Shakespeare's collection of sonnets is heralded as one of the greatest, most ambitious sonnet collections in English literature. Of these154 sonnets, the first 126 of them are addressed to a 'fair youth', a beatiful young man, with whom Shakespeare has developed an intimate friendship. The overarching theme of devotion in antimony to mortality denotes that “Sonnet 18” is predominantly a love poem. Accordingly the purpose of the poem seems initially to be to compare his beloved friend's handsomness with a common symbol of beauty, a fine summer's day. However, Shakespeare actually provides a pragmatic critique of the conventions of love poetry in his doing so. He not only exposes the flaws of the love poetry through the comparison but also suggests the merits of it in conveying the idea of his everlasting love, and the ability of verse to immortalise both love and beauty.
“Sonnet 18” is written in typical Shakespearan sonnet form, comprising of three distinguishable quatrains and a rhyming couplet. This style of poetry is very useful in creating an argument that flows coherently, as the quatrains seperate main ideas. Although the quatrains in “Sonnet 18”, are not physically split-up by open lines, they are clearly separated by the change in rhyme scheme. The poem deals with thematic ideas of the inability to capture beauty satisfactorily, the transience of beauty and the brevity of life (Mabillard para. 1) and, in contrast, the timelessness of poetry. In the first quatrain, Shakespeare immediately establishes the intentions of his poem. Superficially he wishes to celebrate the beauty of the 'fair youth'. However, through his question “Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?” he actually shows his hesitancy to use such a compar...
... middle of paper ...
...est of capturing the instantaneous beauty of his friend, which makes the initial shortcomings of this poem irrelevant. Shakspeare has attempted, executed and achieved all this in just fourteen neat lines, and the fact that people are still reading and analyising this poem today is testament to the success of his endeavour.
Works Cited
Shakespeare, W. “Sonnet 18”. Ed. Amanda Mabillard. Shakespeare Online. 12 November 2008. < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/18detail.html >.
Shakespeare, W. “Sonnet 18”. Productions of Time. Comp. Department of English. Grahamstown: Rhodes University, 2012
Mabillard, Amanda. How to Analyze a “Shakespearean Sonnet”. Shakespeare Online. 20 November 2009. < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/sonnetanalyze.html >.
Mukherjee, T. “Shakespeare's Sonnets: Time and Love” Studying English Literature. (2012): lines 12-15
In “Sonnet,” Billy Collins satirizes the classical sonnet’s volume to illustrate love in only “…fourteen lines…” (1). Collins’s poem subsists as a “Sonnet,” though there exists many differences in it countering the customarily conventional structure of a sonnet. Like Collins’s “Sonnet,” Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 130” also faces incongruities from the classic sonnet form as he satirizes the concept of ideal beauty that was largely a convention of writings and art during the Elizabethan era. Although these poem venture through different techniques to appear individually different from the classic sonnet, the theme of love makes the poems analogous.
“Sonnet Eighteen” was one of the first of the Sonnets to become very well known. It “sets a fearful problem in turning it into prose”, because it is so straight forward and easy to comprehend (Rowse 39). Throughout this poem, the reader will acknowledge that Shakespeare “finds the human beauty “more lovely” and more lasting than nature’s” (Kastan 10). In the Sonnet, Shakespeare is comparing a woman to a summer’s day. He uses imagery to differentiate the harshness of summer and beauty of the woman. The audience can see the speaker’s perspective of youth and beauty throughout the lines in the
"Poetry is the revelation of a feeling that the poet believes to be interior and personal [but] which the reader recognizes as his own." (Salvatore Quasimodo). There is something about the human spirit that causes us to rejoice in shared experience. We can connect on a deep level with our fellow man when we believe that somehow someone else understands us as they relate their own joys and hardships; and perhaps nowhere better is this relationship expressed than in that of the poet and his reader. For the current assignment I had the privilege (and challenge) of writing an imitation of William Shakespeare’s "Sonnet 87". This poem touched a place in my heart because I have actually given this sonnet to someone before as it then communicated my thoughts and feelings far better than I could. For this reason, Sonnet 87 was an easy choice for this project, although not quite so easy an undertaking as I endeavored to match Shakespeare’s structure and bring out his themes through similar word choice.
"Sonnet 116." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 6th ed. Vol. 1. Eds. M. H. Abrams,
Canfield Reisman, Rosemary M. “Sonnet 43.” Masterplots II. Philip K. Jason. Vol. 7. Pasadena: Salem Press, 2002. 3526-3528. Print.
Shakespeare, William, "Sonnet 42." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Eds. M.H. Abrams and Stephen Greenblatt. 7th ed. 2 vols. New York: Norton, 2000. 1:1033.
Steele, Felicia Jean. "Shakespeare's SONNET 130." Explicator 62.3 (2004): 132-137. Academic Search Complete. Web. 22 Nov. 2013.
To begin with, a Shakespearean sonnet, which Sonnet 18 is, by definition is, “a sonnet consisting of three quatrains and a concluding couplet in iambic pentameter with the rhyme pattern abab cdcd efef gg (“Shakespearean”).” By knowing the definition you can now understand just how vital rhyme scheme and rhythm is in the poem. These elements are essential and form the base of the poem. Without these elements, the poem would just be known as “18” (a little humor for you). Sonnet 18 follows the strict rhyme and rhythm patterns of a Shakespearean poem. With the use of a rhyme scheme and iambic pentameter together, Shakespeare cr...
This Shakespearean sonnet consisting of 14 lines can be subdivided into 3 parts. In each part, the poet uses a different voice. He uses 1st person in the first part, 3rd person in the 2nd part and 2nd person in the last part. Each section of the poem has a different theme that contributes to the whole theme of the poem.
In Sonnet 18, Shakespeare employs a Petrarchan conceit to immortalize his beloved. He initiates the extended metaphor in the first line of the sonnet by posing the rhetorical question, "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" The first two quatrains of the poem are composed of his criticism of summer. Compared to summer, his lover is "more lovely and more temperate" (2). He argues that the wind impairs the beauty of summer, and summer is too brief (3-4). The splendor of summer is affected by the intensity of the sunlight, and, as the seasons change, summer becomes less beautiful (5-8).
Shakespeare's sonnets are a romantic and charming series of poems. His use of rhyme and passionate, eloquent language serve to illuminate his strong feelings. These techniques were probably the most fluent way for such a writer as him to express the immeasurable love that he obviously felt for his mysterious lady. Examining the numerous ways Shakespeare found to describe it, the reader believes that this love was undoubtedly lasting and authentic. He often made heart-felt comments about his emotions that could also suit lovers in the present day. Because of this, and the fact that people read them yet, Shakespeare's sonnets are timeless and universal, just like the concept of love itself.
Biespiel,David. “Sonnet14.” Masterplots II. Philip K. Jason. Vol. 7. Pasadena: Salem Press, 2002. 3521-3522. Print.
Shakespeare, William. "Sonnet 18." The Longman Anthology of British Literature: compact edition. Ed. David Damrosch. Addison-Wesley, 2000. 553.
Steele, Felicia Jean. "Shakespeare's SONNET 130." Explicator 62.3 (2004): 132-137. Academic Search Complete. Web. 22 Nov. 2013.
The fourteen line sonnet is constructed by three quatrains and one couplet. With the organization of the poem, Shakespeare accomplishes to work out a different idea in each of the three quatrains as he writes the sonnet to lend itself naturally. Each of the quatrain contains a pair of images that create one universal idea in the quatrain. The poem is written in a iambic pentameter with a rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. Giving the poem a smooth rhyming transition from stanza to