Linking unrequited love

texts...

Comparing Never give all

the Heart by Yeats, The
Sorrows Of Young Werther
by Johann Wolfgang von
Goethe, First Love by Clare
and Twelfth Night by
Shakespeare
 Never give all the heart 
W.B Yeats

The poem is 14 lines in the form of a sonnet and it is written in simple

language, which can be linked to the idea, that by not giving your
heart to the person you love would be much simpler than having
your love unrequited, and complicating the matters of the heart.
The poem is written in rhyming couplets, which is seen as breaks
in the flow of the poem. This can possibly be personified with the
rhythm of beats in the heart when in love, but when the love is
unrequited, the heart ‘breaks’.
 The poem begins with ‘never give
all the heart, for love’. This seems
to be acting as a warning for those
individuals who fall in love to be
cautious with their heart and who
they give it to.
We can see the desperation of this
warning in line 8 ‘O never give the heart
outright’, perhaps stressing the pain that
the poet himself has experienced with his
unrequited love, which can be further
seen with the sentence beginning with
‘O’, which emphasises the grief an
individual experiences when their love
has not been reciprocated.
Never give all The break in the sentence before
adding ‘for love’ in one line
enforces the idea that it is only
the heart  for love that a person should not
completely commit themselves to
 
through their hearts, perhaps
Never give all the heart, for love suggesting that it can lead to
Will hardly seem worth thinking of disastrous consequences if it
To passionate women if it seem turns out to be unrequited love.
Certain, and they never dream
That it fades out from kiss to kiss;
For everything that's lovely is
The breaks made within the
But a brief, dreamy.  Kind delight. sentences in the poem such as
O never give the heart outright, ‘but a brief, dreamy. Kind
For they, for all smooth lips can say, delight’, which shows that after
Have given their hearts up to the play. the breaking of the heart, the
And who could play it well enough heart no longer retains a
continuous flow.
if deaf and dumb and blind with love?
He that made this knows all the cost,
for he gave all his heart and lost.

The last two lines clearly stresses the consequence of unrequited

love because we can see Yeats’ broken dreams, and experience
his heartache when we read ‘for he gave all his heart and lost’,
because it suggests that he has given up on his dream of being
loved by the person who he had wholeheartedly given his heart to
but in return his love had not been reciprocated.
 The Sorrows Of Young Werther
by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The novel is written in the style of an epistolary and is loosely based on a

fling Johann had when he was young that led him to suicidal feelings.

It is a collection of letters to his friend, Wilhelm, which makes it more

personal and heartfelt, therefore the reader feels more sympathy with
Werther.

Johann uses the technique stream of consciousness to create a more

informal writing style that compliments the form.

Written from a males perspective which is a contrast to many of the

extracts we have previously looked at.
 Creates a powerful image in the
readers mind using language to
express how it aggravates him
that he is unable to make her
love him.
Similar to the Yeats, both are saying you
can’t change how I feel; you can’t make
me feel love less intensely than I do now or
anymore than I already feel.
‘All that you need is patience.‘

Heart cries, 'No, ’

OCTOBER 27. I have not a crumb of comfort, not a
I could tear open my bosom with vexation to think grain’.
how little we are capable of influencing the feelings
of each other. No one can communicate to me those sensations of love, joy, rapture, and delight
which I do not naturally possess; and, though my heart may glow with the most lively affection, I
cannot make the happiness of one in whom the same warmth is not inherent.
OCTOBER 27: Evening.
I possess so much, but my love for her absorbs it all. I possess so much, but without her I have
nothing.
  Uses the word inherent to
Contrast to Warming her Pearls describe Charlotte as being able
as it is the pearls, the to distance herself from the love
materialistic item, that makes she feels. Whereas it is constant
The word possess gives the
her feel closer to her mistress ‘I for him she is able to switch it off
idea he wants to own her
feel their absence and I burn’ and ignore it for her love is not
and have control of her in
burn could be a reference to hell unconditional.
the way he does his
materialistic belongings. and torture which is a contrast
This portrays Werther as as it shows she is pained to be
being obsessive. without the item whereas
Werther is describing how it
would not matter if he had
nothing because ‘without her I
have nothing’.
 Compare to Echo and Narcissus in the
way he is tormented as he watches her
Short sentences and his pass ‘torment it is to see so much
use of exclamation loveliness passing’ similar to ‘like a
marks could symbolise starving wolf following a stag too strong
the excitement she to be tackled’ both lines present
provokes in him. someone so in love they want to take
hold of them yet they are unable to
reach out.

