How Do Poets Present Love from a Romantic Perspective in...

â€Å"Romantic† – this word holds many different connotations and brings to mind a collection of different images. It can be â€Å"fanciful, impractical, unrealistic†; it can be â€Å"ardent, passionate, fervent†; and it can be â€Å"imaginary, fictitious, or fabulous†. According to the dictionary, â€Å"romantic† is an adjective characterized by a preoccupation with love, or by the idealizing of love or one’s beloved. In the three poems I have chosen – â€Å"Let me not to the marriage of true minds† by William Shakespeare, â€Å"La Belle Dame Sans Merci† by John Keats and â€Å"Piano† by D.H. Lawrence, the poets use a variety of linguistic and literary devices, as well as explore different themes and imagery, to present love from a â€Å"romantic† perspective. The â€Å"romance†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦show more content†¦Similarly, Shakespeare also employs the themes of time and eternity to glorify love in another one of his most famous poems – Sonnet 18, â€Å"Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?†. In this sonnet, the speaker compares a â€Å"beloved† to a summer’s day, and says that the beloved’s eternal summer will never fade, that the beloved would be kept alive forever by the poem. Once again, Shakespeare personifies death, this time as the one who oversees a â€Å"shade† - Shakespeare writes that the beloved will conquer all and will not be swept into this sickly light of Death. Thirdly, Shakespeare’s use of iambic pentameter and rhythm also elevates the subject of love and presents it from a romantic perspective. The sonnet manages to have a consistent rhythm, yet seem conversational; it is able to be formal and planned, but casual and spontaneous at the same time. This is achieved through Shakespeare’s ingenious use of rhythm and pacing. The iambic pentameter becomes very obvious after the third line, â€Å"Which alters when it alteration finds†, thus creating a consistent pacing. However, the poet uses dramatic exclamations to break up the rhythm, making the speaker seem more human than a machine – an example would be, â€Å"O no! It is an ever fixed mark†. The metaphors and imagery used all weave a sophisticated sonnet, but the actual language is very simple, making the sonnet easy to read and the claims well-illustrated. The closing two lines, â€Å"If this be error