Appearance and Love in Sonet 13 by William Shakespeare

Shakespeare’s Sonnets

During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, she accomplished considerable changes in English culture. The Elizabethan era saw a great flourishing of literature, especially in the fields of poetry and drama. Unlike the poetry of the Anglo Saxon period, poetry in the Elizabethan era established many themes such as love, old age, rebirth, and individualism that could not be seen in the Anglo Saxons’ literatures. William Shakespeare, the most influential writer in all of English literature, was born in the Elizabethan era. Throughout his sonnets 130, 73, and 29, William Shakespeare reveals themes of love, old age, and wealth.

In sonnet 130, Shakespeare’s confession of love to his woman is very rare because he writes about love in an unconventional way. Shakespeare compares his beloved unfavorably to a number of other beauties. Shakespeare refuses to describe his woman in the Petrarchan sonnet form, which is “the first and most common sonnet named after one of its greatest practitioners, the Italian poet Petrarch” (“Poetic Form: Sonnet”). Women in the Petrarchan sonnet are described as ideally beautiful. Sonnet 130 mocks the typical Petrarchan metaphors by telling the truth, rather than making his woman into a goddess. For example, Shakespeare notes that her eyes are "nothing like the sun,"(1). Her lips are less red than coral and her breasts are dun-colored when compared to the whiteness of snow. Shakespeare even says that “music hath a far more pleasing sound” (9) than her voice. However, in the couplet, Shakespeare reverses all the disparaging comments he has made: “And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare / As any she belied with false compare” (13-14). Shakespeare shows his intent to insist that love does not...

... middle of paper ...

...ve. It is what is inside that really matters. In Sonnet 73, Shakespeare metaphorically talks about the old age, and he notices that the love with his woman becomes more intense given that the time is limited. Sonnet 29 tells readers that a good memory of someone’s love could bring spiritual wealth and overcome a poor situation. Shakespeare’s unique stylistic devices create interest in reading his poems and stand out from conventional writings.

Works Cited

"Poetic Form: Sonnet." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2014. Shakespeare, William. “Sonnet 73”. Ed. Amanda Mabillard. Shakespeare Online. Web. 8 Dec. 2012.

“Sonnets.” The Middle Ages. Ed. Alfred David and James Simpson. 9th ed. New York: W.W.Norton., 2012. 1166-86. Vol. B of The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Stephen Greenblatt, gen.ed. 3 vols. Print.