Shakespeare Sonnet 29 Tone

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What is your interpretation of love? Giving out roses to a loved one, enjoying family time, or an interest or talent? Every person values a variety of things and many things inspire us. Is love what motivates us the most? Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 29” rejuvenates the sonnet form by offering an alternative view of love using iambic pentameter ending in a rhymed couplet that, at first, sees the poem and its speaker steeped in melancholia, but then shifts in tone to faithful and hopeful for a brighter future in the late stages of the poem. Within the first line, Shakespeare presents his idea of love with the simple line: “When in disgrace in Fortune and men’s eyes” . By saying this, he immediately supports the beginning of the discussion as it keys in on the speaker’s hopelessness and depression. The word “Fortune” describes how the speaker feels far from being wealthy, although the use of the phrase “in men’s eyes” refers to the speaker suspecting that others are looking at him as inferior. The …show more content…

From the beginning, we see that the speaker describes how he is insecure about where he stands in life and that he longs for “love”, or his hearts desire. Towards the end of the poem, the speaker is optimistic and hopeful even though his circumstances are not ideal in his eyes. The last lines “ For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings, That then I scorn to change my state with kings” demonstrate the argument in the beginning of the paragraph, focusing on the speaker’s inspiration and hope. The lines represent how the speaker thought he wanted to change his state of being, but that love was what really inspired him to strive for what his heart desires. These lines were intentionally inserted here by Shakespeare as a true expression of love. Shakespeare’s main point in this poem emphasizes that nothing in this world can motivate us more than our desire to attain than what we love

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