Obsessive Love- La Belle Dame Sans Merci

La Belle Dame Sans Merci- John Keates

You should know the drill by now, have a read

Summary

So this poem starts off with an unnamed speaker, who comes across a "knight at arms" alone, and on the verge of death in a field. After asking him (twice) what's' wrong, the knight takes over as narrator and answers the rest of the poem. He talks of how he met a beautiful girl in the fields, and he gave her flowers and let her ride his horse (possible sex reference here) and they she invited him back to her fairy cave. After she had "lulled" him to sleep, he had a crazy nightmare, about other people who were now dead, and then he woke up, alone, on the side of a hill somewhere. 

Breakdown

Stanza 1- The poem opes with a question, an unnamed speaker asks a "knight at arms" what's wrong, or what's "ail(ing)" him. This is the first mention in the poem that he is "pale" and be warned, this word is repeated a lot. 

There is a foreboding tone right from the first stanza of this poem. Also, there is imagery, in the references that are made to "wither'd' plants" and the "lack of birdsong" which is suggestive of the lonely, desolate surroundings. There is also consonance of the L sound, which makes the line sound very musical. Also, the word "palely" creates an internal rhyme with "ail thee" from the previous line. By associating those words together, it is made clear that the knight's paleness has to do with whatever it is that is ailing him.

Stanza 2- There is echoing of the first line of the stanza that is in the second one as well. There are two more adjectives used to describe the knight so, he is "haggard", "woe-begone" which highlights how deathly and drawn that he looks. 

Stanza 3- There is flower imagery that is used to emphasise how pale and haggard the knight looks. This is portrayed by the metaphor, "I see a lily on thy brow", conveying his paleness. There is also a double-meaning as lilies are the flowers associated with death,in Western culture, and contributes to the deathly feel of the poem. There is also a rose metaphor, ""And on thy cheek a fading rose/ Fast withered too"" which suggests that colour has left his cheek and his beauty (represented by the rose) has withered. 

Stanza 4- There is a change in narrative in this stanza. The "I" is the knight, rather than the original speaker. HE describes how he met a "beautiful lady" in the fields, which is an idealistic description, which is quite characteristic of the Romantic era. She is described as. "Full beautiful" and  "A faery's child"", which creates the image of an enchanting and mysterious person. 

Stanza 5-  There is more nature imagery, about flowers, but there is also an erotic reference, when he says that the lady is "look(ing)" at him while ""lov(ing)" and "moaning" which leads us to believe that he is getting some. When he talks about the "fragrant zone" it can also be interpreted as a euphemism for the zone, under her belt. 

Stanza 6- So the knight puts the lady on his horse, his "pacing steed" to take a ride... it could also mean his penis. In case you didn't catch that. He is so absorbed with his erotic encounter that he doesn't notice anything "all day long" There is also a suggestion of supernatural enchantment when he mentions that she sand, ""A faery's song"". 

Stanza 7- There is a religious aspect taken into course, here, as "Manna" is the food that Jewish scriptures say that the Israelites ate when they were wandering the desert after Moses freed them from slavery. It is meant to be food from heaven, which, in the poem would make the lady seem supernatural or divine, almost. Moreover, it could be that he was enslaved by the lady. It is an allusion, made with the Israelites when they were trying to find the promised land.

Stanza 8-  The fairy lady takes the knight to her "Elfin grot", her lady-cave basically, and there is contrast with the infatuation from the previous paragraph, whereby Keats introduces a hint of sadness, when the lady ""Wept, and sigh'd full sore"". It can either be left to our imagination about why she is said, or it could possibly be part of her seduction, to capture young knights. Again, there is repetition of the word, "wild" which emphasises her enchanting eyes as well as the knight's obsession with her, the repetition reflects the oral nature of the ballad  and the ability of the form to keep the reader engaged.

Stanza 9- The sadness in the previous stanza is contrasted with the gentleness of the words "lulled" and "dream'd" There is contrast conveyed with the use of hyphen introducing the plaintive line, ""-Ah! Woe betide" which is an archaic expression used to express extreme grief or suffering. The knight's use of this expression emphasises the medieval romance setting. 

Stanza 10-   There is again, repetition in using the word, "pale" which, again could be a religious allusion to the book of Revelations, where the fourth horseman of the Apocalypse is Death and he rides on a pale horse. Again, there is consonance, with the words 'all, belle, thrall' which associates those words as we read them, making us consider how the belle dame might be responsible for the paleness of all the knights she has had in thrall. 

Stanza 11-  This penultimate stanza presents us with a nightmarish imagery of, ""Starv;d lips"", ""Horrid"" and ""gaped wide". There is more talk of his dream here, when he wakes up, he is alone, and there is a gloomy sense of isolation as he uses the word ''cold'' to describe it.

Stanza 12- The final stanza reminds us that he is telling a story to the unnamed speaker, and it also reminds us of the poem's opening question, which is common with the folk tradition of the ballad form. There is an ambiguous ending as we are unsure if the knight will survive his experience or what decision he has come to, ""And this is why I sojourn here,/ Alone and palely loitering,"" 

Overall

The poem, is written in the form of a traditional folk ballad, and is broken into twelve quatrains. There is simple language, the story of one event, and the repetition of ideas and refrains. They all combine to serve the traditional purpose of the ballad which was to keep listeners engaged and entertained. Each of the quatrains has a simple ABCB pattern. 

