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Critical appreciation of sonnet 55
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The poem “Ozymandais”, written by Percy Shelley, shares some similarities with Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 55” touching on the subject of art and eternity. Even though they are similar in ideas they are very different in terms of their points of view on the subject of the power art can have. For instance the positive and negative contrast emitted by the poems. In my opinion, Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 55” is more appealing and idealistic to humankind than Shelly’s “Ozymandais” because Shakespeare demonstrates art’s power to preserve genius, pose as an alternative to eternity and deliver an uplifting message.
Firstly, in Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 55”, the reason why humans create art is interpreted as a way to preserve and keep a part of them living, such as their intelligence, opinions and talent. With that in consideration, Shakespeare certainly portrays his work as living on with any other great pieces worthy of existing till Judgment Day, although he implies that his will outlive them all. On the other hand, Shelley thinks differently, laying down the harsh stings of reality and how human art...
When comparing and contrasting “Ozymandias”, written by Percy Bysshe Shelley and “Viva La Vida” by Coldplay, there is a strong contrast between the two. Ozymandias is a poem about a long-forgotten king who once had mighty power over his people, where as “Viva La Vida” is about a king who was overthrown. However, the similarities between the song and poem are astonishing. “Ozymandias” is similar to “Viva La Vida”because both texts mention a rockpile built upon sand for a king; because both texts show that the citizens are enemies of the king; and because they are both about a king who has lost his power.
In his poem “Ozymandias,” Percy Bysshe Shelley depicts an incongruous scene in which a colossal stone relic lays in ruins among a vast, empty landscape. Though on the surface, the piece has a simple meaning, the ironies and tensions hidden in the lyrics and meter are often overlooked (Martin 65). In his peculiar sonnet, Shelley uses the image of an ancient Egyptian sculpture to make a statement about the relationship between an artist, their subject, and the effects of time on both.
[III] Immortality: “through Art, and through Art only, that we can shield ourselves from the sordid perils of actual existence”
Shelley envisioned a strong sense of humanity in her novel. She encapsulated the quintessence of the period in which she lived by expressing ideologies, such as humanity’s relationship with God and the hypothesis of nature versus nurture. The relationship with God was vividly changed during the industrial era.
While immersed in its beauty, Victor and his creation escaped worldly problems and entered a supernatural bliss. In short, Shelley presents nature as very powerful. It has the power to put the humanity back into man when the unnatural world has stripped him of his moral fiber. In comparison to the pure beauty of nature, the unnatural acts of man are far more emphasized; therefore, the reader is clearly aware of man’s faults and their repercussions. Unfortunately, not even the power of nature could balance the work of man: “the cup of life was poisoned forever.”
Browning’s “Sonnet 43” vividly depicts the human dependency of love. She uses irony to emphasize that love overpowers everything. Browning starts the poem with “How do I love thee” (Browning). Ironically, she answers the very question she presents the reader by describing her love and the extent to which she loves (Kelly 244). The ironic question proposes a challenge to the reader. Browning insinuates how love overpowers so that one may overcome the challenge. People must find the path of love in life to become successful and complete. Also, the diction in “Sonnet 43” supports the idea that love is an all-encompassing force. The line, “if God choose, I shall love thee better after death” means that love is so powerful that even after someone passes away lov...
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.
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.
Sonnet 18 and Sonnet 130, by William Shakespeare, are two of the most well known Shakespeare sonnets. Both are similar in theme, however, the two poems are very much contradictory in style, purpose, and the muse to who Shakespeare is writing.
This poem describes a story told you by a passing traveler of a ruined statue of a king, Ozymandias, seemingly in a desolate desert. On the statue in is inscribed, “‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’/Nothing beside remain” (“Ozymandias” 10-12). Upon examination of the surrounding land, we realize that the once vast kingdom around the statue has been taken back by the desert, leaving the ironic message on the statue. This poem shows Shelley’s ideas of how all is temporary, especially mankind and our achievements. Showing romantic values, Shelley believed nature is much greater than man and no matter how big your kingdom, mather nature will always take back what was always
It is nature that destroys humankind when the sun disappears and the volcano erupts in “Darkness” and in “Ozymandias,” it is the sand and wind that causes the statue to fall. In Byron’s poem, humans lose the fight for their lives, and in Shelley’s poem, Ozymandias’s statue is powerless because it is lifeless, emphasizing the importance of the themes of life and death to the shared topic of destruction. Although they explore destruction using different language, they share the use of ideas about the destruction of civilization, and the fall of humankind because of nature, life and
In conclusion, Shakespeare is more effective with using figurative language and imagery in his sonnet. This is mainly because he personifies the sun in a way that acknowledges how essential the sun is to a summer’s day. Both poems by Shakespeare and Browning are virtually about the same topic. In addition, both of these poems also address the unknown person as “thee”. Moreover, a question of uncertainty is at the beginning of each poem as well. The theme of the two poems are pertaining to eternal love, exceeding death and only becoming stronger.
Through the form of sonnet, Shakespeare and Petrarch both address the subject of love, yet there are key contrasts in their style, structure, and in the manner, each approaches their subjects. Moreover, in "Sonnet 130," Shakespeare, in fact, parodies Petrarch's style and thoughts as his storyteller describes his mistress, whose "eyes are in no way as the sun" (Shakespeare 1918). Through his English poem, Shakespeare seems to mock the exaggerated descriptions expanded throughout Petrarch’s work by portraying the speaker’s love in terms that are characteristic of a flawed woman not a goddess. On the other hand, upon a review of "Sonnet 292" from the Canzoniere, through “Introduction to Literature and Arts,” one quickly perceives that Petrarch's work is full of symbolism. However, Petrarch’s utilization of resemblance and the romanticizing of Petrarch's female subject are normal for the Petrarchan style.
“Such ‘unnatural’ tendencies have an intimate relation to genius, and what we call ‘genius’ is, exactly, the awareness, and expression, of planes, or dimensions, beyond the biological and the temporal. That is why Shakespeare’s Sonnets are so deeply concerned with the problems of time, death and eternity” (Knight, 69-70). Maybe Shakespeare knew that true literary genius existed in the study of the relationship man has with death and certainty, so he pointed his writing in this direction for literary immortality. Maybe yet he was simply fascinated with death in general, and his genius shined through in his writing. Regardless of his motives, it is clear that Shakespeare was at some level fascinated with time and its overwhelming destructive powers. This fascination was evident in almost all of Shakespeare’s works, but most notably in his Sonnets. Not only did Shakespeare realize the fragility of life, but he found a way to overcome the universe’s inevitability with poetry. Although most of Shakespeare’s Sonnets are dedicated to a certain young youth, this dedication is only a front to carry on one of Shakespeare’s greatest concerns; the certainty of time and death. With the use of the written word, Shakespeare found a way to overcome the power of time and immortalize all that he loved, whomever and whatever that may be, inside the power of his ink.
The question textual matter marks the start of Shelley’s separation of the “mortal” from the “spiritual.” Asking queries creates area for the writer to supply answers. The solution he comes up with is that we tend to, in contrast to the song of the skylark, area unit “mortals” capable of “dreaming” sweet melodies. It’s not adequate to possess thoughtless joy, and therefore even our “sincerest laughter (88)” is usually attended with “our saddest thought (90),” however this is often the fact we tend to should acknowledge.