First Draft :: Creative Writing Essays

First Draft =========== This poem is based in the 19th century. There are three main characters in the story. Cousin Kate, Cottage maiden and the Lord. The title of this poem is self-explanatory. As you can tell the poem is based on a character called cousin Kate. As she is the main character in the poem, the whole poem revolves around her. The poem is based on Triangular Conflict, which means that there is a conflict between three people. The poem basically tells us about 19th century life and peoples attitudes towards unlawful relationships. The poem tells us about a cottage maiden who had an affair with a Lord. She looses her virginity to him, and then regrets the whole ordeal. In the 19th century if you were not known as pure, then fellow friends and family would reject you. It was seen to be unclean and impure if you were to have sex before marriage. Men would then look down on you in disgust, as would friends and family. The poem demonstrates how a man can love a woman, then throw her away and move onto another as he pleases, and because he was a lord the cottage maiden could not say a thing. This brings into light the difference between higher and lower class people. If the cottage maiden had said anything, people would not believe her and would turn a blind eye to her, and to her accusations. Stanza 1 portrays the introduction to the poem. The issues raised in these two stanzas show that she was 'lured' by the lord. This tells us that he dragged her in like an animal luring its prey, waiting to attack its victim. At the beginning of stanza 1 it tells us that she is happy with her life. According to the introduction she works on a cottage and is happy with her life. According to this she is 'contented' her mates. She is happy with her friends and is all together happy with her life. She then goes on to say "why did a great lord find me out". This tells us that out of all the workers, or all the girls the lord knows, the cottage maiden was chosen. The start of the poem is written in first person narrative and carries on like that throughout the poem. The structure of this stanza is written in first person narrative, this means it was written from her point of view, and shows her feelings and no one else. The language used is very early 19th-20th century; it gives the impression of happiness leading to sadness.