Love Poems Robert Burns' "A Term Paper

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The extent of the hyperbole may not be clear to a modern audience, but ten thousand miles was an almost incomprehensible distance when Burns wrote the poem and would have taken a tremendous amount of time, regardless of method of travel.

In sharp contrast to Burns' poem, Shakespeare's poem makes it clear that he does not believe his love is supernatural. While many love poems, like Burns' "A Red, Red Rose," describe love as something greater than nature, Shakespeare celebrates the earthly nature of his love. Instead of using commonplace metaphors to exault his lover's beauty, Shakespeare uses these metaphors to demonstrate that his lover is not an exceptional beauty. Her eyes are "nothing like the sun;...her breasts are dun,...black wires grow on her head," and her breath reeks. (Shakespeare). In other words, Shakespeare acknowledges that his lover is simply a woman, not something greater than this earth. In fact, he specifically states that his lover is not a goddess. Compared with the over-the-top love sonnets of the day, it seems that Shakespeare has little affection for his lover.

However, the poem makes it clear that Shakespeare does have intense feelings for his lover. He loves "to hear her speak," even though her voice is not as pleasing as music. (Shakespeare). More importantly, he proclaims that his love is as rare "as any she belied with false compare." (Shakespeare). What Shakespeare makes clear is that he does not believe that his lover is anything more than human.

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He does not love her despite the fact that she is merely mortal, but because she is merely mortal. In fact, he seems to suggest that those who use extensive metaphors and hyperbolic language, like Burns, are not being honest with their lovers, but are using falsehoods to woe them.

Interestingly enough, though Shakespeare and Burns use hyperbole, metaphor, and the theme of supernatural love in different ways, they share a common goal: convincing their lovers that they love them in a unique and rare way. Burns does so in a traditional manner, by conveying the idea that his love is so special and unique that it will transcend the normal physical and metaphysical boundaries to last to the ends of the earth. Shakespeare does so in a non-traditional manner; he lists why he finds his love to be so earthly and not supernatural, but then turns his own statements around and uses them as a way of demonstrating why his love is so special and unique. Both poems have their merits and both make some use of conventional means of writing love poetry. Even more interesting is the fact that both poems, which seem so different in their approach to love, have the same goal and produce the same result, despite using the theme of supernatural love in such contrasting ways.

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