Spenser and Shakespeare: Contrasting Approaches to Sonnets

Spenser and Shakespeare: Contrasting Approaches to Sonnets

For over many centuries, countless poets have chosen to interpret their thoughts, sentiments and concepts through sonnets as opposed to other varying forms of poetry. Invented in Europe and perfected by Petrarch around the XIV century, the sonnet is considered to be the longest lived form of poetry and has since influenced the works and minds of succeeding artists such as Edmund Spenser and William Shakespeare. Thus, by observing Spenser’s Sonnet LXXV and Shakespeare’s Sonnet 55, it can be deduced that both poets have adopted the structure of sonnets to arouse emotions and imagination, but have taken different perspectives in doing so. Therefore, by means of comparing and contrasting, both of their poems may seem alike in their structure and general content, yet they are more diverse in relation to deeper aspects such as theme, form and language.

To commence, Spenser’s Sonnet LXXV and Shakespeare’s Sonnet 55 both share the same governing idea in their discourse, but each author approaches the concept differently. The theme represented in both poems is that of immortalising a lover by means of a sonnet. In Spenser’s Sonnet LXXV, he succeeds in portraying the theme of immortalisation by comparing the eternalness of love and death to the brevity of life and humanity, which further emphasizes that his love for her will never die. For instance, the couplet states: “Where whenas death shall all the world subdew, our loue shall live, and later life renew”. These lines imply that even when the world has succumbed to death and taken both the life of the speaker and the woman, their love will continue to live on in the eternal after-life. Beforehand, the speaker also makes refere...

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...ritten in heightened poetic language that is closer to the dialect attributed to the Elizabethan era. Although both sonnets have succeeded in creating vivid imagery through a raised style of language, it is evident that Sonnet LXXV was written with characteristics from past linguistic styles compared to Sonnet 55 which is a more realistic representation of XVI century language.

To conclude, by comparing and contrasting poetic elements such as theme, form and language, it can be deduced that Edmund Spenser’s Sonnet LXXV and William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 55 are more different than alike. Even though they both appear to have similar traits, deconstructing the components of the sonnets has enabled the possibility to understand how the different approaches taken by their authors can impact the outcome of the poetry and how they are perceived by the people who read them.