The basic meter of the poem is iambic tetrameter, stressed/unstressed. However, on the fourth line of each quatrain, there are only three stressed syllables in the fourth line of each quatrain. It is consistently shorter- which is effective in terms of him *insert your own conclusion*. 

Also, remember that the poem is a dialogue between two people, the unnamed stranger and the knight. That's about all I have for this poem, its good for any obsessive, erotic love poetry comparisons, even infatuation to the point it makes the main character at the point of death. Memorise, memorise, memorise! 

All-round love- Antony and Cleopatra

Antony and Cleopatra- William Shakespeare

Okay I know, its been a few days since I last posted, I have been focusing on geography for the last few days... but this drama piece, as a friend of mine pointed out, is amazing, because it covers all types of love, really... also, I'm lucky enough to have studied this in class, so I know this story inside and out, really. Yay, me :-) 

Summary

Antony and Cleopatra is, without a doubt, a tragedy. It revolves around three protagonists, Antony and Cleopatra (duh) and Octavius Caesar. NOT JULIUS CAESAR. I made that mistake in the beginning and it just confused me. The story revolves around Antony, being a Roman and taking his role as leader of a third of the triumvirate too easily, while Caesar wants him to get off his bum and lead. Cleopatra is a carefree Egyptian who loves Antony and would do anything for him (except she chickened out of a battle and made Antony flee the battle too, leading to a series of events which made Antony kill himself... I told you its a tragedy), so what is left, really, is a drama watching the hot mess of two people trying to come out of impossible circumstances. Eventually, Cleopatra sticks a poisonous snake in her boobs and Antony kills himself instead of surrendering to Octavius Caesar. A tragedy. One which shows courage and love between these two characters. 

Theme and Analysis

The whole tone of the play is quite poetic, and decadent, almost stoic. The themes which I have picked out are: 

Exaggerated declarations of love: "CLEOPATRA 'If it be love indeed tell me how much.' ANTONY 'There's beggary in the love can be reckoned.' CLEOPATRA 'I'll set a bound how far to be beloved' ANTONY 'Then must thou needs find out new heaven, new earth.'" This exchange sets the tone for the rest of the play. Cleopatra wants a love that can be demonstrated. 

Female Sexuality-  There is this power struggle between Caesar and Cleopatra. Caesar and his men almost condemn Antony for his weakness which makes him bow to the Egyptian queen, and blame his downfall on Cleopatra. When the Romans are not calling her a whore, they refer to her as an enchantress whose beauty is almost enchanting to men. Enobarbus says that she almost has the power to warp the minds and judgement of all men, even "holy priests" who "bless her" even when she acts like a whore. Its almost as if Cleopatra's sexuality is threatening the Romans. In a way, the women in the play (Cleopatra and Octavia) are saddled with both the responsibility for men's political alliances and the blame for their personal failures.

Important bits you can memorise

Betrayal in 'Antony and Cleopatra'- There is this never-ending battle with the characters of the story, where they have to choose to either be loyal to their ideals or to their circumstances. The loyalty of characters is constantly questioned by their quick betrayals of one another, and the question of whether loyalty is an enduring feeling is raised as a result. 

Quotes about this: "CLEOPATRA 'O, never was there queen/ So mightily betrayed! Yet at the first I saw the treason planted.' ANTONY 'Cleopatra-' CLEOPATRA 'Why should I think you can be mine, and true-/ Though you in swearing shake the throned gods-/ Who have been false to Fulvia? Riotous madness,/ To be entangled with those mouth-made vows,/ Which break themselves in swearing!'" Essentially, Cleopatra recognises that marriage is supposed to be a sacred act, yet Antony had disregarded his marriage to Fulvia to be with Cleopatra, and she worries that he would do to her what he did to Fulvia and betray her. I don't blame her... once a cheater always a cheater. 

Love in 'Antony and Cleopatra'- Even though the foundation of this theme is tragedy, love is still a central theme. Though love ultimately fails in the end (as the lovers cannot be together IRL, but they can in heaven), it is upheld and honoured by the lovers' suicidal loyalty to each other. 

Quotes about this: "CLEOPATRA 'If it be love indeed, tell me how much.' ANTONY 'There's beggary in the love that can be reckoned.' CLEOPATRA 'I'll set a born how far to be beloved' ANTONY 'Then must thou needs find out new heaven, new Earth.'" I talked about this quote previously, in the theme and analysis section, give it a read there. 

Overall Analysis

Thing about Antony and Cleopatra, is that there is a lot of phallic and yonic imagery. Swords feature prominently in the play as stand-ins for manhood, and they're often linked to the sexual self. There are a lot more inferences, read about them here. 

