eMule -> The Poetry Archive -> Forums -> Homework Assistance
Hi Everyone.
I'm a French student doing a comparative critique of two poems. I'm having a bit difficulty to draw a parralel between the two so any help possible would be greatly appreciated. 
Thank you in advance.
Firstly, I have to write a brief overview, form, structure, voice, setting, themes and ideas of <
Secondly, I have to do the same thing for <
Thirdly, I have to write a comparative critique of the two poems, talking about similarities, themes, details of elements, stylistic devices, differences
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Here are the poems.
WHY I LOVE THEE? LET ME COUNT THE WAYS
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints,-I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life!-and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
SHALL I COMPARE THEE TO A SUMMER'S DAY
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Email: cocotte_powah@hotmail.com
Well, they're both sonnets. They both are talking about love. EBB concentrates on how much the lover means to her. WS is talking about how perfect the lover is.
I think that if you do the separate critiques first, the other similarities/differences will jump out at you.
pam
Another point might be their respective lives after death. Elizabeth infers a heaven in which to continue loving her chosen one while Will's lover will live on in the verse written about him/her.
The two different kinds of sonnets might add a few needed paragraphs. Discuss the Shakespearean/English sonnet and how it differs from the Petrarchan. Criticize Liz for the lack of a volta in hers, sure. Find out if she does this a lot.
For extra credit, determine the percentage of nouns and verbs in each poem, and compare the number of adjectives as well. If EBB's has fewer adjectives, does that mean it is the superior poem?
Do assonance and consonance play significant roles in the word choices?
In each work, there are many lines that begin with the same words - what is this device called?
Both works end in single-syllable words - is this catalectic or acatalectic? Are there any substitutions/variations from the iambic beat? If so, which ones are they? If not, is this a fault or a virtue?