OCTOBER 30.
One hundred times have I been on the point of embracing her. Heavens! what a torment it is to see so much
loveliness passing and repassing before us, and yet not dare to lay hold of it! And laying hold is the most natural of
human instincts. Do not children touch everything they see? And I!
 

Contrast to Dusty Answer. Judith Compares himself to a child which

The frequent breaks
in the sentences
could reflect how his
heart his faltering as
he is unable to act
upon his feelings.
is willing to put herself out there
‘Last night I gave you what has
always belonged to you’ whereas
Werther is meek and unable to
act upon his feelings. ‘yet not
dare to lay hold of it!’
could represent his innocence and
the pureness of his love for her.
Also the amount he is mystified and
awestruck by her , the same way
children are amazed by everything
they see.
 Echo and Narcissus comparison, ‘Echo
moped under the leaves humiliated, she
hid’. Like he ‘hides’ in bed she hides in the
woods as their loss of love consumes them
causing them to waste away for nothing is
worth living for apart from that one person.
He realises that he is the reason for his
pain, he has no one else to blame. In
Dusty Answer Judith feels her pain is due
to her own fault ‘it had been so
improper, so altogether monstrous to
write like that’.

NOVEMBER 3.
Witness, Heaven, how often I lie down in my bed with a wish, and even a hope, that I may never
awaken again. And in the morning, when I open my eyes, I behold the sun once more, and am wretched. If I
were whimsical, I might blame the weather, or an acquaintance, or some personal disappointment, for my
discontented mind; and then this insupportable load of trouble would not rest entirely upon myself. But, alas!
I feel it too sadly. I am alone the cause of my own woe, am I not? Truly, my own bosom contains the
source of all my sorrow, as it previously contained the source of all my pleasure. Am I not the same being who
once enjoyed an excess of happiness, who, at every step, saw paradise open before him, and whose heart
was ever expanded toward the whole world? And this heart is now dead, no sentiment can revive it; my eyes
are dry; and my senses, no more refreshed by the influence of soft tears, wither and consume my brain. I
suffer much, for I have lost the only charm of life: that active, sacred power which created worlds around me,
-- it is no more. When I look from my window at the distant hills, and behold the morning sun
breaking through the mists, and illuminating the country around, which is still wrapped in
silence, whilst the soft stream winds gently through the willows, which have shed their leaves;
when glorious nature displays all her beauties before me, and her wondrous prospects are ineffectual to
extract one tear of joy from my withered heart, I feel that in such a moment I stand like a reprobate
before heaven, hardened, insensible, and unmoved. Oftentimes do I then bend my knee to the earth, and
implore God for the blessing of tears, as the desponding labourer in some scorching climate prays for the
dews of heaven to moisten his parched corn.
But I feel that
Contrast Godwhose
to Yeats does not grant sunshine or that
This implies rain God
to our
will importunate entreaties.
Uses descriptive And oh, those
bygone days, whose memory
personified heart expresses now torments me! why were they
not give to those who beg so fortunate? Because I then waited with
language to emphasise
patience
its painfor the
this blessings
guys ofso
heart is the Eternal,but
and received
only hiswho
to those giftshave
with the grateful
howfeelings
little he offeels
a thankful
in heart.
dead he can feel nothing. waited with patience and comparison to how much
‘ineffectual to extract one are therefore worthy of he is able to recall.
tear of joy from my withered what they desire.
heart’.
.
 First Love by John Clare

John Clare was commonly known as “the Northamptonshire Peasant Poet” and
since his formal education was brief, he resisted the use of the increasingly-
standardised English grammar in his poetry and prose. He was born the son of a
farm labourer who came to be known for his representations of the English
countryside.

In terms of structure, the poem has three stanzas and eight lines in each stanza;
there is twenty-four lines altogether. The poem rhythms, it goes in A, B, A, B form
and is in first person, because it uses a lot of I, for example”I could not see a single
thing” or “I never saw so sweet a face”.

