Sample Essay on First Love John Clare

The two poems, “First Love,” by John Clare and “La Belle Dame Sans Merci,” by John Keats have a similar theme, unrequited love. Compare and contrast the poets’ effective use of language and form to convey their ideas effectively.

In the poems “First Love,” by John Clare and “La Belle Dame Sans Merci,” by John Keats both poets deal with unrequited love. In Clare’s poem, it is the love of the knight for the woman, which is not returned.

This is very similar to Keats’ poem where it is a knight again whose love for a woman is not returned. Both poems portray romantic poetry to us. In the pre-twentieth centuries romance was imaginative love like that shown in Clare’s poem. This type of romance is similarly shown in Keats’ poem. In Keats’ poem, we also see modern romance, which is romantic love.

Clare’s poem is set in contemporary times; he is recounting the experience of falling in love for the first time:

“I ne’er was struck before that hour

With love so sudden and so sweet.

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This makes it clear to us that the knight in the poem is falling in love for the first time. Keats poem on the other hand is set in the times of King Arthur, which was the thirteenth century. The time, which the poem is set, is well suited to the context of a bewitched knight.

In Clare’s poem no blame is given to the girl whom he falls in love with maybe because she did not deliberately set out to captivate the knight like the enchantress in Keats’ poem appears to do:

“She look’d at me as she did love,

And made sweet moan.

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This is very similar to the woman in Robert Browning’s poem “Porphyrias lover” who seduces the man by baring her shoulder and murmurs how she loves him.

In both poems, both of the knights in the poem seem to fall under the spell of the woman. This is shown on the very first line of Clare’s poem:

“I ne’er was struck before that hour”

The use of the word struck gives us an image of someone unexpectedly being hit by a spell. The word struck also gives us an image of someone being struck by one of cupids arrows, which put someone under a spell making them fall in love. This makes the use of the word struck very effective. This can be seen as similar to the Knight in Keats’ poem that also appears to be under a spell:

“For sidelong would she bend, and sing

A faery’s song.”

The mention of faery’s suggests something supernatural, as fairies are small creatures, which possess magical power, which could be used to put someone under a spell like in the poem. These spells seem to make the knights loose their vision, feel trapped, and look pale. These effects are very similar to the imagery, which is used throughout both poems. In Keats’ poem, he uses the image of how pale the man is throughout the poem to show the effects of the spells:

“O, what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,

Alone and palely loitering?”

This can be linked to the description of the people in his dream:

“I saw pale kings and princes too,

Pale warriors, death-pale were they all”

This can finally be linked to the use of the word “palely” at the end of the poem:

“And this is why I sojourn here

Alone and palely loitering,”

This imagery used by Keats is similar to that which is used by Clare:

“My face turned pale as deadly pale,”

Although in some parts of the poem the imagery can be seen as similar, some of the imagery used is also different. It is different because in Keats’ poem the imagery is often literal:

“She took me to her elfin grot,”

While in Clare’s poem the imagery is often metaphorical:

“And stole my heart away complete.”

This can be linked to the form of the poem. Clare sets his poem in every day life and feels as though his heart has been stolen. This puts a literal interpretation on a romantic clich�. Clare then extends this metaphor both literally and metaphorically.

Keats poem is different to Clare’s poem because it is written in the form of a ballad, which tells an Arthurian tale in which a knight falls into the clutches of a cold-hearted enchantress:

“‘La Belle Dame sans Merci

Hath thee in thrall!’”

The story of this poem is told as a tale within a tale in which the poet meets the knight who recounts an experience. The use of the two voices in this poem is useful because it draws us in. First with the poet arousing our curiosity on the first line:

“O, what can ail thee, knight at arms,”

Then the knight satisfies the curiosity aroused by the poet:

“I met a lady in the meads,”

The way which the poet uses repetition of the word palely emphasises death and sickness. The idea of death is also emphasised by the setting of the poem, where the sedge is withered and birds do not sing. This does not only signify death but also prepares us for something sinister:

“The sedge has wither’d from the lake,

And no birds sing.”

These images of death are used throughout the poem.

In both poems, the experience has affected the men and will for the rest of their lives. In Clare’s poem he can never fall in love again:

“My heart has left its dwelling place

And can return no more.”

While the knight is forever trapped to pine away and die on the hillside unless the spell on him is broken:

“And this is why I sojourn here

Alone and palely loitering,”

Clare’s poem is written in the form of an autobiographical account of an experience. Keats’ poem on the other hand is a ballad, which tells a salutary tale. Although they are written in different forms they both show the same thing, how powerful and destructive love can be.

Both of the poems show victims of love. Clare is clearly a victim of love and Keats is victim of La Belle Dame who uses love to achieve power over him:

“And sure in language strange she said –

‘I love thee true’.”

Clare’s poem is set out in three eight line stanzas which rhymes on alternating lines The first two stanzas show the immediate effect of his falling in love, and the final stanza then draws the experience together as life changing. In contrast to Clare Keats uses the traditional form of a ballad where each stanza contains four lines and rhymes on every other line. This makes Keats poem very lyrical and the poem forms a warning against love. The use of “sans merci” is very significant because it is clear to us that La Belle Dame is either a sorceress or enchantress. By using “sans merci”, we see that she does not have mercy for the men which she puts under her spell as she quickly loses interest after they are in her clutches. She is always looking out for new conquests, relishing her power over the men. No one can resist her charms not even the most powerful of people such as kings, princes, and brave warriors.

In both poems, both of the poets John Clare and John Keats give us their similar views on love causing illness and death. We see this as realistic as in both poems the poets use literal and metaphorical imagery to persuade us that love causes illness and death. In Keats’ poem, the knight becomes pale as if he is ill which enforces Keats’ view of love as an illness. In Clare’s poem, he has lost the ability to love as if he is ill.