Analysis of Shakespeare's Sonnet 20
Sonnet 20 appears to be about an affectionate love that the speaker
develops for an unnamed man. He describes the man as having a woman's
face that Nature painted with its own hand. The speaker calls this
admired person his "master mistress." He goes on to say that this man
has the gentle heart of a woman but is not inconsistent as is the way
with women. He has eyes that are brighter than the eyes of any women.
His eyes are so true and sincere that they light up every object that
they look upon. He is a man of shape and form (and of authority) and
all other figures are in his control. Furthermore, he steals the
attention of men and amazes the hearts of women. The speaker continues
to explain his reasons for not being able to be with this man. The
speaker claims that this man was originally intended to be created as
a woman. However, Nature made a foolish mistake in making him. By
adding one extra thing, Nature has defeated the poet. By adding this
one feature, she has prevented the poet from ever fulfilling his
desire in having him. Then the poet exclaims that although Nature made
this man for the pleasure of women, let his body be women's treasure
and let him have this man's love.
Sonnets are often written about desire, whether it be the desire of a
man and woman for one another, or a desire to fulfill a missing
element in one's life. William Shakespeare's sonnets are well-known
for including varying themes of shame, happiness, melancholy, fear and
so forth. His sonnets focus on a young man, a woman and sometimes a
male friend, often expressing the relationships between all three.
Sonnet 20...
... middle of paper ...
..."hue" and "hues" as though to note a difference
in the meaning of each word. This works out because they do have
different meanings in the ways that they are used. "Hue" refers to the
authority of the speaker, whereas after the break, "hues" become all
the other figures or men who have also been drawn to this particular
man.
Thus, it is evident in the overall poem that the relationship between
the speaker and the targeted male is not of two good friends. The
speaker is experiencing a feeling of deep sensual love for a man.
Indeed, there is nothing in a poem that is accidental. The structure,
rhythm, and even the sound of the poem is a clue in grasping the
poem's true meaning.
Works Cited:
Shakespeare, William. ?Sonnet 20? Poetry Archive.
http://www.poetry-archive.com/s/shakespeare_sonnet_020.html (05/08/2003).
rough exterior, on the inside he is a loving, caring, loyal man. It is made clear
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.
In the end, I suppose, [...] one should settle on someone wholly dependable, quiet, and steady, as long as there is nothing especially wrong with her, and never mind rank or looks.
gentle, and caring on the outside, but in actual fact, he uses his loving behavior as a mask to cover
The sonnet opens with a seemingly joyous and innocent tribute to the young friend who is vital to the poet's emotional well being. However, the poet quickly establishes the negative aspect of his dependence on his beloved, and the complimentary metaphor that the friend is food for his soul decays into ugly imagery of the poet alternating between starving and gorging himself on that food. The poet is disgusted and frightened by his dependence on the young friend. He is consumed by guilt over his passion. Words with implicit sexual meanings permeate the sonnet -- "enjoyer", "treasure", "pursuing", "possessing", "had" -- as do allusions to five of the seven "deadly" sins -- avarice (4), gluttony (9, 14), pride (5), lust (12), and envy (6).
most kind-hearted, full of humor and sharp as a tack kind of woman. She would never say a
In "Sonnet 73", the speaker uses a series of metaphors to characterize what he perceives to be the nature of his old age. This poem is not simply a procession of interchangeable metaphors; it is the story of the speaker slowly coming to grips with the finality of his age and his impermanence in time.
Shakespeare's Sonnet 116, denying Time's harvest of love, contains 46 iambic, 15 spondaic, 6 pyrrhic, and 3 trochaic feet. Like the varying magnitudes of stars that distinguish the sky's constellations, infused with myths describing all degrees and types of love, the spondaic, trochaic, and pyrrhic substitutions create a pattern of meaning that can be inferred by the discerning eye and mind. Shakespeare emphasizes his denial of the effects of Time on love by accenting "not" in lines 1, 2, 9, and 11, and "no" in lines 5 and 14. The forceful spondees at the beginning and the regular iambic feet at the end of each quatrain progressively build the poet's passionate rejection of love's transience. Quatrains 1 and 3, declaring what love cannot be, enfold his definition of love in Quatrain 2. The spondee, "It is," draws attention to the word "star" and the poem's essential metaphor, equating love and the North Star, at the poem's heart in lines 7 and 8. This figure of speech implies that while one can feel the intensity of one's love, i.e. measur...
which is death to hide" is an allusion to the biblical context of the bible.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) lived in a time of religious turbulence. During the Renaissance people began to move away from the Church. Authors began to focus on the morals of the individual and on less lofty ideals than those of the Middle Ages. Shakespeare wrote one-hundred fifty-four sonnets during his lifetime. Within these sonnets he largely explored romantic love, not the love of God. In Sonnet 29 Shakespeare uses specific word choice and rhyme to show the reader that it is easy to be hopeful when life is going well, but love is always there, for rich and poor alike, even when religion fails.
William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 39 features a narrator who is speaking about his loved one or soulmate. Within the poem, the narrator is attempting come to terms with a possible separation from his loved one, or other half. Initially, the narrator seems to be accepting of the separation, however the sonnet takes a turn about half way through, after which the narrator tries to grapple with the idea of filling his alone time.
Sonnet 73 by William Shakespeare is widely read and studied. But what is Shakespeare trying to say? Though it seems there will not be a simple answer, for a better understanding of Shakespeare's Sonnet 73, this essay offers an explication of the sonnet from The Norton Anthology of English Literature:
Poetry. When most people hear the word, they cringe and think, “Who would want to spend their time deciphering words that were written by a bunch of dead guys?” or “What a bunch of dead guys wrote has no correlation to my life, so why waste my time reading.” In the case of some poems and poets, these critics are correct. However, Shakespeare was a master of his craft. Arguably one of, if not the most famous playwright and poet in the history of the world, Shakespeare has written 154 sonnets, each portraying a powerful message. Considering the sonnets are not titled, they initially look as if they are meaningless since they are defined by a number. Nonetheless they represent much more than the number as they accurately describe obstacles that still face humanity today. Sonnet XXIX stands out because it depicts a man originally succumb to envy thus causing a depression, which is something that happens on a daily basis even today. Shakespeare utilizes expertly crafted sentences with the incorporation of unique diction paired
In the second quatrain, the lover grants to Time its own will: "And do whate'er
...e you must respect for her sincerity, her high principles, her generous trust of others, and her patience under trails that would be too great for much stronger heads...and in spite of her romantic folly she has so much good heart that it serves her in place of good sense” .