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Familial Love- Sons and Lovers

Sons and Lovers- D.H Lawrence

Yes! Another Lawrence book! I'll be honest though, I haven''t read this one, I'm halfway through it though, and so far, so good. It is loosely based around the Oedipus Complex- and I love when different subjects integrate, in this case, psychology and English, but anyway, happy revising :-) 

Summary

Sons and Lovers initially starts off with the unhappy marriage of Walter and Gertrude Morel, and their four children. Mrs Morel starts to fall out with her husband, and begins to turn her attention towards their four children, of which her elder one, William, dies. She then fills her emotional void of her lack of attention from her husband and death of her son to her other son, Paul. The almost imprisoning nature of Mrs Morel's love towards Paul becomes a cripple, to any romantic relationship that he attempts to maintain, thus eliciting an abnormality in Paul's character as a result of the relationship he has with his mother. 

Theme and Analysis

A lot of the book is based around the Oedipus Complex, as I had said before, so it is awkward finding a specific theme for this book, but one thing that we have to understand now, is that Paul is not romantically linked to his mother. He is just very attached to her. Very. Attached. To the point where no woman can actually compare to how incredible he finds her. Trust me though, they are not romantically linked. Themes: 

-Familial love: Come on. That's pretty obvious. 

Important bits you can memorise: 

Family in 'Sons and Lovers'- There is this unhealthy attachment that Mrs. Morel has to her sons, and the entire Morel's family united resentment for their father. Lawrence uses this book to basically pop our happy balloons about the importance of family bonds or unconditional love. 

Quotes about this: "While the baby was still tiny, the father's temper had become so irritable that it was not to be trusted. The child had only to give a little trouble when the man began to bully. A little more, and the hard hands of the collier hit the baby." It is from very early on in the story that we notice Walter's anger, which would end up destroying him. The fact that he cannot be patient with his own baby shows what an absolute ass he was. I'm not sorry. Also there is, "The deepest of his love belonged to his mother" This kid just flat out admits it. And again, "The two shared lives... his soul seemed always sensitive to her" This may be borderline creepy, considering it is the mother talking about her son. Then again, we're dealing with Freud, can you expect any less?

Love in 'Sons and Lovers'- There is a combination of love and hate in this book. The idea being that people cannot feel love without feeling enmity at the same time. It's a pretty interesting thought actually, because love is a feeling which fulfils out desires to connect with other people, but those connections can only happen when barriers are broken down between us and other people. It is the barriers which makes us individuals. 

Quotes about this: "Whereupon he got up and went out of the house, returning presently and crossing the kitchen with averted face, hurrying upstairs. As Mrs Morel saw him slink quickly through the inner doorway holding his bundle, she laughed to herself: but her heart was bitter because she had loved him" I'll be honest with you, this quote is pretty sinister. It was said after Walter had made an empty threat to leave Mrs Morel forever, but then comes back. All the Mrs can do is laugh, but the reality of the situation is that it is super sad, as she realises she no longer loves her husband, and has become bitter thinking of how far their relationship has fallen. 

Sex in 'Sons and Lovers'- I'm going to skip this intro bit, because the quotes seem to be pretty self explanatory. Don't say I didn't warn you...

Quotes about this: "He never forgot seeing her as she lay on the bed, where he was unfastening his collar. First he saw only her beauty, and was blind with it. She had the most beautiful body he had ever imagined," Yep. It gets better, "He sunk his mouth on her throat, where he felt her heavy pulse beat under his lips" You get the hint. 

Overall Analysis

Throughout the entire book, Lawrence talks about Paul's relationships with Clara and Miriam in romantic terms, and there isn't really anything weird about it. The weird part is where Lawrence uses the same romantic terms to describe Paul#s relationship with his mother. "The mother and son walked down Station Street, feeling the excitement of lover having an adventure together." Its almost as if Lawrence is going out of his way to suggest that there is some sort of unconscious sexual deal going on between mother and son. We read later, that Paul loves sitting between his mother and his beautiful "friend", Miriam, at church, "uniting his two loves under the spell of the place of worship." The direct comparison between Miriam and his mother shows how much influence Lawrence may have had over the Oedipus Complex. There is almost this idea that the characters won't admit it to themselves.Which just leaves us in a state of confusion. 

The fact that it is written in third person allows Lawrence to make us a little more sympathetic towards characters such as Walter, that everyone else hates. 

He uses a lot of similes in his book, for example, "as if all the fire had swum down there" 

Overall, I'd recommend reading it, but its all about the familial love, if you want to ace this exam- read read read! 

Romantic Love- Love Sonnet 17

Love Sonnet 17- Pablo Neruda

This is quite a cute poem, which you can read here, about romantic love.

Summary

The general idea behind this poem, is that the narrator is in love. The speaker is addressing his lover, saying why he does not love her the same way someone would love beautiful flowers- essentially, he does not love her superficially, but he loves her for he she is on the inside. There is an interesting metaphor about this poem, about the aroma of ta flower, being like the love he carries inside him. His love for her is simple and humble, and there is an image in the way that he ends the poem, with him and his lover being intertwined as if they were one body, and one soul. 

Breakdown

Stanza 1- This poem is considered to be a direct address: where the speaker uses the second person point of view to speak directly to the addressee of the poem. He uses contrast by starting the poem with how he does not love this woman, but it is not apparent until later in the sonnet. "Carnation-arrow begot in flames" is a phrase he uses to describe the brightness of a carnation to a flaming arrow, which shows his passion for this woman. It initially may come off as an anticlimax because roses and carnations are common symbols of love, but this can be interpreted to say that it shows how unique his love is, that isn't like any old rose or carnation.

