Jordan Reid BerkowSay no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Personal Response Lambert December 14, 1998 The Love Poems of Rich, Marvell, and Campion: Realism versus Idealization Adrienne Rich's "Twenty-One Love Poems," which explore the nature of lesbian love, differ strikingly from the classic poems of love written by a man to a woman, such as "To His Coy Mistress" by Andrew Marvell and "There Is a Garden in Her Face" by Thomas Campion. Rich's poems focus on the "we" aspect of love, the concept of two strong but imperfect women facing all opposition together, while love poems written by men are much more reverent, almost adoring of the their subjects. Lesbian poems give the sense that love is "real," a connection based on much more than physical attraction, while masculine poems focus on an idealized vision of woman: beautiful, pure, distant. The women in Marvell and Campion's poems are lovely facades, storybook figures without any real depth or imperfection. Perhaps lesbian love poems could be seen as less eloquent, or less impeccably romantic, but the romance in them is found in the genuine nature of love. Rich is undoubtedly writing about experiences he's had, real people he's loved, while Marvell and Campion could seemingly write about any beautiful, but otherwise characterless, woman they've seen. Rich's emphasis on the two members of the couple as equals is in stark contrast to the poems of Marvell and Campion, in which the female subject is placed on a pedestal and kept at a distance. There is little sense of a real-life relationship between the man and the woman. The men's poems are simple descriptions of the woman and their love for her, with little discussion of how they interact or how they may feel about her personality. Rich, however, creates an "us against the world" vibe, writing "I touch you knowing we weren't born tomorrow, / and somehow, each of us will help the other live, / and somewhere, each of us must help the others die" (Rich 237). Certainly this discrepancy is at least partly the product of the different eras in which the poems were written; Campion and Marvell were writing in the 16th and 17th centuries respectively, while Rich's "Twenty-One Love Poems" were written in the mid-1770s. Victorian and Elizabethan culture dictated that women were much further removed from the often base realities of life: revered, but not seen as an equal partner in a relationship. Sexuality would not have been a topic to be discussed openly. Rich's discussion of the sexual nature of his relationships, however, is instrumental in fully understanding the equal relationships he experiences. “I placed my hand on your thigh / to comfort us both, your hand rested on mine, / we remained like this, suffering together” (Ricco 243). While it is possible that the discrepancy in focus is due to the era, it is certainly notable that Rich focuses on the romance found in the way the two lovers support each other, helping each other through life, while men's love poems keep the woman away, an idol more than a human being. Marvell and Campion both describe a woman as lovely to perfection. Marvel writes, "[t]here's a garden on her face / Where roses and white lilies grow; / A heavenly paradise is that place" (Kennedy 288) while Campion describes a woman who "[a]n a hundred years should go and praise / your eyes and stare at your forehead” (Kennedy 375). Marvell's and Campion's poems are both flowery descriptions andlyrics about the beautiful woman they love, but it is unclear whether they love her for any reason other than her beauty. Rich, in contrast, finds romance in the "reality" of the woman he loves. “We crouched in the open hatch / vomiting into plastic bags / for three hours between St. Pierre and Miquelon. / I've never felt closer to you” (Rich 242). Clearly, this is neither a delicate nor a particularly beautiful image. Rich's love is not idolatry, simple worship of an external facade. He loves the women in these poems because they are so real, so very human, with "traveled thighs" and "generous, delicate mouths / where pain and laughter sleep together" that make them imperfect, yet perfect because of their wholeness as a person. They are not distant, untouchable -. are very possible, and therefore love is much more real and passionate. Rich's poems are romantic because the love expressed in them is so genuine. The reader of Rich's poems gets the sense that Rich actually knew these women, really felt them powerful emotions In the classic poems there is a distant quality, a feeling of admiration or lust that almost anyone could probably imagine, regardless of whether that they actually experienced it "If we had enough world and time, / . . .We would sit and think which way / To walk, and spend our long day of love" (Kennedy 375). There is a banal and simplistic feel to the experiences with the woman that Marvell recounts. Rich's poems, however, possess a kind of rawness, a sensuality not easily imagined. “And my incurable anger, my incurable wounds / open further with tears, I cry helplessly, / and still control the world, and you are not in my arms” (Rich 238) This powerful and bold emotion lays bare Rich's very soul; he's clearly not hiding behind anything. This is reminiscent of the stereotype that it is much easier for women to express emotions than men, since men often fear that a manifestation of emotions will make them weak, vulnerable. Neither Marvell nor Campion risks anything in their poems; they are safe, distant. Little personal information about the poet is found in both poems, except that each narrator appreciates a woman's beauty (hardly a trait that invites an impression of weakness). he risks much more with his poems, showing off, showing his love for the women he writes poems to, baring his soul to the world for them. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Of course, which poem is more romantic all comes down to the matter of personal preference. What is more romantic: reverent idealization or realistic, imperfect love? Appreciation of a person's physical characteristics or of the person as a whole human being? Personally, I find that Rich's poems describe a much deeper and real love than Marvell's or Campion's poems. The love Rich expresses for women in his poems is a total, deep, and far-reaching love; he loves every part of these women, even their imperfections. Marvell and Campion only see one side of the women they “love,” and so I cannot believe that the love they write about in their poems will be deep or long-lasting. I don't think this discrepancy is entirely due to the fact that Marvell and Campion wrote heterosexual poetry, while Rich is a lesbian writing to a woman, although I do believe that sexual identity plays a role in how one views love. The fact that there are many more obstacles to lesbian love than to heterosexual love would certainly give more of an "us against the world" twist to Rich's poems. Furthermore, the different eras during which.