- Comes from a student currently attending Oxford University who received 4 A*s at A Level
- It is a comparison essay (the final question in Paper 1)
- Compares the Great Gatsby and the Pre-1900 poetry
- It is a good example of a good but attainable level of writing
Uitgebreide Litarary analysis EN samenvatting van The Great Gatsby
A Level Comparison Essay on Time and Relationships - The Great Gatsby and Pre-1900 Poetry
Summary of connections and comparisons of A Level English Literature: Gatsby and Love Poetry through the Ages
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English Literature A
Love Through the Ages
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C/W 28/03/21
Compare how F.Scott Fitzgerald and the pre-1900 love poets you have studied
present the pursuit of love. In your answer you must refer to at least 2 poems in
detail, but answers might use up to 3-4 poems if relevant.
In Jay Gatsby’s pursuit of Daisy in ‘The Great Gatsby’, Sir Thomas Wyatt’s pursuit of Anne
Boleyn in ‘Who so list to hount I knowe where is an hynde’ and the speaker’s pursuit of the
‘lady’ in John Keat’s poem, ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci. A Ballad’, they all fail to capture the
pursued. But there are varying consequences as a result of the pursuit, with death in ‘The
Great Gatsby’ (by F. Scott Fitzgerald) to no resolution in ‘Who So’. In all three texts, the
pursued is represented in a female that is desirable but is ultimately unattainable and
arguably does not want the pursuit. However, the pursued are arguably portrayed to be at
fault for the end result of the pursuit.
Gatsby cannot accept the fruitlessness of his relentless pursuit of Daisy, much like the
‘knight’ in ‘La Belle’, however, Wyatt has accepted the futility of the pursuit. Gatsby believes
that he can transcend the barriers (such as time, class and Daisy’s marriage) in his pursuit
to such an extent that when he sees Pammy, ‘he kept looking at the child with surprise’ as if
‘he had [n]ever really believed in its existence before.’ Gatsby’s shock is demonstrated with
the verb ‘kept’ which illustrates the magnitude of his disbelief at Pammy, who is a physical
manifestation of Tom and Daisy’s love, because her ‘existence’ causes the fracturing of his
illusion of Daisy’s life in the last five years. By showing Gatsby’s utter shock at the
disintegration of his dream, Fitzgerald is critiquing the allure and illusion of the American
Dream as it has made Gatsby believe that he can overcome barriers that are impenetrable in
his pursuit. In contrast, Wyatt knows that he must ‘drawe from the Deere’ but ‘faynting’ he
follows, showing the paradoxical nature of this pursuit as he has accepted the inevitability of
his failure, unlike Gatsby, yet he is putting himself through physical pain to continue his
pursuit. Wyatt acknowledges that he ‘seke[s] to hold the wynde’ with ‘a nett’, with ‘wynde’
being a metaphor for Boleyn’s wild, natural and untamed nature, similar to La Belle Dame’s
‘wild wild’ personality. By doing this, Wyatt knows that he cannot transcend the barrier to
his lust, which is actually the pursued woman’s desires, which is very similar to the ‘Belle
Dame’ arguably being a barrier to the knight’s love. This can be seen as the ‘lady … lulled’
him to sleep and abandoned him on the ‘cold hill’s side’, showing that she left him to battle
the elements by himself after making him feel a sense of security in their love, much like
Daisy does to Gatsby. However, throughout the poem, there is a suggestion that the
speaker misinterprets the Belle Dame’s actions as ‘she wept’ and he ‘shut her wild wild
eyes’. The repetition of ‘wild’ highlights the ‘knight’ glorifying his capture of the ‘lady’ as he
sees himself as someone who is worthy of her love. The ‘knight’ tries to continue to pursue
a relationship with the lady as he ‘shut’ down her negative emotions and tears with ‘kisses’,
connoting that he is trying to control her emotions towards him. This is comparable to
Gatsby trying to persuade Daisy that she never loved Tom, highlighting both the ‘knight’ and
Gatsby continue to pursue an illusion of their love because they cannot face a reality of
imperfect love (in Gatsby’s case) or rejection (in ‘La Belle’).
Furthermore, in all three texts, the pursued women either do not want to be pursued or are
married and therefore, should not be pursued, arguing that the hopeless nature of the
pursuit should be obvious, destroying the idea that the women are entirely to blame for
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