He then goes on to tell us that he loves the other the way people love "dark things", "in secret, behind shadow and soul."  It shows there is possibly a conflict between the shadow and soul, the conflict which goes behind keeping their love a secret from the rest of the world, making sure its something that stays between them. 

Stanza 2- He talks about the woman as if she were a barren plant, one that does not "flourish", but keeps its beauty hidden. There is a strong imagery in a flower being hidden in winter, when it is not in bloom and looks dead, but we know that during spring, "hidden" beauty will appear. He loves her, from the inside out. 

This is also when Neruda begins to appeal to the sense, this is a very sensory poem (read the overall analysis later, to get a better idea of this).

Stanza 3- This stanza is the one that always gets me. The speaker loves this woman, plain and simple. He does not specify why, he "simple" loves her. It shows the complexities of love, which is one that cannot be explained, it is a feeling which cannot be put into words.

He can only love when "I am not and you are not.". It is a very powerful poem, where two individuals become one, and can no longer be their individual selves, and become one instead. There is repetition as the speaker has now said "I love you" three times now. It is considered an anaphora, because it is always in the beginning, and is there for emphasis.  

There is a beautiful metaphor in the way the speaker describes the way he loves: they are so close that they switch body parts. Her hand in his and her eyes seeing his dreams. It is a love where there are no barriers. 

Overall 

The form of this poem is almost Petrarchan, where it is divided into two quatrains and then two tercets. The first eight lines are filled with metaphors in explaining his love, the next six are him giving up, because he cannot put his feelings into words. There is no rhyme scheme at all, however, which makes it unlike a normal Petrarchan sonnet. There are some rhyming words in the original, Spanish version of the poem, but it is not sustained throughout the piece. This may explain his love for her not being defined by a given set of rules? It would help to draw your own conclusions about this. 

There is a strong sense of intimacy in the poem, especially when he says "So close that your hand on my chest is mine/ So close that your eyes close on my dreams." The setting that comes across is quiet and isolated, and since the poem talks about secrets, it adds to the intimacy of them being on their own. I told you this would be a good poem, guys. It just sends butterflies everywhere. It's great. 

Forbidden Love- Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet- William Shakespeare

The supposed greatest love story of all time. (Truth be told, I liked the movie version with Leo-bae) 

Summary

Though I am pretty sure no-one needs a summary about this love story, here is one anyway which may provide a sort of recap. Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet are 'star-cross'd' lovers destined to die, because it says so in the chorus. Romeo gets the hots for Juliet at a party that he was not invited to and they fell in live and got hitched a few days later. A few murders and arranged marriages and fake poisons later, Romeo stumbles upon a fake-dead Juliet, is overcome with grief, takes real poison, fake-dead Juliet wakes up to find real-dead Romeo had died for her so fake-dead Juliet becomes read-dead Juliet by stabbing herself. Pretty simple. Of course they are now dubbed as the greatest couple known to man. Please, my boyfriend got me a candle for my birthday a few years ago, how's that for a keeper?  

Theme and Analysis 

So there are, obviously loads of themes which come across from the story, here are a few: 

-Romantic love- Romeo and Juliet are the archetype lovers, Romeo is depicted as a Petrarchan lover, with the use of classical poetry, and imagery and wordplay. They often talk in sonnet, "Palm to palm is holy palmer's kiss", which signifies their love for each other. Juliet is described by Romeo using religious imagery, whereby her lips are a 'shrine'. They are obviously romantically involved, because they are willing to die for each 

-Familial love (kinda)- Juliet is a daddy's girl. "Earth hath swallowed all my hopes but she" but then her parents are presented as unloving, uncaring and lacking any understanding for her. This is a form of dramatic irony, as Lady Capulet is overcome with guilt by the end of the play.

-Fraternal and Platonic love- There is a serious bromance between the male characters in the play, to the point of Romeo killing Tybalt for murdering his BFF, Mercrutio. 

Important bits you can memorise: 

Love in 'Romeo and Juliet'- The thing about love in this story, is that its almost forbidden. Everyone knows that if someone tells you not to push the big shiny red button, you're going to want to push the shiny red button, and that is what Romeo and Juliet is. They appear even more attractive to each other because they are forbidden fruit, it makes it more exciting, and they crave that love and excitement in their lives, which are controlled by their parents. It really makes you want to believe in true love, simply from the beautiful and passionate way that Shakespeare has written in.You could argue that it is puppy love that Romeo had for Rosaline before he met Juliet, and that she's simply a rebound.  

Quotes about this: "ROMEO: Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs;/Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes:/Being vex'd a sea nourish'd with lovers' tears:/What is it else? a madness most discreet,/A choking gall and a preserving sweet."  You need to remember that Romeo was a teenager at the time, so this is pretty impressive. He uses abstract language- love as 'smoke', 'fire' as a 'sea' as 'madness'. It shows that Romeo is actually in love with Juliet and his emotion is accurately expressed through his language and diction. 

