George Gascoigne’s poem, “For That He Looked Not upon Her” depicts the struggle a man undergoes while dealing with heartbreak and longing for a woman he desires. The speaker, being emotionally damaged from a previous relationship with the same woman, fears replicating the mistake of falling in love and getting hurt again. He does his best to avoid her eyes and direct his vision toward the ground. The form, a Shakespearean Sonnet, creates a definitive easy to understand format and flow. The exaggerated diction enhances the speaker’s gloomy and cautious tone. The cavernous imagery allows the audience to make sensory connections to the speaker’s current state of emotions. The application of form, diction, and imagery all work to demonstrate the speaker’s view on desire as the root of suffering.
The form in this poem is a Shakespearean Sonnet following an ABAB rhyme scheme with an iambic pentameter. The structure consists of four quatrains each aiding in the development of the speaker’s arguments and a concluding couplet stressing the speaker’s standpoint. In the first quatrain, the speaker begins by introducing his dilemma regarding a woman he once loved. He assures her to not overthink the situation between them because she does not understand his unusual behavior. Avoiding the woman’s eyes, the speaker lours his head because his, “eyes take no delight to range/ About the gleams which on your face grow”.
The woman’s beauty captivates the speaker, but his own fear of love overshadows her beauty. The second and third quatrain are the speaker’s use of imagery to further explain his reluctance to look upon the woman. The analogy of a mouse who escapes a trap but is enticed by the bait represents the speakers own struggle with desire. He wants to be with the woman but feels as though he cannot because of how fraudulent love is. The analogy about a burnt fly portrays the physical and emotion toll longing has on the speaker. The flame represents desire and the fly is the speaker. His yearn for love is the direct cause for his suffrage. The concluding couplet is the speaker’s final words to the woman he refuses to look at. He tells her he can only close his eyes or look down because the shinning eyes are the root of his pain and misery. Although the poem comprises of a seamless flow, it contradicts its multiplex message. The structure of this poem allows the speaker to build upon his composite stance and conflict and diction simultaneously serves a similar purpose.
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The speaker application of exaggerated diction, alliteration, and paradox all work to communicate the suffering and despair he experiences. Immediately, the audience encounters a gloomy dispirited mood from the speaker’s syntax. Beginning by amplifying his “louring head so low”, as a combination of alliteration and assonance, the speaker reveals the severity of his pain from a previous relationship. The heartbreak he experienced has a lasting impact, affecting how deals with desire and love wholly. Throughout the speaker’s use of imagery, he continues to employ alliteration and consonance to emphasize the emotions credited to the images he uses. For instance, the speaker utilizes the phrase, “doubt of deep deceit” when describing the analogy about the mouse. Although the mouse will not be tempted by the bait, it awaits nearby consuming its food in a state of distrust and anxiety. The speaker too feels like the mouse. A beautiful woman is before him, but his uneasiness and distaste for love generate feelings of suspicion and tension. The speaker concludes with the most exaggerated instance of alliteration stating, “grievous is the game”, creating a jarring tone, and “dazzled by desire”, generating a violent tone. The speaker does not trust himself around the woman because she is the origin of his state of anxiety and discomfort. He struggles to choose what his heart desires versus what he mentally believes is right, displaying his complex attitude. The various devices the speaker incorporates into the poem deliver the extreme distress he endures.
The speaker utilizes imagery to further convey his tribulations with love, specifically heartbreak. The first instance is of a mouse who once was caught in a trap. The bait contained in the trap continuously tempts the mouse, but it resists out of fear of being trapped again. The speaker shares in the same battle with desire the mouse experiences. The girl who captivates him depicts an uncertain outcome the speaker does not trust just as the bait does for the mouse. Although he is captivated by the woman’s gleams, the speaker feels she will just bring him harm. After being traumatized by deceit, this analogy suggests the speaker will live the rest of his life in the constant fear of replicating his past experience with love Another instance of imagery is of “blazing eyes”. The blazing eyes represent the speakers own struggle with desire. The woman who intrigues the speaker holds characteristics that draw the speaker to her, but his terror makes him reluctant to act on the desire causing him further misery. The occurrence of imagery aids in the formation of a complex attitude since it highlights the various viewpoints the speaker obtains regarding love.
Through the usage of a concrete structure, descriptive imagery, and amplified diction, the speaker’s compound perspective is fully developed. The poem illustrates the tortured lover in three ways. Since the rhyme scheme is typical and predictable, it suggests there is a routine in the speaker’s life and nothing new occurs. The diction spotlights pain, deceit, and beauty all contributing to the speaker’s whirlwind of emotions. The imagery describing animals nearly escaping death compare to the emphasize on the speaker’s mindset. George Gascoigne demonstrates the battle one may undergo whilst overcoming heartbreak and attempting to move forward in life.
