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Critical analysis of William Shakespeare's sonnet
Shakespeare sonnet analysis essay
Comparing two sonnets in Shakespeare
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Explication of Shakespeare’s sonnets 20 and 130
William Shakespeare can be considered one of the greatest writers in English language of all time. He was born in Stratford in 1564 and it is well-known that he has written 38 plays, 154 sonnets and two long narrative poems. A widely held assumption is that he wrote his sonnets during the 1590s. Thus, they belong to the Elizabethan era, where literature was in one of the most splendid moments of the English literature. Consequently, William Shakespeare stands out in this period, not only for being a playwright, but also as a poet. His sonnets gave him a reputation and are considered to be ‘Shakespeare 's most important and distinctive contributions to lyric poetry, as well as the most profoundly enigmatic works in the canon '. Shakespeare’s sonnets can be divided into three different groups, as regards the subject of the poem. One of them would be constituted by the first 126 sonnets, where the addressee is a young man. The next sonnets, 127–52, would be addressed to ‘the dark lady’, whereas the last two poems are fables about Cupid. This essay will particularly focus on Sonnet 20 and Sonnet 130, making a comparison of the two poems by establishing a relationship between form and meaning.
In the first place, the two sonnets share the same theme: love. Sonnet 20 describes a
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The message that may be conveyed in Sonnet 20 is that of the speaker’s homosexuality or bisexuality. In contrast, in Sonnet 130 it may be clear that the poem serves to criticise the real beauty, acting against the canons that were established, meaning that beauty is not always in the inside. Therefore, they are two poems that allude to the sense of sight in different ways. Nonetheless, they both convey an emotional effect: Sonnet 130 does it when describing the mistress whilst Sonnet 20 does it when speaking about the speaker’s love for the young
The word choice in Sonnet 43 and Sonnet 116 can be compared as well as contrasted, based on the way the words are used, and also the types of words the authors both Browning, as well as Shakespeare have chosen. In Sonnet 43, Browning uses words similar to the words Shakespeare chose. For example in line two "I love Thee to the depth and breadth and height" the words "Thee" and "breadth" are not common words used in everyday English. "Thee" used here seems to mean 'you', and "breadth" to mean 'width'. This would make the line translate to "I love you to the depth and width and height." The words Browning chooses to use help express exactly how deep and long the love is. In sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare the word choice, as in Browning's Sonnet 43, also uses words that are not common to everyday conversations in the English language. For example Shakespeare uses "impediments" and "tempests" in place of the common words "obstructions" and "disturbances" or "flaws" his choice or words for his sonnet help to show the serious tone, and show that his lesson on love is important.
Wilson, John Dover. An Introduction to the Sonnets of Shakespeare: For the Use of Historians
The poem and song comprise the same point but with a different approach. There are two main similarities in both writings. Firstly, both have their own ideas and way of communicating to the reader for example, The Sonnet 130 tells the reader about how unattractive the mistress is to the speaker, but he still loves her. But in the song “Just the way you are” Bruno tells the reader about how beautiful the girl is to the speaker and he doesn’t want her to change. Finally, both writers tell the reader about their mistress like her eyes, hair, voice, walk etc.
Shakespeare, William." "Sonnet 96."" The Norton Anthology of English Literature." Eds." M. H." Abrams and Stephen Greenblatt." 7th ed." 2 vols." New York: Norton, 2000." 1:" 1031-32.
That means, the approaches of poet’s love remain the same. In one place, he portrays beauty as conveying a great responsibility in the sonnets addressed to the young man. The poet has experienced what he thinks of as "the marriage of true minds," also known as true love, that his love remains strong, and that he believes that it’s eternal. Nothing will stop their love, as in the symbols like all the ships, stars and stormy seas that fill the landscape of the poem and so on what can affect to their love. The poet is too much attracted with the young man’s beauty, though this indicates to something really bad behavior. But in another place, Shakespeare makes fun of the dark lady in sonnet 130. He explains that his lover, the dark lady, has wires for hair, bad breath, dull cleavage, a heavy step, pale lips and so on, but to him, real love is, the sonnet implies, begins when we accept our lovers for what they are as well as what they are not. But other critics may not agree with this and to them, beauty may define to something
William Shakespeare’s sonnets are renowned as some of the greatest poetry ever written. He wrote a total of 154 sonnets that were published in 1609. Shakespearean sonnets consider similar themes including love, beauty, and the passing of time. In particular, William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 75 and Sonnet 116 portray the theme of love through aspects of their form and their display of metaphors and similes. While both of these sonnets depict the theme of love, they have significantly contrasting ideas about the same theme.
