A Critical Comparison of Shakespeare's "Sonnet 130" and Elizabeth Barrett-Browning's "Sonnet 14"

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Petrarchan sonnets are like all the other typical sonnets in the early sixteenth which consist of 14 verses in the poem and 10 syllables per line. In comparison, they all instigate the traditional theme of love where women were admired and sometimes worshipped in order to express deep love that emissaries her beauty. However, Petrarchan sonnet could not said be too congruent to sixteenth style of writing sonnets. Nevertheless, they share identical theme in the sonnets which is the traditional theme of love where Petrarchan sonnets uses clichés in order to describe his mistress as “lucid gold” and her smile as “angelic smile”. It is implicit where intensely romantic images are clearly used in here to challenge the conventional representations of females’ beauty and is to create beauty and communicate meaning within a tightly structured format. It is to work within self-imposed restrictions to discover just how much one can accomplish. “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” this is found in the courtly love poems which mesmerizes to his mistress that awes at her beauty clearly in this verse. Women were clearly challenged which implicit from the tone, but in comparison they show great identity to the challengeable images to describe their mistresses in their own ways. Shakespeare’s style of writing sonnets subverts the Barrate-Browning’s style of writing sonnets, where they antithesis the traditional view of love. The most basic gist in both sonnets that they both address to their loved ones which is courtly described the reality in both sonnets. In comparison Shakespeare addresses his sonnet to a “Dark Lady” which lacks of clichés and very touched poignancy. In addition Elizabeth Barrett –Browning addresses her sonnet t... ... middle of paper ... ...of love according to their base of love and how do they in fact subvert it. In comparison, both sonnets has the equivalent feelings on the reader which is to love a person for a sake of love and that love does not forever come from the physical attractions with whichever person. In contrast both sonneteers have not the same point of view; one is literally describing his mistress and the other telling to love for the sake of love. So my point of view is that both have not the identical effect on the reader, it varies a lot according to the base and their point of view. If to ask for an opinion, I would say I prefer the one that subverts the tradition, is because honesty and truth it tells, besides if someone wants to love a person should not love of thy eyes sparkling like a sun, nevertheless I mean the logic there is none who can be depicted in that way anyway.

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