Jonathan Chadick Period 3 February 7, 2012 Eros: Love or Lust In Robert Bridges and Anne Stevensons poems EP and

Eros, we see a whole new side of the Greek god than the happy-go-lucky symbol for love. While both authors understand and praise the power of Eros, Bridges seems to think of the god in a questionably sympathetic way, while Stevenson connotes him in a compassionately personal way through differentiated diction, style, imagery and most importantly narrative structure. Bridges is skeptical from the beginning about Eros. The first line, Why has thou nothing in thy face? suggests that Eros has something to hide or be ashamed of. In the following two lines, Bridges uses parallelism in beginnings and sentence structure to convey the undeserved power vested upon Eros. Yet, with all of this questioning, there is sympathy. From lines 21-25, Bridges points out positives of Eros and explains his recognitions. Bridges uses the Greek title and a Greek form of English diction to convey the knowledge of the narrative criticism and sympathy. Stevenson takes a different angle. She starts off with a familiar piece of imagery with school and children in colloquial English. She uses this to shed negative light on Eros with the imagery of a bully. As Stevensons main character/narrator describes, I call for love / But help me, who arrives? / This thug with broken nose / And squinty eyes, Eros character is a disappointment to her. This narrator seems to be a voice of reason or one of the common people, trying to express discontent. The turning point of this poem occurs when Eros cries Madam. This shows his sorrow and further lines reveal him potentially being the victim. When Eros says, My face that so offends you / Is the sum / Of blows your lust delivered/ One by one, we can see it further backs up the argument of Stevensons compassionately personal style. The narration styles of each of the poems are essential to a thorough understanding of the imagery portrayed and the purpose we derive from each work. Bridges takes a third person impersonal style to stress the outside point of view. Stevenson uses third person as well, but employs a more personal form to provide the closeness with Eros and play to the emotional side of the audience.

Both Stevenson and Bridges stress societal disapproval towards Eros, but also understand and express Eros not being the only one at fault. They accomplish their writing purpose, but do it by using different narration styles, diction, and imagery throughout EP and Eros.