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OCTOBER 30.
One hundred times have I been on the point of embracing her. Heavens! what a torment it is to see so much
loveliness passing and repassing before us, and yet not dare to lay hold of it! And laying hold is the most natural of
human instincts. Do not children touch everything they see? And I!
NOVEMBER 3.
Witness, Heaven, how often I lie down in my bed with a wish, and even a hope, that I may never
awaken again. And in the morning, when I open my eyes, I behold the sun once more, and am wretched. If I
were whimsical, I might blame the weather, or an acquaintance, or some personal disappointment, for my
discontented mind; and then this insupportable load of trouble would not rest entirely upon myself. But, alas!
I feel it too sadly. I am alone the cause of my own woe, am I not? Truly, my own bosom contains the
source of all my sorrow, as it previously contained the source of all my pleasure. Am I not the same being who
once enjoyed an excess of happiness, who, at every step, saw paradise open before him, and whose heart
was ever expanded toward the whole world? And this heart is now dead, no sentiment can revive it; my eyes
are dry; and my senses, no more refreshed by the influence of soft tears, wither and consume my brain. I
suffer much, for I have lost the only charm of life: that active, sacred power which created worlds around me,
-- it is no more. When I look from my window at the distant hills, and behold the morning sun
breaking through the mists, and illuminating the country around, which is still wrapped in
silence, whilst the soft stream winds gently through the willows, which have shed their leaves;
when glorious nature displays all her beauties before me, and her wondrous prospects are ineffectual to
extract one tear of joy from my withered heart, I feel that in such a moment I stand like a reprobate
before heaven, hardened, insensible, and unmoved. Oftentimes do I then bend my knee to the earth, and
implore God for the blessing of tears, as the desponding labourer in some scorching climate prays for the
dews of heaven to moisten his parched corn.
But I feel that
Contrast Godwhose
to Yeats does not grant sunshine or that
This implies rain God
to our
will importunate entreaties.
Uses descriptive And oh, those
bygone days, whose memory
personified heart expresses now torments me! why were they
not give to those who beg so fortunate? Because I then waited with
language to emphasise
patience
its painfor the
this blessings
guys ofso
heart is the Eternal,but
and received
only hiswho
to those giftshave
with the grateful
howfeelings
little he offeels
a thankful
in heart.
dead he can feel nothing. waited with patience and comparison to how much
‘ineffectual to extract one are therefore worthy of he is able to recall.
tear of joy from my withered what they desire.
heart’.
.
First Love by John Clare
John Clare was commonly known as “the Northamptonshire Peasant Poet” and
since his formal education was brief, he resisted the use of the increasingly-
standardised English grammar in his poetry and prose. He was born the son of a
farm labourer who came to be known for his representations of the English
countryside.
In terms of structure, the poem has three stanzas and eight lines in each stanza;
there is twenty-four lines altogether. The poem rhythms, it goes in A, B, A, B form
and is in first person, because it uses a lot of I, for example”I could not see a single
thing” or “I never saw so sweet a face”.
From the title we can see that the poet was never in love before, which
consequently meant that the pain was emphasised when the love was unrequited.
‘First Love’ has a lyrical texture with rhyming couplets, ‘A, B, A, B, C, D, C, D’ ‘,
which could resemble the beating of the heart.
Overall Clare never learned to spell or use grammar properly and wrote his poetry
whilst walking in the local fields. His surroundings have reflected his poetry since it
is extremely expressive and flowing.
First Love’ emphasises an instant First Love In the second line it says “With
attraction and highlights the aspect of
love so sudden and so sweet”,
unrequited love as the relationship I ne’er was struck before that hour
With love so sudden and so sweet,
this line tells us that the poet fell in
between the poet and the person he love so suddenly this line has
Her face bloomed like a sweet flower
loves has not even started. ‘And when alliteration, for example “so
And stole my heart away complete.
she looked, what could I ail?’ is a sudden and so sweet”.
My face turned pale as deadly pale.
rhetorical question which reveals how
My legs refused to walk away,
he is hardly acknowledged and it is only And when she looked, what could I ail?
in his own mind that she even My life and all seemed turned to clay.
perceived his love for her. John Clare
spent much of his life in an insane And then my blood rushed to my face
asylum, but escaped in 1841 to look for And took my eyesight quite away,
his first love that he thought he would The trees and bushes round the place
be reunited with, but consequently he Seemed midnight at noonday.
Clare also does not want anyone to experience
never was and returned to asylum. I could not see a single thing,
the same pain as but is in the middle of dying.
Words from my eyes did start – This is evident in the lines; 'My face turned
They spoke as chords do from the string, pale as deadly pale,' and 'my life and all
And blood burnt round my heart. seemed turned to clay’ enables the reader to
sympathise with the pain he is undergoing.
Are flowers the winter’s choice?
Is love’s bed always snow?
She seemed to hear my silent voice,
First Love’ contains synaesthesia can be Not love’s appeals to know.
seen in phrases such as ‘Words from my I never saw so sweet a face
eyes did start’. ‘First Love’ can also be As that I stood before.
compared to ‘The Folly of Being Comforted’ My heart has left its dwelling-place
since the heart is personified, where Clare is And can return no more.
love ‘struck’ and ‘My heart has left its
John Clare ‘My heart has left its dwelling-place / And can
dwelling place / And can return no more.’
1793 – 1864, b. England return no more.’ This means that he feels that
This device provokes sympathy for the
he cannot love again despite the love not being
writers, because it can be viewed that the
returned.
heart is more influential than the head.
Twelfth Night by William
Shakespeare
As a play, Shakespeare’s romantic comedy relies on delivery of the plot through dialogue. This choice of form was
effective as Shakespeare can present the thoughts and feelings of his characters clearly with the use of
monologues, allowing the audience to engage more intimately with them.
A play of disguise and mistaken identity, Twelfth Night also focuses on the pain caused by love. In this scene (Act I
Scene i), Duke Orsino in his despondency, is pining over his love for Olivia, who has rejected him as she is
mourning for her brother and has vowed to wear a veil to cover her face for seven years, and refuses to marry
until then. The extent of Orsino’s despair at his rejection is evident from his opening speech...
Recurring theme in
unrequited love
texts
Writers seem to be
preoccupied by the
impression of the
From this exclamation first sight of their
made by Orsino, the love (also seen in
audience is presented ‘First Love’)
with the extent of his This suggests the
infatuation, as uncertainty and
mention of the name fleetingness
of his love triggers involved in such a
such a reaction love
revealing his
desperation to hear
some word from her Meaning salt
water which
hurts the
eyes,
phrases
such as this
First three lines; Orsino describes highlight the
love as an “appetite” which he cannot pain caused
satisfy and his desires as “fell and by love
cruel hounds”. Shakespeare uses
such language to present the idea of
Orsiono feeling tortured by his love
and reveals his anguish in having
been rejected.