Poetry Blog #3

Siren Song by Margaret Atwood 
My Mistress' Eyes are Nothing Like the Sun by William Shakespeare

The biggest difference between "Siren Song" and "My Mistress' Eyes are Nothing Like the Sun" is the tone. "Siren Song" adopts a spiteful tone that symbolizes deceit and false allure. It characterizes love as "irresistible," when "My Mistress' Eyes are Nothing like the Sun" would describe it as something more gentle and blooming. The diction in "Siren Song" is very sharp as well. Using words such as "forces," "dead," "fatal," and "help," Atwood negatively portrays love. In short, Atwood's view on romantic love is that it is a deadly force - one that is captivating but ultimately disappointing, repetitive, and scarring. 

William Shakespeare's "My Mistress' Eyes are Nothing like the Sun" takes on a completely different perspective. From the start, he describes love to be a wondrous experience, one he is so lucky to be experiencing first-hand. He writes of his beautiful mistress with reverence and admiration, not with a sickly desire or pure infatuation. Instead, he characterizes her delicately. "I have seen roses damasked red and white, but no such roses see I in her cheeks;" This prose emulates innocence and contrasts from Atwood's view on love. 

Personally, my view on love is much closer to the latter of the two poems. Call me a hopeless romantic and I'd straight up tell you that you're right. I will shamelessly spend my weekends watching typical romcoms and dabbling in Nicholas Sparks novels. And I will always believe in "great loves" and it inevitably happening to everyone at least once. I don't know, I'd just like to believe that love is a much happier and positive experience than what Atwood paints it out to be. Sure, I understand that any healthy relationship will have its ups and downs and that "My Mistress' Eyes are Nothing Like the Sun" is a bit excessive and frilly and froofy, but still, I relate to it. I am completely drawn to the possibility of the all-consuming, adventurous love where my significant other brings out the best (and even the worst) in me with excitement and even a bit of danger.