Sex in 'Romeo and Juliet'-If you read my blog about Lady Chatterley's Lover, and how sex is a very apparent theme in the book, this one is dialled back about ten notches... but it's still there. In the novel, practically everything is about sex, everything is a dirty joke and violence is heavily eroticized, and it creates a very sexual atmosphere which may lead to the interpretation that the protagonists young love is just them wanting to get some... but I'm going to opt out and say that there is more to love than just sex- but feel free to interpret this one on your own.

Quotes about this: "The bawdy hand of the dial is now upon the prick of noon" This is Mercrutio talking about something simple, the time of day, yet it has a sexual connotation about it, reflecting how most jokes usually are sexual, and nonchalant. Also, "JULIET 'Give me my Romeo, and when I shall die/ Take him and cut him out in little stars,/ And he will make the face of heaven so fine" So, here, there is a link with 'die' being slang for an orgasm... so when she dies.. she.. you know. Yep. Also when her father finds her dead, and talks of how she has been 'deflowered'. Yep. English. It is interesting though, how there is almost an irony as sex is supposed to result in the creation of life, not the death...Again, make your own conclusions to this

Transience in 'Romeo and Juliet'- Think about the story long enough, and you will realise that Romeo and thirteen-year-old Juliet fall in love at first sight, get hitched within 24 hours and die in each others arms a few days later. There is some correlation, that can be made between the fleeting nature of time and youth in the story. 

Quotes about this: "ROMEO 'Lady by yonder blessed moon I swear/That tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops-' JULIET' 'O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon,/That monthly changes in her circled orb,/Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.' This is the part where I would go 'OHHHHH' because my girl, Juliet slayed. English banter, you guys... I live for it. 

Marriage in 'Romeo and Juliet'- In terms of context at the time this play was written, marriage for love is a pretty radical and dangerous choice- especially for rich kids, because they have influence in society (poorer folk could marry whoever, because they have nothing to lose). Romeo and Juliet pay the ultimate price for marrying for love... their death. However, they did almost resolve their parents battles...so it was worth it... right?

Quotes about this: "LADY CAPULET' Marry, that 'marry' is the very theme/I came to talk of. Tell me, daughter Juliet,/How stands your disposition to be married?' JULIET 'It is an honour that I dream not of.'" This is around the beginning of the play, when we are introduced to what Juliet is like as a (bratty) teenager. Yet, she winds up marrying Romeo 24 hours later after the party- way to stick to your guns, Juliet. 

Tone and Analysis Overall

Shakespeare uses a lot of oxymoron in this play, which kinda help to get the point across. Juliet's cry in "My only love, sprung from my only hate"  is an example of the oxymoron that is used in the play. By using oxymoron and paradoxes in the play, Shakespeare manages to make the form match up with the content. 

Shakespeare writes in blank verse, which is essentially saying that he writes in unrhymed iambic pentameter. You should know the drill by now, of coming up with conclusions about why this is the case. Overall this is a play everyone should be quite familiar with it, and just for the banter, here is a link which I found pretty funny about the 'sex' in this story. Hope this helps calm some stress! 

Illicit Love- Lady Chatterley's Lover

Lady Chatterley's Lover- D.H Lawrence

If you know me at all, you know I absolutely love D.H Lawrence- I have read practically everything he's written. Not that that's of any importance to you, I just figured I should mention it :-) 

Summary

The story was written in 1928 (modernism), about a woman, Constance (Lady Chatterley), and her affair with the gamekeeper, Oliver Mellors. Her upper-class husband, Clifford Chatterley, has been paralysed from the waist down due to a war injury. It was Lady Chatterley's unsatisfaction with her marriage to Clifford that led her to have her affair with Oliver. It is through her affair that she realises that love is a physical experience, not a mental one. Why should you take some time out of social media and read this book? Dude, its porn. No really, a lot of sex in this one. In detail. Trust me. 

Theme and Analysis

Its love in a physical form which is apparent in this book, some themes which I noticed were: 

-Sex- NSFW, I'm warning you now. Don't open this link unless you're truly ready for it

-Lust- There is this strange idea in the book, of lust, even though Oliver speaks of the degradation of women, the same way Clifford does, Lady Chatterley laps up anything Oliver says but can't stand it when Clifford does... she's attracted to him physically, a lust for him, which binds this relationship together.

-Illicit Love- This is pretty obvious too, there is an affair which happens between Lady Chatterley and Oliver, its scandalous because she's still technically married to Clifford. 

Important bits you can memorise

Sex in 'Lady Chatterley's Lover'-  This book is pretty dirty, if you haven't already noticed. However, the way sex is described is a whole lot more philosophical, so don't expect any 50 Shades of Grey in this book. Lawrence describes sex as the way for two people to connect. It is the way to restore beauty and realism in life. Good sex gives wholeness not just bragging rights. 

Quotes about this: "It is curious what a subtle but unmistakable transmutation it makes, both in the body of men and women: the woman more blooming, more subtly rounded, her young angularities softened: the man much quieter, more inward, the very shapes of his shoulders and his buttocks less assertive, more hesitant." All I can say... 

