I know absolutely nothing about poetry but have been given the assignment of comparing and contrasting 2 poems named Eros by Anne Stevenson and Robert Bridges. Could anyone please give me some ideas about where to begin ? Thanks

Eros

Why hast thou nothing in thy face?
Thou idol of the human race,
Thou tyrant of the human heart,
The flower of lovely youth that art;
yea, and that standest in thy youth
An image of eternal Truth,
With thy exuberant flesh so fair,
That only Pheidas might compare,
Ere from his chaste marmomeal form
Time had decayed the colours warm;
Like to his gods in thy proud dress,
They starry sheen of nakedness.

Surely thy body is thy mind,
For in thy face is nought to find,
Only thy soft unchristen'd smile,
That shadows neither love nor guile,
But shameless will and power immense,
In secret sensuous innocence.

O king of joy, what is thy thought?
I dream thou knowest it is nought,
And wouldst in the darkness come, but thou
Makest the light where'er thou go.
Ah yet no victim of thy grace,
None who e'er long'd for thy embrace,
hath cared to look upon thy face.
---Robert Brideges (1899)

Eros

I call for love
But help me, who arrives?
This thug with broken nose
And squinty eyes.
'Eros, my bully boy,
Can this be you,
With boxer lips
And patchy wings askew?'

'Madam,' cries Eros,
'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 by one.

We slaves who are immortal
Gloss your fate
And are the archtypes
That you create.
Better my battered visage,
Bruised but hot,
Than love dissolved in loss
Or left to rot

--Anne Stevenson (1990)

I was told that these poems were difficult.....guess the instructor was right since I'm still searching for help. Any insight offered would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Come on, you asked at a weekend. Us grown ups have better things to do with our time than poetry at weekends. (like the laundry :-( )

I am just so stuck on this assignment....I mean I can come up with several interpretations for the poems but I can't justify how every line contributes to the overall interpretation. So that leaves me to believe that my interpretation of the poems are off. I would be eternally grateful to anybody who could help me out.

Didja look up Pheidas & Eros?

Im an AP English IV student and also had this prompt. Both poems depict an Eros (Greek god of love) that is misunderstood and forgotten. Eros receives no respect. The two poems though portray him differently. E-mail me if you still need anymore information.