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All human beings go through a process of maturity, as time passes by and the years grow heavy every person’s experiences shape their wisdom. Shakespeare is no stranger to this process. From sonnet 18 to sonnet 116, both by his authority, there is a visible evolution in both his writing and his attitude. Both sonnets deal with the idea of eternal love, but it is the subject that changes in each sonnet. In “sonnet 18” the beloved is the center of the discussion. In this sonnet the speaker is talking about the perfection of the loved one and how its beauty will be eternal trough his verse. Here Shakespeare indicates that love within two persons can change, an example being the line “too hot the eye of heaven shines”, since here he is implying that sometimes-extreme passion can disrupt a purer love. In contrast sonnet 16 subject is love in general, and this love “is an ever fixed mark” which means it cannot be changed or altered. In this sonnet it is clear how Shakespeare has come to realize that even tough people change as long as they love, love in general will ever be the same. In contrast to sonnet 18, which suggests that the poet has the power to make love immortal, sonnet 16 asserts that love is not subject to the words of mortals; it is eternal by itself. Even tough both poems have the same author there is an evident transition between the Shakespeare writing “sonnet 18” and the one in “sonnet 116”. In “sonnet 18” the speaker acts more like a master of love, he has the power to make things eternal trough his verse, and his love for his beloved will live on forever because his poetry will keep him alive. This shows a younger love, one that feels in control of the world and feels sure about his viewpoints. While on “sonnet 11... ... middle of paper ... ...much more self-centered, he idealizes the way the loved one looks to him and he even idealizes the extent of his power as a writer. Whereas in sonnet 116 he idealizes more the idea of love itself and the value it has in any life, this is a clear progression from an egocentric point of view to a more selfless one, showing how his wisdom and maturity has evolved. Poetry speaks of who we are; it is one of the most sublime ways of expression. Through lines and verse poets can transmit what ever they want, from a feeling to an idea, always leaving a piece from themselves in the process. In Shakespeare’s case, he a vast amount of sonnets and by following the progression of those sonnets one can also see how he changed both as a person and as a writer. Poetry is the window to a person’s soul, no historical research could talk more about Shakespeare than his poetry does.
"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.
Both Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Barret Browning and Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare delve into the passion of fervent love. In many ways these two sonnets can be compared and contrasted based upon poetic devices such as word choice, figurative language, and imagery.
To put it mildly, Charles A. Huttar and Michael West have diametrically opposing vantage points. While West argues for the Church, Huttar was for a humanist stand point. But no matter whether they disagreed on Shakespeare’s state of mind, they both would agree he was a master of sonnets weaving his ideals into 14 lines of pure literary genius.
When he writes "And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare as any she, belied with false compare." (lines 13-14) in the final couplet, one responds with an enlightened appreciation, making them understand Shakespeare's message that true love consists of something deeper than physical beauty. Shakespeare expresses his ideas in a wonderful fashion. Not only does he express himself through direct interpretation of his sonnet, but also through the levels at which he styled and produced it. One cannot help but appreciate his message of true love over lust, along with his creative criticism of Petrarchan sonnets.
Never to go unnoticed, the name William Shakespeare describes an experienced actor, an exceptional playwright, and a notable philosopher. As one of the most influential men of the sixteenth and seventeenth century, Shakespeare impacted many artists with his riveting masterpieces. Shakespeare captured the attention of the people through his exquisite work in blank verse, and he inspired them with universal truths of the human condition. His sonnet sequence, consisting of 154 poems, is arguably the finest collection of love poems in the English language. Shakespeare continuously impressed his audience with his explorations of life’s complexities. Such an intricate man; however, he never wrote about himself. He would not discuss his composition methods and only through careful analysis could one understand the underlying truths to his work. Shakespeare was often known to use plots from other sources and enrich them to masterpieces with his genuine knowledge of literature. Although he completed many poems in his lifetime, each one of them was rich in quality and very complex in structure. The play, Macbeth, reveals the uniform structure of a typical Elizabethan tragedy with five acts that carefully reflect the pyramid organization of an exposition, a rising action, a climax, a falling action, and a denouement.
