Examples Of Juxtaposition In Sonnet Xvii

Shakespeare is known for his extravagant tales of love and tragedy. Whether it’s in his plays “Romeo and Juliet” or “Hamlet”. He can take simple concept such as flowers blooming or a butterfly flapping its wings, and turn it into the most romantic thing that you’ve ever heard. In his poem “Sonnet XVII”, he creates a romantic confession of love by using romantic language, euphonious diction, and juxtaposition to swoon his readers.
Throughout this poem, Shakespeare uses romantic language to make the reader feel as if this poem was meant for them. To support his romantic language, he uses a rhetorical question and personification. His rhetorical question is in line 1; “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”. (Shakespeare). What he means by this quote is, he thinks his lover is as gorgeous as a summer’s day. By using a rhetorical question, Shakespeare is making his poem more romantic because he is making seem as though “a summer’s day” isn’t enough to describe his “love’s” beauty. The other example

The line where he uses juxtaposition is in line 3. This line states “Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May” (Shakespeare). The two phrases he juxtaposes are “rough winds” and “darling buds of May”. They juxtapose because something as gentle and soft as small flowers and compare it to its complete opposite of rough and nasty winds only makes this love confessional stronger. Also, this is the only line of the poem that uses juxtaposition. So, it makes the reader infer that either their love is hard to break that his “love” of his is not easily shaken up or broken down. It can either be the first one, the second one, or both! His uses of juxtaposition enhance the poem along with the use of romantic language and euphonious diction because it helps the reader to see just how much this man loves this person and the lengths that he will go to explain his for