Love in 'Lady Chatterley's Lover'- In this book, sex precedes love. Lawrence in his modern vies, insists that you cannot have love without sex, and its the only way love can really be expressed. There is no such thing as meaningless sex. This is because, sex connects two people to become a whole lot closer, which is what sparks love (I swear, this is according to Lawrence, I make no comment about this). So basically, first comes sex, then comes love, then comes a marriage, then comes a baby in a carriage (the nursery rhyme really skipped out on the order of this) 

Quotes about this: "She felt a sudden, strange leap of sympathy for him, a leap mingled with compassion, and tinged with repulsion, amounting almost to love" Here, Connie is unsure whether or not she loves Oliver, or if its just sex, but later, realises that its because of the sex that she is in love with him. 

Freedom and Confinement in 'Lady Chatterley's Lover'- Connie- like everyone in this book, if you think about it- is alone. She realises that Clifford's company is not actually a substitute for human interaction. They find that the way to human connection is real, human sex. I really feel like all I have talked about so far is the importance of sex. I mean, you really need to read the book to get it, I swear that's practically all its about! There is a lot of entrapment in the book, where Connie is in an unhappy marriage, Clifford is in a wheelchair, Hilda is trapped in a prison of convention. There is no real sense that it is so easy to break out of. Even divorce isn't the easy way out, as you would tell by the end of the novel, where Clifford doesn't agree to a divorce. 

Quotes about this: "One was less in love with the boy afterwards, and a little inclined to hate him, as if he had trespassed on one's privacy and inner freedom. For of course, being a girl, one's whole dignity and meaning in life consisted in the achievement of an absolute, a perfect, a pure and noble freedom" This is about how Connie realises she needs to be free from Clifford, that was, until she met Clifford and went on a wild crazy sex journey with hi, you know, usual standard stuff. 

Tone and Analysis Overall

Lawrence writes in free indirect discourse, whereby we get the chance to go inside everyone's minds. The idea is to combine elements of narrators voice, with elements of the characters voice, without using quotation marks or 'he said' 'she said' tags. There are also a lot of nature imagery which is sprinkled through the book, but this is less important, I find. Also, he uses irony, even when he names the characters, the main characteristic of 'Constance' (as in one who is faithful and not going to cheat) is the one who ends up having an affair. Ah, I love Lawrence. 

Power of Love- I carry your heart with me (I carry it on)

(I carry your heart with me (I carry it on))- EE Cummings

Probably biased with this one, because this is one of my favourite love poems of all time, luckily our English exam is about love, and it gave me a good excuse to analyse this poem in depth- it's only three stanzas, read it here

Summary

The poem opens with the speaker declaring, " I carry your heart with me (I carry it in my heart)." Its a poem about the sense of unity he has with the person that he loves, whereby everything he does and feels is connected to her. It is, essentially the unconditional love expressed from a man to a woman and it is about how love shapes the people that we become. Read it, and you will notice a whole bunch of punctuation, metaphors, and motif, which really emphasises the way he feels about the one he loves. 

Breakdown

Stanza 1-  There are already major topics you can write about here, for example how Cummings uses a modern spin on the poem, using the  zany lowercase, syntactical, punctuation experiments. He uses figurative language because he cannot literally 'carry' her heart... because she'd be dead. Instead, he means he can feel her presence and love around her at all times, he carries it in him. He uses a lot of parenthetical clauses (duh), and we can gather that the parenthesis are within the adjacent word, like they are connected. It shows the unity with his lover as he is quite literally, next to it- so visually and contextually, we are under the impression that the two are connected.
Remember, parenthesis are supposed to add something to the text already provided without interrupting the flow of thought entirely, but here, they serve the purpose of visually connecting the speaker and the lover.
There is also parallelism in the third line, with " i go" and "you go". 
By the time the 5th line rolls around, we notice the enjambment between the lines, this is to help clarify what the lover is feeling, we thus recognise "fear" as an individual feeling, literally alone on the page for the reader to see.
Cummings also uses personification with the idea of the "sun singing". Obviously, the sun doesn't really sing, but if it did- it would sing about the speaker's lover. That is how awesome and cosmic their love is. All together now: aww.
Overall, these first few lines ( I know, we're not even halfway through yet), are all about her being with him in spirit and how a part of her will always remain inside him. The fear, pain and potential loss of losing someone you adore is unimaginable and deserves its own line to emphasis his apprehension.

Stanza 2-  The third stanza starts with anaphora of "here is the" which make the poem sound very lyrical and romantic. There is ambiguity when he talks of "deepest secret nobody knows" which leads us to question its mystery... maybe that was what he was getting at, how love is the greatest mystery of all. There is reference to their love as symbolic foundations of life. How you cannot have trees without roots or pretty flowers without buds. It is an extended metaphor, as he uses roots and buds to represent his love as foundations.
Obviously, this is all nature imagery and metaphors which keeps the whole flow of the poem very relaxed and natural (make your own conclusions up about why he uses nature). He also uses repetitionof the "of the" clause- Cummings is using syntax to not only keep things sounding lyrical but also to be as efficient and precise with his language as possible.
Overall, he makes references to real life ideas like the sky and the trees and once again to the stars. These lines are used to make the reader anticipate the release of his secret and draw them into his 'grand finale'.

