A Comparison Of Ballad And Sonnets

766 Words2 Pages

Though ballads and Sonnets are poems that can depict a picture of someone’s beloved, they can have many differences. For instance, a Ballad is a story in short stanzas such as a song would have, where as a sonnet typical, has a traditional structure of 14 lines employing several rhyme schemes and adheres to a tight thematic organization. Both Robert Burn’s ballad “The Red, Red, Rose, and William Shakespeare’s “of the Sonnet 130 “they express their significant other differently. However, “The Red, Red, Rose depicts the Falling in new love through that of a young man’s eyes, and Shakespeare’s sonnet 130 depicts a more realistic picture of the mistress he writes about; which leaves the reader to wonder if beauty is really in the eyes of the beholder. (Burns, 2014) So when he speaks of his feelings they are intense and he uses similes such as the” melody sweetly played in June”. (Burns, 2014) Then he uses earth’s elements as smiles to show the depths of love; Such as “So deep in luv an I; And I will love thee still , my dear, Tilla the seas gang dry.” (Burns, 2014) This is really deep for when in time will all of the seas ever go dry. Then he goes on to state “Till a the sea’s game dry, my dear, And the rocks melt wi’ the sun; And I will luv thee still, my dear, while the sands o’ life shall run.” (Burns, 2014) This is epic for his love will never end until the Earth dies for; or he does. In today’s music, we see ballads such as Burns being played over the radio. When I see Burn’s ballad It reminds me of how Aretha Franklin uses a rose, in her song “A Rose is still a Rose”. They both have similar style, being that love songs are still sung in a ballad format. The differences in Burn’s ballad and Aretha’s song is their symbolism of the rose. Burn’s symbolism is the rose as new found romance; and Aretha’s symbolism of it is a young girl when she states, “Cause a rose is Baby, girl, you’re still a flower”. (Franklin, Where “The Red, Red Rose,” would be that of new love freshly formed with all the excitement and dreams of the future. Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 depicts that of love still there but tainted by age and reality. There we in music “A Rose is a Rose”, telling of a mother’s words of wisdom to her daughter where finding love, is not loose who she is; and “Black Bird”, about a love yet to fly due to being forbidden. Both show symbolic were we can communicate over felling or perceptions about society, love, and

Open Document