Question

Compare and contrast the type of love in "Amoretti" with the kind written about by A.E Housman in " Bredon Hill."

Like as a ship that through the ocean wide,

by conduct of some star doth make her way,

whenas a storm hath dimmed her trusty guide,

out of her course doth wander dar astray,

So I whose star, that wont with her bright ray,

me to direct, with clouds is overcast,

do wander now in darkness and dismay,

throgh hidden perils round about me placed.

Yet hope I well, that when this storm is past

my Helice, the lodestar of my life

will shine again, and look on me at last,

with lovely light to clear my cloudy grief.

Till then I wander carefull, comfortless,

in secret sorrow and sad pensiveness

pohnpei397 · Accepted Answer

In this poem (Amoretti Sonnet XXXIV) Spenser is writing about unrequited love. In the poem, the speaker says that he can only wander around, burdened by his cares, sad and comfortless because the woman he loves does not return his love.

In "In Summertime on Bredon Hill," A. E. Housman is also writing about a love that brings more sadness than it does joy. In that way, the love felt by Housman's speaker is similar to that felt by Spenser's speaker. However, the circumstances are much different. Housman's speaker's love is not unrequited, exactly. The object of his love did love him, but she is dead.

In both poems, the speakers are saddened because of the love they feel for others -- that is what is similar. However, Spenser's speaker's love is unrequited because its object does not love him. Housman's speaker's love cannot be reciprocated because its object is dead.

Compare and contrast the type of love in "Amoretti" with the kind written about by A.E Housman in " Bredon Hill." Like as a ship that through the ocean wide, by conduct of some star doth make...

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