Explain how the theme of love is presented in 'Mariana' and 'The despairing lover'.

... Explain how the theme of love is presented in 'Mariana' and 'The despairing lover'. This essay will explore and explain how the theme of love is shown and presented in two different poems. 'Mariana' is one poem and was written by Tennyson, the other is 'The despairing lover' which was written by William Walsh. By analysing both poems, it will determine how the theme of love is shown. 'Mariana' is a poem about love, isolation and abandonment. Tennyson is quite serious, sympathetic and not critical of Mariana at all. He tries to encourage sympathy from the reader by using repetition to remind us of her despair, "She only said, 'My life is dreary, He cometh not,' she said; She said, 'I am aweary, aweary, I would that I were dead!' This is a refrain at the end of each verse and changes slightly throughout the poem. This gives the effect of sympathy to the

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