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Lawrence Wong

Mrs. Mann

AP English Literature and CompositionBlock 2

28 November 2017

For That He Looked Not upon Her

Love: An intense feeling of deep affection for others. If not for love, many of us would

not be alive today. Thus, it is both key for the survival race and leading us to ultimate happiness.

However, love can also fail. We can lose it when we had it, or we can never attain it at all.

Because love is a cornerstone of what makes humans human, it is a frequent theme tackled both

in prose and poetry. One such example where love fails is George Gascoignes For That He

Looked Not upon Her. Through his use of compelling imagery and metaphors and a restrictive,

fixed form, Gascoigne shows why the speaker is afraid of love.

The form this poem is written in hints at the speakers seclusion and voluntary avoidance

of love. First, the poem follows all the rules of an English Sonnet10 syllables a line, iambic

pentameter, and ABABCDCDEFEFGG rhyme scheme. Thus, this suggests that the speaker is

afraid of straying from the path into a place more beautiful and free. Secondly, the speaker

frequently uses alliteration. In the first quatrain, he holds his louring head so low (2), which

highlights his sorrow; In the second quatrain, he writes doubt of deep deceit (8), which stresses

the pain that his former love brought upon him; And in the last quatrain, he finishes Because

your blazing eyes my bale have bred (14), which is a little ambiguous. The alliteration here

could emphasize the passion between the speaker and his former love (blazing eyes) and/or the

misery brought upon him. Even after restricting himself to all the rules of a Shakespearean
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Sonnet, the speaker believes he must put even an additional restrictionalliteration. He wants to

hide himself as far from his love as possible.

In addition to alliteration, the speaker also makes frequent use of metaphors and imagery.

In the second quatrain The mouse which once hath broken out of trap/Is seldom ticd with the

trustless bait (5-6). Here, the speaker compares himself to a mouse who was won over by food

and was then betrayed. In the third quatrain, the speaker likens himself to a fly nearly caught in

flames. Because the mouse will never again approach the bait, and the fly will never again

approach the fire, the speaker hints that he will never again approach love. He was baited by her

beauty and only hurt in the end. In fact, this is proven in line 12 where he states follows fancy

dazzled by desire. Instead of emphasizing the speakers fear of love, the alliteration now

emphasizes the beauty of his former love. However, what follows is not the ultimate happiness

he so desires but grief grievous is the game (11).

Through Gascoignes highly constraining form and frequent use of alliteration and

imagery, the speaker is evidently afraid of love due to the suffering it caused him. As enticing as

love is, with all its beauty and delight, it can still bring immense sorrow due to its failure. The

speaker now secludes himself from human interaction altogether, believing the notion that he

cannot be hurt by what he cannot feel.


Account of Revisions
REVISIONS I MADE:
Introduction:
1. Changed Love is a frequent theme in
poetry. Through love, one can find
ultimate happiness while it can also
result in destruction. to Love: An
intense feeling of deep affection for
others. If not for love, many of us
would not be alive today. Thus, it is
both key for the survival race and
leading us to ultimate happiness.
However, love can also fail. We can
lose it when we had it, or we can never
attain it at all. Because love is a
cornerstone of what makes humans
human, it is a frequent theme tackled
both in prose and poetry.
2. Changed thesis from that the speaker
lusts for love yet does not approach it as
he is afraid due to his past experiences
to why the speaker is afraid of love.
Body Paragraph 1
1. Added and voluntary avoidance of
love to the end of the first sentence.
2. Changed the use of parentheses in the
second sentence to an em dash.
3. Replaced correct with
ABABCDCDEFEFGG.
4. Added some commentary on
alliteration.
Body Paragraph 2
1. Changed The alliteration appears at
the end of the second and third quatrain
which are both metaphors for the
speakers experiences. to In addition
to alliteration, the speaker also makes
frequent use of metaphors and
imagery.
2. Switched the places of the last two
sentences and added commentary on
the textual evidence.
Conclusion
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RATIONALE:
Introduction:
1. I believe that my intro was lacking in
substance. I changed the hook to
defining love because it made more
sense to go from what is love to that
love is a frequent theme then the
other way around. Also, it made
sense to go into more detail about
when love fails or succeeds.
2. When rereading my essay, my
previous self was unable convince
my current self why the speaker
desires love. It looks to current me
that he only fears it.
Body Paragraph 1
1. Merely saying the speakers
seclusion does not clearly tie back
to my claim that the speaker does
not approach [love]. With
voluntary avoidance, it is clearer
that it was the speakers own choice
to avoid love.
2. I believe that stating the actual rules
behind an English are a Sonnet, and
thus, should be portrayed as so with
an em dash.
3. Makes it evident that I know what
the correct rhyme scheme is for an
English Sonnet.
4. I did not explain what the alliteration
meant at all. With the additional
commentary, my textual evidence is
tied back to my thesis.
Body Paragraph 2
1. I dont even know what I was trying
to say with the original opening
sentence.
2. At first, I believed that the evidence I
was explaining before the claim was
enough to support it. However, no. I
explicitly draw the connections
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1. Replaced entirely. between the claim and my thesis and

evidence.

Conclusion
1. Because my thesis was changed, my
entire conclusion needed to be
reworked.

Explanation of Writers Workshop Groups Effect on the Final Draft:

A major concern all of my peers had was that my thesis was not fully supported throughout my
essay. Rayna and Regina stated that if Im arguing that the speaker desires love, I should
explicitly talk about that throughout the essay. Michelle stated that because I am not supporting
lusts for love at all, I should just cut that out of my thesis and only talk about why the speaker
fears love. Thus, the vast majority of my revisions were to more clearly support (with
commentary) why the speaker has his certain attitude toward love and cutting out illogical
discussion on why the speaker desires love. I was also reminded to be sure to include evidence
from each section of the poem.