Stanza 3- The speaker ends by (almost) perfectly referencing the title, in true Romantic poetry style, with the omission of "with me". After all the nature blah blah, we're back to where we started, with the speaker carrying the idea that love is within him at all times. We're also reminded of the unity he feels with his lover, with the parenthesis. This stanza only has one line. So Cummings is making it clear that line 15 is the entire point of the poem. It gets its own stanza because its so important and special.

Overall

There really isn't much else you can tackle with this poem, unless you want to go into whether it is free verse with occasional trochees, but that's pretty self explanatory, but if you don't understand those- Get Revising has some pretty good pointers on poetic diction, which is worth checking out. If you still feel like it isn't enough, some girl made a pretty cool essay on it (pft, what a saddo, who blogs about English revision.. am I right? Am I right? No... okay), which is worth a read. 

Jealous Love- Othello

Othello- William Shakespeare

Summary:

The tale of the eponymous Othello, a black general who marries a white woman, and his subordinate officer Iago. Othello's marriage challenges the prejudices and conventions of Renaissance society, allowing Iago to spin a complicated web of lies and deceptions that corrupts Othello and leads to tragedy. (source: Sophie's Desk). It was published in 1602 (Elizabethan times).

Theme and Analysis: 

It is pretty clear that through Othello, there are many themes which are quite prevalent (below), but there are other factors which you can bring up when you talk about this book, such as imagery, allusions and hamartia. The imagery which is associated with jealousy suggests the destructive, terrifying and almost unnatural qualities of this emotion, "The green-eyed monster which doth mock/ The meat it feeds on." - Iago uses dramatic irony, when pretending to warn Othello not to be a jealous man. Othello's hamartia (downfall) is his jealous nature. He becomes ruthless, and will not have a piece of mind until Desdemona is dead. Some themes which I picked up on were:

-Forbidden Love: The relationship between Othello and Desdemona is clandestine because of Othello's racial origins.

-Jealous Love: There is a parallel in the jealousy between Iago and Othello. It is interesting that Iago uses jealousy against Othello, yet jealousy is likely the source of Iagos' hatred in the first place. It is, ultimately, destructive.

Important bits you can memorise: 

Possibly the best summary of Othello 

Jealousy in 'Othello'-  In Othello, the hero succumbs to jealousy when Iago convinces him that Desdemona has been an unfaithful wife- in the end, Othello murders his wife, but then kills himself upon realising she was innocent. In Othello, jealousy takes many forms, from sexual suspicion to professional competition, but it is, in all cases, destructive. 
Quotes about this: "One Michael Cassio, a Florentine,/A fellow almost damn'd in a fair wife;/That never set a squadron in the field,/Nor the division of a battle knows/More than a spinster; unless the bookish theoric,Wherein the toged consuls can propose/As masterly as he: mere prattle, without practise,/Is all his soldiership. But he, sir, had the election:/And I, of whom his eyes had seen the proof/At Rhodes, at Cyprus and on other grounds/Christian and heathen, must be be-lee'd and calm'd/By debitor and creditor: this counter-caster,He, in good time, must his lieutenant be" Okay this is a bit lengthy, I know, but all its about is Iago frustrated that Cassio is promoted to a greater position than Iago, so he's jealous, pick and choose which part of his monologue you'd like to use- but its all pretty interesting. 

Sex in 'Othello'- Remember, this play is written in the Elizabethan times, and the common 16th century anxieties about miscegenation (interracial sex and marriage) are examined; a black man marries a white woman, gets mad and accuses her of cheating- and thus strangles her in bed. In Othello, most male characters simply assume that the women are extremely promiscuous, which explains why all three women in the play are accused of infidelity. It makes sense, how easily Othello is swayed by Iago into believing that his wife has had an affair. Also, and though I wouldn't look too deep into this factor, there is a homoerotic theme which can go about between Othello and Iago, but if you are deeply curious, look here.
Quotes about this: IAGO "Even now, now, very now, an old black ram/Is topping your white ewe." If you have read the rest of this, its pretty self explanatory.

Tone and Analysis Overall

The entire tone of Othello is dominated by Iago's voice. It is cynical. It is paranoid. He is the only one in the play who speaks to the audience and has bitter rants about Othello and Cassio, his casual dismissal of women as worthless prostitutes... even Othello begins to mirror Iago's tone in his own rants about jealousy and sexual impurity. Also, its worth mentioning that the play is written in iambic pentameter. Which means you can draw your conclusions about how 'free' or 'restricted' the speaker might be... you've done English, you can figure that part out... its a good read, but a bit complicated to follow along, unless you're really into Shakespeare-talks... hope this helps! 

