The Literary Tradition of Love Poetry through a Close...

The Literary Tradition of Love Poetry through a Close Examination of the Poems Cousin Kate and I Wish I Could Remember Cousin Kate is a poem about a Cottage Maiden who was complimented and wooed by a lord to get her to have sex with him. He then saw her cousin, Kate, and abandoned the maiden to marry her. The maiden has his child and becomes an outlaw for having him out of wedlock while Kate and the Lord are looked upon as respectable and pure. From the start of the poem we see that the speakers circumstances have changed. I was a cottage maiden Hardened by sun and air, By using the past tense, was, we are immediately alerted that she is no longer a cottage maiden. The word maiden can†¦show more content†¦The very praise means he complimented her, but the compliment was not for her personality, but her looks, her hair. The Maiden stresses the difference in status because she repeats Great Lord throughout the first stanza. The word great immediately paints a picture of power and class, which proves a huge contrast to our impression of the Maiden. The last two lines of the first stanza are a question. Why did a great lord find me out To fill my heart with care? By using a rheatorical question the speaker signifies the Maiden has a lot of unanswered questions and that she is searching for reasons. The second stanza starts by again portraying the lord as being a sly character. He lured me to his palace home- Instead of just saying his home, the speaker say to his palace home,which emphasises how rich he is and that he may have used his wealth to seduce the Maiden. The use of the verb lured shows he may have tricked the maiden, and makes the Lord seem a rather sinister character. As the Maiden looks back she realises she was happy before. Woes me for joy thereof- This could be a factor to why she is so unhappy now, because of the memory. We find throughout this stanza she is very reflective of how she was treated and her feelings. To lead a shameless, shameful life, His plaything and his love. The oxymoron shameless,