Love Brings Out the Worst in People
             Does your reading of these poems make you believe either or both of these statements?
             Refer to at least three poems, one of which must be Pre-1900.
             In this essay I am going to refer to 'Our Love Now', 'To His Coy Mistress' and ' The Beggar Woman'. These poems reflect the way that love can bring out the best and worst in people's relationships or attitudes to love.
             'Our Love Now' is interesting as it shows two contrasting attitudes to love. The poem is set out in columns, each containing four stanzas. The poem is written in the first person with the male protagonist being the narrator. The male character reports the woman's words, as she would have said them.
             Love brings out the best in the male narrator as he attempts to rebuild a damaged relationship. He uses a series of metaphors (as does she) comparing love to a wound, a burn, a haircut and a storm. With each comparison he is optimistic about the outcome. The wound will heal, the scald will disappear, the hair will regroup and the storm will subside. We can imagine the wound relating to trust in the relationship. Perhaps one of the partners, possibly the woman, has been betrayed. The 'raging storm' could relate to an argument they may have had. These images are strong visually and help us imagine the emotions that they relate to.
             The woman's perspective is different; love has brought out the worst in her because she has been hurt. Whereas the final line in each stanza spoken by the man is positive and hopeful, her words are negative and bleak – 'There is always a scar' where the wound was. 'A numbness' prevails' after a burn and so on.
             The most decisive line in the poem is the last line. The first three stanzas of the woman's point of view have ended with the phrase ' such is
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