eros

Love is a perception in each and every persons mind. It varies and changes depending on the person. Yet love is also a game, a game of poker where the player thinks he has the upper hand and bets those fifteen thousand dollars he doesn't have. He's sure he's won,then ends up loosing because he took the risky chance of trusting something so unreliable. In both the poems about Eros by Robert Bridges and Anne Stevenson, two concepts of Eros are created through the use of imagery, rhetorical questions, rhyme scheme and diction. Where Robert Bridges presents Eros as both a blessing and a curse, while Anne Stevenson portrays a testimony of what most don't perceive as Eros. In both poems the authors use diction to create imagery to portray Eros. Robert Bridges uses words such as "exuberant, starry sheen, and idol" to create a beautiful image of what Eros is while Anne Stevenson uses imagery to portray Eros as someone less than beautiful and real through the use of words such as "thug, broken nose, and, squinty eyes." The comparison in description is used to create two different views on Eros. Robert Bridges' description serves to set a tone of longing to strive to be like Eros, strong, beautiful ,and full of youth,just as love should be. On the contrast Anne Stevenson uses harsh diction to portray Eros as someone who is abused and used to his expense, because people simply use him and never thank or help him. Robert Bridges uses a very clear and distinctive rhyme scheme to set the poem as a ballad, while Anne Stevenson's follows no specific rhyme scheme yet classifies as a lyrical poem. The choice of using a ballad for the poem eros by Bridges is creative for it goes hand in hand with what he is trying to portray of eros; it inspires love, affection, and longing. The poem has a heartbeat rhythm characteristic of a ballad that makes it that much more relatable since it speaks of love. While a lyrical poem is the best fit for Stevenson's Eros for the image she is trying to create is one of realism, and ingratitude, that is clearly portrayed by the invisible beat that can be attributed to the blows she describes in the poem that lovers give to Eros and have made him look the way he does. In both poems rhetorical questions are used to create a sense of presence and in certitude. Bridges uses them to question Eros directly to what he might feel, what he yearns for, while Stevenson questions if what the woman sees is truly Eros, for the gods appearance that stands before the woman is not beautiful but hurt. Bridges describes Eros in the most beautiful of ways truly standing up to the reputation of what Gods are perceived to look like, but in the end questions "Ah yet no victim of thy grace, None who e’er long’d for thy embrace, Hath cared to look upon thy face."(lines 23-25) to state that although he is gorgeous the god of love has not found his own true love for all ask of him but none give. In the same way Stevenson creates this sense of loneliness within Eros by using him as a speaker in her poem that clearly states " ‘Know the brute you see Is what long overuse Has made of me. My face that so offends you Is the sum Of blows your lust delivered one bye one." (Lines 10-16) Stating that Eros gives lovers all the love they ask for yet sacrifices himself to the lust that most confuse as love, and later portrays himself as a slave to what they ask of him, for he himself has not found love but is constantly helping those that cal and ask for love. In such a way Eros is then looked to with compassion at the end of both poems for now the reader feels the need to feel what Eros feels and give what little they can of love back to him so that he is not so lonely. Both poems illustrate the blessing and curse of being Eros. For yes it's beautiful to be the god of love, the one that can bring a person that which they most long for; yet it is also a curse for there will always be one to give love to but none to receive it from for Eros. In the same way between lovers the couple that cherishes their love, treats and tends to it on a day to day basis will always beat the couple that knows that they have love but count on that knowledge to guide them through; as in the game of poker. There will always be that one player that bets the whole extent of his money for he is sure of his cards yet will always loose because its not about who has the most it's about who cherishes what they have the most that wins. Therefore Eros is hurt and lonely for no one cherishes what he gives up for other to love, and in the end makes Eros such a god for he gives without expecting something in return; the true meaning of love.