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Conceits in Done's poetry
John Donne as a metaphorical poet
Critical analysis of Donne's poetry
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I found Donne’s “Holy Sonnet 10” and “Holy Sonnet 14” to be similar in style, but different in context. Obviously, it is logical that they are similar in style because they are written by the same author. They both are written in similar rhyme schemes and the familiar quatrain/couplet pattern as most sonnets are. They both include many references, personification, imagery, and metaphorical and literal comparisons. For example, in “Sonnet 10” the speaker personifies Death and speaks directly to Death as if it is another person. In “Sonner” 10, the speaker uses the imagery asking God to attack his heart as if it were the gates of a “fortress town.” The speaker in “Holy Sonnet 10” was very hostile and forthright with Death , but I found the
Sonnets is a type of poetry that originated in Italy. There are many different types of sonnets, such as the Shakespearean sonnet, Petrarchan sonnet, and the Spenserian sonnet. Despite their differences, these sonnets share some similarities. “Harlem Dancer” by Claude McKay and “In an Artist’s Studio” by Christina Rossetti share many similarities and differences such as the form, the portrayal of women, and the way the woman is objectified.
As far as structure goes, Shakespeare’s sonnet and my own are very similar. My 14-line sonnet is written in Iambic Pentameter and follows the abab-cdcd-efef-gg rhyme scheme within three quatrains and a couplet, as does that of Shakespeare. For this reason, my poem follows a meter very close to Sonnet 87. This is also due to the fact that both sonnets contain 10 syllables per line, as well as an eleventh in most lines that derives from weak, or "feminine" verb endings such as "keeping" in the first line of my poem, and "possessing" in that of Shakespeare. Thus, the finality residing in the 10 syllable lines that use masculine endings is accounted for. In addition, my sonnet mirrors Sonnet 87 by starting with "farewell" and ending with Shakespeare’s couplet modified, and one can see his influence in the third quatrain of my poem, which echoes back the last 4 lines of Sonnet 87’s third quatrain. In this way, I was able to mimic most of Shakespeare’s structure while inserting phrases of my own.
A sonnet is a fixed patterned poem that expresses a single, complete thought or idea. Sonnet comes from the Italian word “sonetto”, which means “little song”. Poem, on the other hand, is English writing that has figurative language, and written in separate lines that usually have a repeated rhyme, but don’t all the time. The main and interesting thing is that these two poems or sonnets admire and compare the beauty of a specific woman, with tone, repetition, imagery, and sense of sound.
William Penn, an English philosopher and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, once said that, “For death is no more than a turning of us over from time to eternity.” He is saying that death is not the end of our lives, but just another stage. In the poem “Holy Sonnet 10” by John Donne, the poet talks to death itself and gives his opinion on his view of death and others’ views: it is something that cannot control anything, can be replaced by other things, and is not the end of a person’s life. Through the use of his figurative language, Petrachan form, and tone and language, Mr. Donne expresses the message that death is not to be feared because one lives in heaven. John uses many examples of figurative language in his sonnet.
Sonnets are rhymed poems consisting of fourteen lines, the first eight making up the octet and the last six lines being the sestet. The basic structure of the sonnet arose in medieval Italy, its most prominent exponent being the Early Renaissance poet, Petrarch. The appearance of the English Sonnet, however, occurred when Shakespeare was an adolescent, around 1580 (Moore and Charmaine 1). Although it is named after him, Shakespeare did not originate the English sonnet form. The English sonnet differs slightly from the Italian, or Petrarchian, Sonnet and the Spenserian Sonnet in that it ends with a rhymed couplet and follows the rhyme scheme (abab cdcd efef gg). Thus, the octet/sestet structure can be alternatively divided into three quatrains with alternating rhymes and ending in a rhymed couplet. William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 65 is part of a sequence of one hundred and fifty-four sonnets allegedly written sometime between 1592 and May of 1609 (Duncan 13; Moore and Charmine 1). In sonnets 1 through 126, the speaker addresses a young man often referred to as the Youth, and in sonnets 127 through 154, a woman, or Dark Lady, is addressed
When considering the structure of the poems, they are similar in that they are both written loosely in iambic pentameter. Also, they both have a notable structured rhyme scheme.
