Watching Tennis and A Subaltern’s Love Song Essay -- English Literatur

Watching Tennis and A Subaltern’s Love Song Introduction The themes and ideas are so similar that if one was to briefly explain what both poems were about, you would think that they were exactly the same poems. Yet what really separates these two poems is their technical side. Form The form of a poem can be mainly observed by looking at and listening to the poem. Rhyme scheme, verse length, and line length are but a few examples of a poem’s form. A Subaltern’s Love song is a relatively long poem compared to Watching Tennis. It contains eleven verses, each of four lines length. There are between ten and thirteen syllables in each line. As this poem tells us a story and has a regular rhyme scheme, it is a narrative and can be classed as a ballad. It contains rhyming couplets which show a sense of control and harmony. Watching Tennis is a less orthodox poem. It is a Petrarchan sonnet, containing fourteen lines. This type of sonnet is divided up into two verses, one of length eight lines; the other of six. John Heath Stubbs has divided these two verses in equal lengths again. This results in both halves of the poem containing different verse lengths. The first two verses contain four lines, whereas the last two verses contain three lines. The rhyming scheme too is unorthodox. The rhyming scheme is in the form ABAB for the first two verses and although the first two verses rhyme in order, the last two don’t. This shows how the author is trying to create an image of loss of control and harmony. Style Both poems have a very distinct style. A Subaltern’s Love Song has a very strict and orthodox rhythm which emphasises the idea of how the man gets closer and closer to his dream woman. The steady... ... league. However, A Subaltern’s Love Song talks more in a hopeful, jocular light. The man believes that the girl is in a different league to him. He also talks in a very graceful, pleasant and sweet way about the girl, â€Å"Speed of a swallow, Grace of a boy.† He talks in less of a seductive sexy way as Heath-Stubbs does. â€Å"Your mouth on mine found its silent need.† However, Heath-Stubbs also talks about how the girl is graceful and delicate, â€Å"You move like a dancer,† Conclusion In conclusion, although both poems share very similar ideas and themes, they differ on the technical side. A Subaltern’s Love Song is written in a much more orthodox fashion than Watching Tennis. However, one major concept which both poems share is that they both commence with the idea of the man and woman in love with each other as hopeless, and end with that idea a being hopeful.