Cousin Kate was written in the 1900 and the seduction was written in 1980. Both of the poems were written by different authors. In both of the poems, both women get seduced by men and they just get rejected by both men too. They must bare the consequences of their mistakes and the men that had took advantage of them were free to carry on with their lives.
Both of the poems are from different periods and make exploitation more cruel by using innocent and vulnerable girls. In contrast to the two innocent girls, the two men were dark, cruel and predatory.The lord misuses his position in his seduction because he creepily watches Kate at her gate. He lures the girl like a hunter.
He praises the girl and makes Kate feel in love with him. The both poems are similar because in seduction the boy is in control of her and he led her. “Plies her with alcohol” I think he had planned all of this. Both of the men are cruel and have a low view of women and the lord sees the girl as a “plaything” he explores the simile as a glove. The boy too is unpleasant by spitting and he strokes her legs and thighs.
He only spoke well of his solvent abuse and only talked about his own interests.The neighbours whispered “you always looked the type” even though the reader is left in no doubt that the girl was a very innocent and well behaved girl. This suggests it still hasn’t changed, women are still victims as they were in the olden times. In Cousin Kate , it says “I sit and howl in dust”, and the neighbours call her “an outcast thing” this suggests that she is a social outcast now because she has had sex out of wedlock.
It also says “ I moan, an unclean thing” this suggests that she were pregnant. It also suggests that she has lost her virginity.Both poets make a comment on the way society treats girls who find themselves pregnant out of wedlock. The poem “seduction” is set in a awkward place, the Birkenhead Docks, It is a filthy place for a romantic day out, this suggests that the boy had planned all of this, to seduce her and leave her alone.
The other poem “ Cousin Kate” is set in the olden times because of the language which is old, and classic English. The maiden “Cousin Kate” had a simple working lifestyle, it says “hardened by sun and air”, it suggests the difference of social class between the maiden and the lord.
