of the lady.