Cross-Genre Thematic Study - Essay Example

Love as a Common Theme for a Poem and a Short Story Love between two people has always been a deep emotional feeling; it is continuously tested by time and various obstacles met in the relationship. Dramatic as it seems, true love makes a couple hold on to each other when all else fails. This was the central theme of both literary works, “A Red, Red Rose” by Robert Burns and “A Secret Sorrow” by Karen Van Der Zee. Although both works belong to different genres, still, they are unified in bringing love as the theme of their work.

For the same reason [having different genres], however, they differed in their way of utilizing the distinct quality of their chosen genre. Basically, this paper will explore on these two unique approaches and how both works successfully arrived at a common theme. In “A Red, Red Rose,” Burns wrote ballad stanzas for the poem. Ballad stanzas refer to quatrains or four four-line stanzas; which consist of tetrameter, four stressed syllables in the second and fourth lines; and trimeter lines, three stressed syllables in the second and fourth lines.

Burns exploited this characteristic because traditionally, these patterns of rhyme were intended to recite poems or sing songs by heart easily (Poetry 122). For instance, in the following sample stanza, notice that the lines could be easily spoken. This makes the poem a more effective expression of love. As fair art thou, my bonie lass, So deep in luve am I; And I will luve thee still, my dear, Till a the seas gang dry. Aside from the poem’s stanzas, Burns also lets the audience picture out a complicated situation, i.e. a man leaving his newly-found love for a distant travel and that, it would surely take time for him to come back.

However, rather than a gloomy impact on the audience, Burns powerfully turned the situation around: showed that the man is willing to wait for them to be together again, thereby, rekindling the hope of love between the two lovers. On the other hand, in “A Secret Sorrow,” Karen Van Der Zee effectively used formula fiction to make her short story depicts the theme of love into the scenes. Formula fiction usually has predictable series of events; and in this story, has a predictable happy ending.

The usual dialogues that one can see in love stories are present in the author’s work. One scene is when Kai, Faye’s husband, upon learning of his wife’s infertility, explained that his love for her would go beyond all obstacles in their relationship. Kai explained that he could not imagine his life being with any other woman besides Faye; and he clarified that he would accept any of her imperfections. This climactic scene highlighted the theme even more since it clearly showed unconditional love coming from the husband.

In addition, the choice of words and imagery, although highly cliché, has really helped accentuate the theme. Since the settings and the words are familiar to the audience, they could readily picture out the scenes in the short story. This also contributes to the smooth characterization of the story. Karen Van Der Zee has effectively crafted the husband as a sincere person and his wife to be deserving of his husband’s love. Works Cited Burns, Robert. “A Red, Red Rose.” The Bedford Introduction to Literature. 9th ed. Ed.

Michael Meyer. USA: Bedford, 2011. Print. Poetry. USA: Evan-Moor educational Publishing, 2005. Print. Van Der Zee, Karen. “A Secret Sorrow.” The Bedford Introduction to Literature. 9th ed. Ed. Michael Meyer. USA: Bedford, 2011. Print.