Love through the Ages poetry summary table / revision tool A Level English Literature A

Love Poetry Through the Ages



Poem Poet Form / Type (if applic) Summary of content Link to theme of love

Sonnet (English structure) The speaker believes that Enduring power of love
Sonnet 116 Shakespeare (1609) - 4,4,4,2 if you fall out of love then
Ends with a a you were never in love at
summarising rhyming all
couplet
Written in iambic
pentameter (5)

Sonnet - 4,4,6 The speaker selfishly Enduring power of love
Remember Rossetti Does not have a rhyming wants to be remembered Selfless love
couplet at the end at the start, however they
Pre-Raphaelite movement then change to wanting
their loved one to be
happy and move on

3x 6 line stanzas It is about the beauty and Aesthetic element of love
She Walks in Beauty Byron ABABAB rhyme structure aesthetic element of Admiration of beauty
Sentence end = end of admiration and reverence
each stanza though not necessarily
Romantic movement love. Somewhat lacking in
emotion

3x 4 line stanzas True love comes from Love of nature
The Garden of Love Blake (1794) Limited rhyming innocence which is pure Love of freedom, no
Songs of Innocence and and innate organised religion
Experience It is a comparison of a Love associated with
Written from the garden with a church innocence
perspective of an adult which has destroyed the
natural beauty and