Shakespeare’s sonnets include love, the danger of lust and love, difference between real beauty and clichéd beauty, the significance of time, life and death and other natural symbols such as, star, weather and so on. Among the sonnets, I found two sonnets are more interesting that show Shakespeare’s love for his addressee. The first sonnet is about the handsome young man, where William Shakespeare elucidated about his boundless love for him and that is sonnet 116. The poem explains about the lovers who have come to each other freely and entered into a relationship based on trust and understanding. The first four lines reveal the poet’s love towards his lover that is constant and strong and will not change if there any alternation comes. Next four lines explain about his love which is not breakable or shaken by the storm and that love can guide others as an example of true love but that extent of love cannot be measured or calculated. The remaining lines of the third quatrain refer the natural love which can’t be affected by anything throughout the time (it can also mean to death). In the last couplet, if
Sonnet 130 is Shakespeare’s harsh yet realistic tribute to his quite ordinary mistress. Conventional love poetry of his time would employ Petrarchan imagery and entertain notions of courtly love. Francis Petrarch, often noted for his perfection of the sonnet form, developed a number of techniques for describing love’s pleasures and torments as well as the beauty of the beloved. While Shakespeare adheres to this form, he undermines it as well. Through the use of deliberately subversive wordplay and exaggerated similes, ambiguous concepts, and adherence to the sonnet form, Shakespeare creates a parody of the traditional love sonnet. Although, in the end, Shakespeare embraces the overall Petrarchan theme of total and consuming love.
Shakespeare uses many different methods of discourse to examine this theme of love. In both sonnets the lover is exerting his control over the narrator, but the narrator does not really mind being controlled in either sonnet. Both sonnets include many elements and references to time and waiting and all of these references relate to love by showing love’s long lifespan and varying strengths over time. The only major difference between the two sonnets lies in their addressing love. Sonnet 57 talks directly to it in a personifying manner, whereas sonnet 58 merely refers to it through other means. Through this variety of explorations of the theme of love, Shakespeare shows that love has many faces and ways of expressing itself.
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.
Sonnet number one hundred sixteen and number one hundred thirty provide a good look at what Shakespeare himself defines as love. The former describes the ever-enduring nature of true love, while the latter gives an example of this ideal love through the description of a woman who many call the “Dark Lady”. Through the combination of these two sonnets Shakespeare provides a consistent picture of what love should be like in order to “bear it out even to the edge of doom”(116, Ln: 12). To me the tern “maker” used by Sir Philip Sidney to describe the poets first and foremost duty would refer to the creation process, which produces the end text. The discourse of the poet is to take an emotion or event they up to that point was purely felt, and make it into flowing words, which in turn reproduce the initial emotion. The poet is therefore a “maker” of poems as well as emotion. This emotion would not be present however if the poet were not human experiencing the ups and downs of everyday life. Therefore I feel that the poet is first and foremost human, and therefore susceptible to human needs, feelings, and emotions, and secondly a maker.
In “Sonnet XVII,” the text begins by expressing the ways in which the narrator does not love, superficially. The narrator is captivated by his object of affection, and her inner beauty is of the upmost significance. The poem shows the narrator’s utter helplessness and vulnerability because it is characterized by raw emotions rather than logic. It then sculpts the image that the love created is so personal that the narrator is alone in his enchantment. Therefore, he is ultimately isolated because no one can fathom the love he is encountering. The narrator unveils his private thoughts, leaving him exposed and susceptible to ridicule and speculation. However, as the sonnet advances toward an end, it displays the true heartfelt description of love and finally shows how two people unite as one in an overwhelming intimacy.
Therefore, because William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 18” and Edmund Spenser’s “Sonnet 75” share the idea that love is sincere and eternal, they can be looked upon as similar in theme. However, although similar in theme, Shakespeare’s intent is portraying the true everlasting beauty of his love, which is already achieved, whereas Spenser concentrates more on trying to entice his desired love, remaining optimistic throughout the entire poem.
Both sonnets are designed to solve a paradox. Shakespeare develops a paradox in the quatrain stanzas, which he resolves in the couplet. He paints the picture of an unlovable woman who he calls his mistress, but in the couplet, he accepts her as she is, and even describes her as a rare gem (Shakespeare 38). On the other hand, the Petrarch’s paradox is in the resolution.
Works Cited Shakespeare, William. The. The "Sonnet 18" The Longman Anthology of British Literature, compact edition. Ed. David Damrosch.
John Donne and William Shakespeare shared similar ideas to depict the theme of love in “Sonnet 18” and “The Good-Morrow”. Both Donne and Shakespeare used the concept of eternal love in their poems, but with slightly different perspectives. John Donne establishes the idea of eternal love by saying that his lover’s bodily fluids mixed with his create the perfect match. In other words, through coitus they become a whole perfect person free from death. “Love so alike that none do slacken, none can die.” (Donne 1374). On the other hand, Shakespeare establishes the idea of eternal love through his own poetry. “So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.” (Shakespeare 1173). Shakespeare, conceitedly, is determined that his poetry will last for centuries. As long as mankind can read, people will always know of their love. Shakespeare also establishes the concept of eternal love through summer. “But thy eternal summer shall not fade,” (Shakespeare 1173). Summers are eternal just like his love. Each of the poems also share the idea of temporary ownership. In “The Good-Morrow” John Donne makes a reference to the “Seven Sleepe...