From the title we can see that the poet was never in love before, which
consequently meant that the pain was emphasised when the love was unrequited.
‘First Love’ has a lyrical texture with rhyming couplets, ‘A, B, A, B, C, D, C, D’ ‘,
which could resemble the beating of the heart.
 
Overall Clare never learned to spell or use grammar properly and wrote his poetry
whilst walking in the local fields. His surroundings have reflected his poetry since it
is extremely expressive and flowing.
 First Love’ emphasises an instant
attraction and highlights the aspect of
unrequited love as the relationship
between the poet and the person he
loves has not even started. ‘And when
she looked, what could I ail?’ is a
rhetorical question which reveals how
he is hardly acknowledged and it is only
in his own mind that she even
perceived his love for her. John Clare
spent much of his life in an insane
asylum, but escaped in 1841 to look for
his first love that he thought he would
be reunited with, but consequently he
never was and returned to asylum.
They spoke as chords do from the string, pale as deadly pale,' and 'my life and all
First Love’ contains synaesthesia can be
seen in phrases such as ‘Words from my
eyes did start’. ‘First Love’ can also be
compared to ‘The Folly of Being Comforted’ My heart has left its dwelling-place
since the heart is personified, where Clare is
love ‘struck’ and ‘My heart has left its
dwelling place / And can return no more.’
This device provokes sympathy for the
writers, because it can be viewed that the
heart is more influential than the head.
First Love In the second line it says “With
 
love so sudden and so sweet”,
I ne’er was struck before that hour
With love so sudden and so sweet,
this line tells us that the poet fell in
love so suddenly this line has
Her face bloomed like a sweet flower
alliteration, for example “so
And stole my heart away complete.
sudden and so sweet”.
My face turned pale as deadly pale.
My legs refused to walk away,
And when she looked, what could I ail?
My life and all seemed turned to clay.
 
And then my blood rushed to my face
And took my eyesight quite away,
The trees and bushes round the place
Seemed midnight at noonday.
Clare also does not want anyone to experience
I could not see a single thing,
the same pain as but is in the middle of dying.
Words from my eyes did start – This is evident in the lines; 'My face turned
And blood burnt round my heart. seemed turned to clay’ enables the reader to
  sympathise with the pain he is undergoing.
Are flowers the winter’s choice?
Is love’s bed always snow?
She seemed to hear my silent voice,
Not love’s appeals to know.
I never saw so sweet a face
As that I stood before.
And can return no more.
 
John Clare ‘My heart has left its dwelling-place / And can
1793 – 1864, b. England return no more.’ This means that he feels that
he cannot love again despite the love not being
returned.
 Twelfth Night by William
Shakespeare

As a play, Shakespeare’s romantic comedy relies on delivery of the plot through dialogue. This choice of form was
effective as Shakespeare can present the thoughts and feelings of his characters clearly with the use of
monologues, allowing the audience to engage more intimately with them.

A play of disguise and mistaken identity, Twelfth Night also focuses on the pain caused by love. In this scene (Act I
Scene i), Duke Orsino in his despondency, is pining over his love for Olivia, who has rejected him as she is
mourning for her brother and has vowed to wear a veil to cover her face for seven years, and refuses to marry
until then. The extent of Orsino’s despair at his rejection is evident from his opening speech...
 Recurring theme in
unrequited love
texts
Writers seem to be
preoccupied by the
impression of the
From this exclamation first sight of their
made by Orsino, the love (also seen in
audience is presented ‘First Love’)
with the extent of his This suggests the
infatuation, as uncertainty and
mention of the name fleetingness
of his love triggers involved in such a
such a reaction love
revealing his
desperation to hear
some word from her Meaning salt
water which
hurts the
eyes,
phrases
such as this
First three lines; Orsino describes highlight the
love as an “appetite” which he cannot pain caused
satisfy and his desires as “fell and by love
cruel hounds”. Shakespeare uses
such language to present the idea of
Orsiono feeling tortured by his love
and reveals his anguish in having
been rejected.

Orsino’s opening speech is delivered in iambic

pentameter, allowing focus to build on his choice of
topic; his unrequited love