This is an enjoyable sonnet that uses nature imagery, found extensively in Petrarca, that Shakespeare uses to get his point across. Not much explication is needed, aside the sustained images of nature, to fully understand its intent, but I would like to point out a peculiar allusion. When reading line 3, "the violet past prime" has made me think of Venus and Adonis. In the end, Adonis melts into the earth and a violet sprouts where his body was, which Venus then places in her heart, signifying the love she has for him. Reading this into the poem makes the few following lines more significant. Having Adonis portrayed as the handsome youth, Shakespeare is alluding to the death of youth (in general and to the young man) through the sonnet. In the next line, it is not certain if "sable" is an adjective or a noun and if "curls" is a noun, referring to hair (which is plausible) or a verb modifying "sable." Invoking the allusion to Adonis here, Shakespeare portends that if Adonis did live longer, he too would have greying hair; thus, Shakespeare sees ["behold"] an Adonis figure, the young man, past his youth.
The sonnets are similar in that the subject who which Shakespeare is writing is very dear to him. The most over looked difference, however, is who the subject actually is.
Compare William Shakespeare’s Sonnets 12 and 73 William Shakespeare (1564-1616) wrote a group of 154 sonnets between 1592 and 1597, which were compiled and published under the title 'Shakespeare's Sonnets' in 1609. The 154 poems are divided into two groups, a larger set, consisting of sonnets 1-126 which are addressed by the poet to a dear young man, the smaller group of sonnets 127-154 address another persona, a 'dark lady'. The larger set of sonnets display a deliberate sequence, a sonnet cycle akin to that used a decade earlier by the English poet Phillip Sidney (1554-1586) in 'Astrophel and Stella'. The themes of love and infidelity are dominant in both sets of poems, in the larger grouping; these themes are interwoven with symbols of beauty, immortality, and the ravages of time. Lyrical speculations of poetry's power to maintain bonds of love and to revere the beloved can also be found in the larger collection of sonnets.
Steele, Felicia Jean. "Shakespeare's SONNET 130." Explicator 62.3 (2004): 132-137. Academic Search Complete. Web. 22 Nov. 2013.
John Milton studied and traveled abroad, mainly in Italy, prior to returning home. In his earlier sonnets, with the exception of a few, he used a Petrarchan Theme which is primarily dominate in many Italian sonnets. It is very prevalent in Sonnet 8 where as it may not be in other poetic verses like Sonnet 7.
Shakespeare sonnets, also called English sonnets, are the second most common sonnets. It takes the structure of three quatrains, that is, three stanzas with four lines and a couplet that is a two line stanza. The couplet stanza is pivotal in the sonnet, because it provides amplification, a refutation or a conclusion of the other three stanzas, which creates an epiphany for the sonnet. The other kind of sonnet is the Spenserian, which has the first 12 lines rhyming into a, b, c and d, while the last stanza, which is a couplet has the rhyme, ee. The three quatrains provide detail about three but related ideas while the couplet gives rise to a totally different idea (Petrarca & ...
...es they create different images, which compare humans to nature. Also, both sonnets create the idea of a courtly love sonnet, but Sonnet 18 has a better explanation or image of that. The speaker’s beloved is way too perfect and cannot be compared to anything, even though it could be the most beautiful day of the year, it still would not give justice to his lovers beauty. In Sonnet 130 it still talks about love, but the speaker is being sarcastic and makes fun of the usual love poem. Regardless, the first part of the Sonnet 130 speaks about his mistress’s unattractiveness; the ending explains that despite her imperfectness, the speaker loves her for who is she is. Although it seems to be difficult to figure out whether the speaker or Shakespeare wants his beloved to be perfect or imperfect, it does reflect that Shakespeare does appreciate beauty, flaws, and nature.
Although both sonnets have the common theme of nature, Shakespeare used his words to distinguish the differences in his two lovers. One could say that he was ahead of his time with his writing because he did not bow down to convention. Because he wrote the way he wanted to and was not concerned with other writer's styles Shakespeare has become one of the most influential English writers of all time. He pushes his readers beyond the norms in a great deal of his writing, forcing them to take a closer look at what he actually implies with his words.
In sonnet 1, the speaker is talking to God. He tells God that his death is near. He feels that with all of the sins he has committed he is leaning towards hell instead of heaven. Satan has tempted him too much and he doesn't know if he can even go an hour without giving in to Satan's evil ways. The speaker asks God to give him wings so that he may ascend into heaven and prevent Satan from taking him to hell. There is a sense of manipulation in the speaker in the beginning of the sonnet. "Thou hast made me, and shall thy work decay?'; In other words, "You're making your own creation look bad if you don't help me to become holy again.'; This starts out the sonnet with a bitter tone, a favorable way for Donne to begin. But in the end, the speaker is pleading God to give him wings, ending the sonnet with a sense of desperation. The worried tone of the last few lines is a rather common one in the Holy Sonnets. It exhibits the r...