A Comparison of Sonnet 17 by William Shakespeare And The Writer by Sujata Bhatt

A Comparison of Sonnet 17 by William Shakespeare And The Writer by Sujata Bhatt

'Sonnet 17' and 'The Writer' deal with the issues of the difficulties

of describing nature and a woman on paper and the frustration of not

being able to write.

Having reading both titles one would get the impression of 'Sonnet 17'

being a love poem, (as a sonnet is a traditional love poem),that it

concerns the issues of beauty and time. '17' illustrates the number of

the poem, showing the poet has written quite a few sonnet, this being

his seventeenth one, all about the same women. This shows his

obsession with the woman he is writing about and how much he loves

her. From the title 'The Writer', the word 'writer' is normally

associated with someone creative and imaginative and it tells the

reader the poem will in some way deal with the writing process or

something related to writing.

Shakespeare is famous for writing poems and plays. He was born

sometime in late April, 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, UK and he died on

his 52nd birthday in 1616. Where as Sujata Bhatt is of Asian origin,

which may influence her take on writing. She was born in Ahmedabad,

India in 1956. This means the backgrounds of both writers are very

different, as Shakespeare lived in the UK and Sujata lived in India.

Also the poems were written in very different periods of time. When

Shakespeare wrote 'Sonnet 17', Elizabeth I ruled England - the

Elizabethan Age. Bhatt wrote her poem in India, completely different

time periods and ways of living.

Both poets' fell very frustrated about writing but have very different

reasons for feeling so. Bhatt feels frustrated as she is not able to

describe the beauty of nature on paper:

'How would things move on paper?'

Which clearly illustrates how she could write about the beauty of

nature on paper but you wouldn't be able image it and get the full

picture - you have to see it to believe it. Also the fact that it is a