The first thing that I began notice as I progressed in my readings was the obvious change in structure from the Old English time period to the 16th century. Although they are poems, the literary works we read from Old English are not what one thinks of when one hears the word poem. Poems are usually thought of as rhyming lines with a regular meter or rhythm. Both “The Wanderer” and “The Wife’s Lament” following more of an essay or journal style writing in which the speaker tells of their hardships and sorrows being away from their loved one(s). In the Middle English works, the structure becomes much more apparent. The works of this time period are ballads in which Chaucer includes three or more stanzas written with the same rhyme scheme. Middle English is where we begin to found more structure in the ballads and lyrics, which often help the reader to remember the poem better. As we move to the 16th century, we see Wyatt continue the use of structure. The structures of his poems are Petrarch sonnets but they steam away from the usual rhyme scheme. Also in the 16th century, Howard uses the English sonnet structure in his works. Usually ballads and sonnets are truly representative of love, however, this may not be the case, as I will investigate in the next part of my blog entry.
Not only did I notice the change in structure of the works we read this week, I also noticed a shift in the style and meaning behind the works. Although all the works focused on love as a central focal point, they all have varying views of love. In the beginning of our literary journey, “The Wanderer” shows the devastation of losing a loved one and the need to replace them or move on to a different place in order to heal. Love is portrayed as something that is great when it is there but as the speaker in “The Wanderer” learned the hard way, lost love is the worst thing to have to deal. The speaker’s life seems as though it is a miserable burden day in and day out. The speaker in “The Wife’s Lament” also feels as though lost love is unbearable. The speaker points out that this the only she can think of and has faith that her loved is going through the same despair.
In the Middle English time period Chaucer writes about the frustration one can feel while in the state of being in love. In Chaucer’s “Troilus’s Song”, the speaker makes comments that allude to love as something that you can never get enough of, “For always thurste I, the more that I drinke” (Chaucer 316). In “Alison”, also written during the Middle English time period, the speaker claims, “I am for wooing worn out from waking” (437). Both these lines imply that love is some exhausting and frustrating on top of being great.
In the 16th century, we come to read sonnets by Wyatt. Sonnets are normally thought of a love poem, something written about love and how great it is. However, Wyatt did not necessarily stick with this rule of thumb. Wyatt seems to have this negative view towards women, which shows up in sonnets. In the modern prose translation of “I Find No Peace”, the sonnet ends with “Equally displeasing to me are death and life. In this state am I, Lady, on account of you” (Wyatt 597). Here Wyatt is basically blaming his misery on the woman who he used to be in love with. Wyatt does not make love out to seem so great in this sonnet. Also during this time period, Howard wrote sonnets, which were said to be concerned with the structure than the actual inspiration of the poem. It seems, as though both writers of this time were writing sonnets, which typically are very lovey-dovey, that were not focused on the benefits of love.
All this being said, these "love" poems left me thinking, is love that great? (especially when it ends)