Sonnet 130 openly mocks the traditional love sonnets of the time. This is, perhaps, made most apparent through the use of subversive comparisons and exaggerated similes. The intention of a subversive comparison is to mimic a traditional comparison yet highlight the opposite purpose. Whereas his contemporaries would compare their love’s beauty to alabaster or pearls, Shakespeare notes, “If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun” (3), therefore intentionally downplaying the beauty of his mistress. Later he states, “...in some perfumes there is more delight / than in the breath that from my mistress reeks” (7-8). Both of these exemplify that Shakespeare ridicules the traditional love sonnet by employing the same imagery to convey opposite intentions.
Even the dominating conceit of Shakespeare’s sequence—the poet’s claim that his poems will confer immortality on his subject—is one that goes back to Ovid and Petrarch. In Shakespeare’s hands, however, the full potentiality of the sonnet form emerged, earning for it the poet’s name. The Petrarchan and Shakespearean sonnet are similar in that they both present and then solve a problem. The P... ... middle of paper ... ...
Out of the 154 sonnets, the one that has the most obvious view on love is sonnet 18 and that view is when you love someone, in your eyes, they become more beautiful than even
In sonnet 130, Shakespeare’s confession of love to his woman is very rare because he writes about love in an unconventional way. Shakespeare compares his beloved unfavorably to a number of other beauties. Shakespeare refuses to describe his woman in the Petrarchan sonnet form, which is “the first and most common sonnet named after one of its greatest practitioners, the Italian poet Petrarch” (“Poetic Form: Sonnet”). Women in the Petrarchan sonnet are described as ideally beautiful. Sonnet 130 mocks the typical Petrarchan metaphors by telling the truth, rather than making his woman into a goddess. For example, Shakespeare notes that her eyes are "nothing like the sun,"(1). Her lips are less red than coral and her breasts are dun-colored when compared to the whiteness of snow. Shakespeare even says that “music hath a far more pleasing sound” (9) than her voice. However, in the couplet, Shakespeare reverses all the disparaging comments he has made: “And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare / As any she belied with false compare” (13-14). Shakespeare shows his intent to insist that love does not...
William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 130”, was published in the mid-1590, and published with the rest of Shakespeare’s sonnets in 1609. The sonnet has fourteen lines, and divided into three quatrains and one couplet at the end. The rhyme scheme is cross rhyme, with the last two lines being couplets that rhyme. The sonnet compares between nature and the poets’ lover or mistress. He shows a more realistic view of his lover. Needless to say his significant other wasn’t physically attractive, yet he loved her inside beauty. Today we may use the term, “It’s not all about looks, but what’s inside”.
The two poems do seem to have a similar theme; both are focused around describing the poet’s muse. However, Sonnet 18 is not about love at all—Shakespeare makes no reference to love in the poem; he is merely describing how beautiful this individual is. Sonnet 130, on the other hand, is a true love poem, making direct mention to it in the couplet: “And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare / As any she belied with false compare.” Surprisingly enough, Sonnet 18 shows more the love Shakespeare has for himself and his writing ability. In the last three lines: “When in eternal lines to time thou growest: / So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, / So long lives this and this gives life to thee.” he is basically saying that in his eternal verse his muse will forever live. And although the couplet is sweet, a different approach to its meaning would be: “As long as people can read, they will read my poetry!” Sonnets were created to show-off a poet’s skill and not their love—in Sonnet 18 it is most apparent.
...nser contemplates spiritual love versus physical love, concluding drastically, yet still optimistically, whereas Shakespeare remains focusing on the stability of love and the true beauty of “Sonnet 18”’s muse. Although they contain a variety of key distinctions, Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 18” and Spenser’s “Sonnet 75” can be looked at in terms of their purpose, which appears in both sonnets to be the admiration of a beloved person.
Much has been made (by those who have chosen to notice) of the fact that in Shakespeare's sonnets, the beloved is a young man. It is remarkable, from a historical point of view, and raises intriguing, though unanswerable, questions about the nature of Shakespeare's relationship to the young man who inspired these sonnets. Given 16th-Century England's censorious attitudes towards homosexuality, it might seem surprising that Will's beloved is male. However, in terms of the conventions of the poetry of idealized, courtly love, it makes surprisingly little difference whether Will's beloved is male or female; to put the matter more strongly, in some ways it makes more sense for the beloved to be male.
William Shakespeare’s life has brought much curiosity to many. This is natural as he is considered to be the greatest figure of English Literature. William Shakespeare, in terms of his life and work, is the most written-about author in the history of Western civilization. His works include 38 plays, 154 sonnets, and 2 epic narrative poems, the First of which was published after his death in 1623 by two of Shakespeare's acting companions, John Heminges and Henry Condell. Since then, the works of Shakespeare have been studied, analyzed, and enjoyed as some of the finest work of art in the English language.