Compare And Contrast Shakespeare And Sonnet 116

Structure and theme can hardly exist without the other in sonnet writing. Poets utilize (or, in some cases, do not utilize) the form of sonnets to make statements and further the effectiveness of their writing. Rhyme scheme, meter, and all structural elements become the metaphorical blocks for which compelling topics stand on. Although what the writer attempts to get across carries great importance, as does the form these words take on. Form, therefore, must contribute to the themes in different, but still necessary, ways. Although both Wroth’s [‘In this strange labrynith’] and Shakespeare’s ‘Sonnet 116’ utilize relatively similar forms to contribute to their thematic statements, the views on the longevity and idealization of love are fundamentally

In both sonnets, the rhyme scheme is of English form, although Wroth uses a slightly altered version. In terms of Shakespeare’s sonnet, consistency in rhyme is likely done not only because English is the author’s most frequent writing style, but also to suggest the classical definition of love, mimicked throughout the poem. As the rhyme scheme remains pure to the conventions of the Shakespearean form of sonnet-writing, as does the speaker’s claims towards lasting love. They mention “let me not to the marriage of two minds/ admit impediments” (1-2), alluding to the time-old ceremony linked to the Christian church. Marriage, in the classical sense, carries the expectation of a lifelong commitment, a bond thought to last through trials and tribulations, through sickness and health (which is exactly what the speaker describes in Sonnet 116). The rhyme scheme, therefore, becomes useful because of its constancy and, perhaps, timelessness, furthering the idea that love pertains similar qualities. On the other hand, in Wroth’s poem, we see a rhyme scheme used for a different reason. The second quatrain differs, repeating the rhymes from the first with a scheme of ‘ababbaba’. Because the sonnet does not focus on the eternal quality of love but rather the opposite, the deviation of rhyme is used to mimic the unpredictability of the love the speaker describes. As well, with the first two quatrains containing similar-sounding words, they are connected more strongly to one another. The speaker describes themselves as being at a loss for what to do during the first two quatrains, wondering ‘how shall [they] turn?’ (1) and seeming panicked from the ambiguity of their options. Hence, the first eight lines, tied together with rhyming sounds, are focused on the not knowing while the last quatrain and the couplet, rhyming only with