Obsessive love -Lolita

Lolita- Vladimir Nabokov

Summary: 

Regarded as a tragicomedy, the story revolves around the narrator, Humbert and his seduction of his teenage stepdaughter, Dolores - 'Lolita', it was a story which was quite controversial during its publication in 1955 (modernism). The portrayal of Humbert and Lolita is complex and ambiguous- some readers claim that Humbert is the victim of a manipulative underage seductress while others see the other view by which Lolita is the innocent victim of a dangerous predator. (source: Sophie's Desk)

Themes and analysis: 

The novel is a 'banned book' and is extremely controversial. There is an exploration of the psyche of a sociopath and paedophile and his attempts to rationalise his behaviours which he knows are wrong. Humbert is an insane, unreliable narrator- which makes the novel interesting to read. The themes which I came across were: 

-Unrequited love: Lolita's unreciprocated feelings for Humbert

-Illicit love: She's his stepdaughter... he is sexually attracted to her- red herring flags everywhere for this one

-Destructive love: Lolita, quite literally drives Humbert mad, yet he is completely infatuated with her, and continues to love her

Important bits you can memorise:

-Language & Communication in 'Lolita' - Humbert does confess to his bad behaviour, but he still offers highly poetic descriptions that serve to distract the reader from the subject at hand. If it were not for his skill with language, we would be faced with the reality of the situation, a story of rape, paedophilia, incest, murder and explotiation- and yet he manages to turn it into a beautiful 'enchanting' novel, whereby the reader symphatizes with him 

Other forms of diction that he uses is making appeals through legal language, sneaking in justifications and defences of his behaviour

Quotes about this: ''Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta." --Everything about Lolita fills Humbert with pleasure, even the feeling of saying her name, there is no single part of her that he does not turn into a fetish object. 

Love in 'Lolita' - There is an argument, that Humbert doesn't love Lolita, as he is the narrator and he controls the images that we see in the play, and therefore it is difficult to know if he is using love as some perverse excuse for his behaviour. Its also difficult to understand his feelings as he has written the book in retrospect- reflecting and recording his story after many years of the events occurring. 

Quotes about this: "I knew that I had fallen in love with Lolita forever; but I also knew she would not forever be Lolita" There is an expression of genuine feelings of love for Lolita, but its difficult to process because the love, it would seem, would be dead as it is congintent on Lolita being a nymphet. 

Sex in 'Lolita' -  Humbert describes Lolita as ''Fire of my loins'', but then also calls her ''Light of my life''. It questions which one it is. There is indeed, a lot of lust in Lolita, mostly revolved around Humbert and Quilt, though Lolita participates in her fair share of voluntary sexual activity- at Camp Q especially.

Much of the sex in the book is very dark and perverse, almost criminal with rape and paedophilia and incest at the front of the line. 

Quotes about this: ''Her legs, her lovely live legs, were not too close together, and when my hand located what it sought, a dreamy and eerie expression, half-pleasure and half-pain, came across over those childish features.'' This is pretty self-explanatory...

Youth in 'Lolita'- It is obvious by now, if you've been paying attention to this, that Humbert is sexually obsessed with the younger girl, Lolita, her youth. He has an obsession with 'nymphets' with college-age girls being way past his age-range. He does recognise, however, the unrefined silliness and consumer vulgarity of youth, but that's a small price to pay. Sitting on a park bench watching young girls play hopscotch and skip rope, Humbert is in bliss, ''Let them play around me forever. Never grow up''

Quotes about this: "Now I wish to introduce the following idea. Between the age limits of nine and fourteen there occur maidens who, to certain bewitched travellers, twice or many times older than they, reveal their true nature which is not human, but nymphic (that is, demoniac); and these chosen creatures I propose to designate as ''nymphets''." Humbert has a very precise definition of nymphet- and wants to make sure we, as readers know exactly which kind of girl he adores. It is almost incriminating. 

Innocence in 'Lolita'- Humbert knows of the lack of innocence in Lolita, and he always seems to take advantage of it, simply because of his lack of it. He is, after all, telling this story from jail, where he rots because he had murdered someone. Even though he doesn't try to play off that he did no wrong, he still tries to win the reader to his side. In other words, he is not innocent. 

Quotes about this: "...it was she who seduced me." I mean, COME ON. Really? Even after he revealed his perverted actions about what he'd do to her. 

Tone and Analysis overall:

With Humbert as our controlling, and slightly insane, narrator, the tone comes across as sly, superior, darkly comic and intellectual, alternating between bemused weariness and sweeping Romanticism. He uses dark humour and wit, and it serves as part of the narrative's smoke and mirrors, seeking to erase some of the horror in trivialising the subject matter by offering jokes where shock may be more readily expected. 

His writing style is deeply poetic, with a humorous and ornate style as a result of double entendres, multilingual puns, anagrams and coinages. The style is also highly visual, with Humbert often compelling the reader to see what he sees, "You can always count on murder as a fancy prose style". He is blunt, but in the most refreshing way possible, basically, guys, read this book if you can- its actually quite interesting, not even for the exam, but just as general reading- its not badly written for a guy who didn't even speak English as his first language, you go, Vladimir! 

English! Wider reading- Love through the ages

Hey Guys!

Okay so I'm basically going to be putting up a bunch of notes I have made on English Wider Reading for the exam for AQA LITA3, they may or may not help you out, I found that by typing them out, they help me revise too- so enjoy, hopefully they help you out- and good luck!

Sheena x

Topics:
OBSESSIVE LOVE
JEALOUS LOVE
POWER OF LOVE
ILLICIT LOVE 
FORBIDDEN LOVE
ROMANTIC LOVE