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The elements of love in shakespeare sonnets
The elements of love in shakespeare sonnets
The elements of love in shakespeare sonnets
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There are many ways in which love can be expressed and described. In the sonnets “What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why” by Edna St. Vincent Millay and “Let me not to the marriage of true minds” by William Shakespeare the authors both have epiphanies about love. Millay's Italian sonnet conveys the epiphany effectively through her use of tone and figurative language when contrasted to Shakespeare's Sonnet 116. Shakespeare's ideas and thoughts about love are much different than those of Millay and the effectiveness of “Let me not to the marriage of true minds” is greatly weakened by its unachievable ideality. The differentiating opinions of the writers aid their path to coming to their own epiphanies. William Shakespeare's Sonnet 116 is written in the Shakespearean sonnet form and Edna St. Vincent Millay's Sonnet XLIII is structured in the Italian form. These two poems vary in structure in that the Italian sonnet is comprised of an octave that presents the problem, and the last six lines, the sestet attempt to offer resolution to the problem presented. Italian sonnets we...
Conclusion: Both Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Barret Browning and Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare use poetic devices such as: word choice, figurative language, and imagery to delve into the passions of fervent love.
Love is the ubiquitous force that drives all people in life. If people did not want, give, or receive love, they would never experience life because it is the force that completes a person. Although it often seems absent, people constantly strive for this ever-present force as a means of acceptance. Elizabeth Barrett Browning is an influential poet who describes the necessity of love in her book of poems Sonnets from the Portuguese. In her poems, she writes about love based on her relationship with her husband – a relationship shared by a pure, passionate love. Browning centers her life and happiness around her husband and her love for him. This life and pure happiness is dependent on their love, and she expresses this outpouring and reliance of her love through her poetry. She uses imaginative literary devices to strengthen her argument for the necessity of love in one’s life. The necessity of love is a major theme in Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “Sonnet 43” and “Sonnet 29.”
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 with 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 poems venture through different techniques to appear individually different from the classic sonnet, the theme of love makes the poems analogous.
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.
Edna St. Vincent Millay's "What Lips My Lips Have Kissed, and Where and Why" is an effective short poem, which feeds on the dissonance between the ideal of love and its reality, heartbreak. In William Shakespeare's "Let Me Not to The Marriage of True Minds," the effectiveness is weakened by its idealiality and metaphysical stereotype. In contrast to Millay, Shakespeare paints a genuine portrait of what love should be but unfortunately never really is. This factor is what makes his poem difficult to relate to, thus weakening the effect on the reader. These poems were published quite far apart from each other, three-hundred and fourteen years to be exact, which might explain the shift in idealism. Though both circumnavigate the concept of love, the effect left within both writers based on personal affairs dramatically differentiates the personas of both speakers.
Both Millay’s “What my lips have kissed” and Shakespeare’s “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summers Day” poems are created to convey a hidden meaning within the style and central subject matter. The features of each sonnet, outline and contribute to make each have a unique difference from the other. Millay and Shakespeare have very similar writing styles but very different structure within there writing. The meaning behind the two sonnets are very similar and have the same imagery within the text and emphasize love and beauty needs to be eternal like the months of summer appear to be. The sonnets have many similarities and difference’s but have different techniques and features that the words create to contribute to what makes these sonnets special.
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
Finding these sonnets in numerous other languages and all around the world shows how cultures could be spread and was influenced on others. This is interesting to know that no matter the cultural differences the poets and artist were still able to share what they knew and loved. To learn that these sonnets have turned into what we now use as the modern sonnet is unbelievable.Our modern sonnets can be taken in any direction. Sometimes the original rhyme scheme is used and we use the fourteen lines and the regular meter. But other times we just put one word in each line or we use free verse and do not stick with a rhyme scheme at all.
A sonnet is a lyric poem of fourteen lines, following one of several set of rhyme-schemes. Critics of the sonnet have recognized varying classifications, but the two characteristic sonnet types are the Italian type (Petrarchan) and the English type (Shakespearean). Shakespeare is still nowadays seen as in idol in English literature. No one can read one of his works and be left indifferent. His way of writing is truly fascinating. His sonnets, which are his most popular work, reflect several strong themes. Several arguments attempt to find the full content of those themes.
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.
William Shakespeare was an excellent writer, who throughout his life created well written pieces of literatures which are valued and learned about in modern times. One of his many works are 154 Sonnets, within these Sonnets there are several people Shakespeare “writes to”, such as fair youth, dark lady and rival poet. Sonnet 20 is written to fair youth, or in other words a young man. The idea of homosexuality appears in Sonnet 20 after the speaker admits his love towards the young man.
From the works of William Shakespeare and Edmund Spenser it is clear that some similarities are apparent, however the two poets encompass different writing styles, as well as different topics that relate to each other in their own unique ways. In Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 18” and Spenser’s “Sonnet 75”, both poets speak of love in terms of feelings and actions by using different expressive views, allowing the similar topics to contain clear distinctions. Although Edmund Spenser’s “Sonnet 75” and William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 18” relate in the sense that love is genuine and everlasting, Spenser suggests love more optimistically, whereas Shakespeare focuses on expressing the beauty and stability of love.
In one of the best classics of all time, Romeo and Juliet, love has no bounds; it bypasses many generations of family history. But in reality, often relationships aren’t as perfect as it seems. In “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning and “Havisham” by Carol Ann Duffy, relationships, mainly marriage, are a destructive force. While in “La Belle Dame Merci” and “Sonnet 116” by William Shakespeare, love is only found within dreams.
This poem is all about Shakespeare writing about his beloved. There is controversy as to whether Shakespeare is addressing this poem to a man or woman - male romances were quite common during the Elizabethan Era.