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Poems that evoke jealousy delve into the complexities of envy, desire, and rivalry. The poet skillfully captures the bitter sting of jealousy, often exploring the corrosive effects it can have on relationships and self-esteem.
Using intense language, these verses encapsulate the tumultuous inner conflict experienced in the throes of jealousy. Such poetry provides a cathartic release for these potent emotions, inviting the reader to confront and understand their own feelings of envy.
In Sheenagh Pugh’s ‘Sweet 18’, an older woman expresses her desire to regain youth as she battles the temptation to take it from others.
You move before me with all the unknown ease
of your age; your face clear of the awareness
that clouds mine. Your only scars; where you tried
to shave, before there was any need.
Sonnet 29, ‘When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes’ by William Shakespeare explores emotions of self-doubt, envy, despair, and the power of love.
When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
In Part VII of ‘The Merchant’s Tale’, Chaucer delves deep into symbolism as Damian and May make the final arrangements for their affair.
Somme clerkes holden that felicitee
Stant in delit, and therfore certeyn he,
This noble Januarie, with al his myght,
In honest wyse, as longeth to a knyght,
‘Symptoms of Love’ is a fascinating mediation on the agony that can arise from being in love and whether that suffering is ever worthwhile.
Love is universal migraine,
A bright stain on the vision
Blotting out reason.
Sylvia Plath’s ‘The Rival’ is about betrayal and conflict, comparing the rival to the cold, distant moon and capturing the frustration of unresolved tension.
If the moon smiled, she would resemble you.
You leave the same impression
Of something beautiful, but annihilating.
Both of you are great light borrowers.
Duffy’s ‘Warming Her Pearls’ explores the restrained lesbian desire of a maid for her mistress through the pearls of the mistress’s necklace.
Next to my own skin, her pearls. My mistress
bids me wear them, warm them, until evening
when I'll brush her hair. At six, I place them
round her cool, white throat. All day I think of her,
‘Mary’ tells a sad story of a woman whose beauty brings her isolation. Through Mary’s experience, Blake highlights the destructive power of envy and the struggle to find your place in the world when judged solely on appearance.
Sweet Mary, the first time she ever was there,
Came into the Ball room among the Fair;
The young Men & Maidens around her throng,
And these are the words upon every tongue:
‘Pictor Ignotus’ is a poem about an artist who chooses obscurity over fame, painting religious works in solitude rather than seeking public acclaim.
I could have painted pictures like that youth’s
Ye praise so. How my soul springs up! No bar
Stayed me–ah, thought which saddens while it soothes!
–Never did fate forbid me, star by star,
Carol Ann Duffy’s ‘Money Talks’ gives money a bold and unapologetic voice, revealing how deeply it shapes people’s lives, decisions, and beliefs.
I am the authentic language of suffering. My cold, gold eye
does not blink. Mister, you want nice time? No problem.
I say, Screw You. I buy and sell the world. I got
Midas touch, turn bread to hard cash. My million tills
Ted Hughes’ ‘Anniversary’ commemorates his mother’s death, exploring memory, loss, and the lasting impact of familial bonds.
My mother in her feathers of flame
Grows taller. Every May Thirteenth
I see her with her sister Miriam. I lift
The torn-off diary page where my brother jotted
‘Shakespearean Sonnet’ by R. S. Gwynn is a celebration of Shakespeare’s plays. Each line of the poem refers to a different tragedy, comedy, or history play.
A man is haunted by his father’s ghost.
Boy meets girl while feuding families fight.
A Scottish king is murdered by his host.
Two couples get lost on a summer night.
‘Sonnet 128,’ also known as ‘How oft when thou, my music, music play’st,’ is a sensuous poem. In it, the speaker describes the way his mistress plays the harpsichord and how he longs to touch her.
How oft when thou, my music, music play'st,
Upon that blessed wood whose motion sounds
With thy sweet fingers when thou gently sway'st
The wiry concord that mine ear confounds,
‘Sonnet 144,’ also known as ‘Two loves I have of comfort and despair,’ expresses the speaker’s fears in regard to the Fair Youth’s purity. The poem is concerned with how he may be corrupted by the Dark Lady.
Two loves I have of comfort and despair,
Which like two spirits do suggest me still:
The better angel is a man right fair,
The worser spirit a woman coloured ill.
By utilizing different types of flowers, Lamb’s ‘Envy’ showcases that envy is an unnecessary quality to possess.
his rose-tree is not made to bear
The violet blue, nor lily fair,
Nor the sweet mignionet:
And if this tree were discontent,
Browning’s ‘A Light Woman’ is a dramatic monologue in which the narrator tells how he disrupts a loving relationship between his friend and his friend’s lover. Through the narrator’s actions, the poem expounds on love and possessiveness.
So far as our story approaches the end,
Which do you pity the most of us three?---
My friend, or the mistress of my friend
With her wanton eyes, or me?
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