Shakespearean sonnets appear to be arranged in three parts; the first third of the sonnets appear to be directing the recipient of the poems to reproduce to endure his legacy, the second third highlight the ability of the immortalizing abilities of the sonnets and with the latter third there is the appearance of a dark haired lady - possibly a tongue-and-cheek humor of the Petrarchan sonnet. Sonnet 147, as one of the latter third sonnets, appears to be directed to the dark haired lady; as a anti-love sonnet, sonnet 147 covers the progression of emotions dealing with the loss of a lover. Shakespeare laments on his woeful state and illustrates clearly, these progression of emotions through the use of rhetorical tools and through metaphorical means by designing the sonnet itself as a fever. In the first line Shakespeare clearly creates an image of his love as a fever, a disease that consumes him and for which the physician can find no cure (line 9). Through a simile in the first line Shakespeare establishes the larger metaphor of the whole sonnet as a fever. Shakespeare would have a strong familiarity with the medical theory and treatments of the era. Early modern medical theory drew strongly from the writings of Hippocrates and the subsequent four humors theory (Garrison 71). The theory of the four humors held that the body was comprised of four basic substances, or humors: black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood. If the humors were out of balance this would result in illness; excess of blood increased the temperature of the body and thus caused fever (Garrison 213). Fittingly, an individual with lots of blood was filled with passion – thus the poets excess in passion has led to his fever. In a secondary, yet supportive manner... ... middle of paper ... ...ion of the truth behind the emotions becomes clear. By the end of the sonnet the speaker is fully over the individual to whom the sonnet is addressed and thus can see the situation with a complete understanding and wisdom of experience. By this means Shakespeare ties in the argument of “The Courtier” as a secondary metaphor to the overall theme of a physical fever. The speakers progression of emotions and the progression of the fever drive the direction of the sonnet. Each quatrain and the final couplet are a step in the progress towards emotional understanding and a break in the fever of love. His lamenting of his woeful state at the beginning of the poem endures feverish madness but ultimately leads to a clear understanding of the truth of the lover while, most importantly for the speaker: providing a means of overcoming the love – of indeed, breaking the fever.
In “Sonnet,” Billy Collins satirizes the classical sonnet’s volume to illustrate love in only “…fourteen lines…” (1). Collins’s poem subsists as a “Sonnet,” though there exists many differences in it countering the customarily conventional structure of a sonnet. Like Collins’s “Sonnet,” Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 130” also faces incongruities from the classic sonnet form as he satirizes the concept of ideal beauty that was largely a convention of writings and art during the Elizabethan era. Although these poem venture through different techniques to appear individually different from the classic sonnet, the theme of love makes the poems analogous.
...e speaker admits she is worried and confused when she says, “The sonnet is the story of a woman’s struggle to make choices regarding love.” (14) Her mind is disturbed from the trials of love.
...ays him. He tricks himself into believing that he and his friend are such kindred spirits that they are truly one in mind, body and spirit, when in fact, they are not. The final line of the sonnet begins with an initial spondee, "Sweet flattery" (14) in which Shakespeare himself is admitting how sweet delusion really is, and ends in a terminal spondee, "me alone" (14) showing that the young man and Shakespeare were really never more than acquaintances that loved the same woman.] Through a figment of his imagination, he developed a mythical relationship with the young man when in fact, the only really loving relationship he had was with his own pretentious subconscious.
Sonnet 130 is Shakespeare’s harsh yet realistic tribute to his quite ordinary mistress. Conventional love poetry of his time would employ Petrarchan imagery and entertain notions of courtly love. Francis Petrarch, often noted for his perfection of the sonnet form, developed a number of techniques for describing love’s pleasures and torments as well as the beauty of the beloved. While Shakespeare adheres to this form, he undermines it as well. Through the use of deliberately subversive wordplay and exaggerated similes, ambiguous concepts, and adherence to the sonnet form, Shakespeare creates a parody of the traditional love sonnet. Although, in the end, Shakespeare embraces the overall Petrarchan theme of total and consuming love.
A sonnet is a lyric poem of fourteen lines, following one of several set of rhyme-schemes. Critics of the sonnet have recognized varying classifications, but the two characteristic sonnet types are the Italian type (Petrarchan) and the English type (Shakespearean). Shakespeare is still nowadays seen as in idol in English literature. No one can read one of his works and be left indifferent. His way of writing is truly fascinating. His sonnets, which are his most popular work, reflect several strong themes. Several arguments attempt to find the full content of those themes.
This Shakespearean sonnet consisting of 14 lines can be subdivided into 3 parts. In each part, the poet uses a different voice. He uses 1st person in the first part, 3rd person in the 2nd part and 2nd person in the last part. Each section of the poem has a different theme that contributes to the whole theme of the poem.
If we first take a brief look at the formal aspects of Shakespeare's Sonnet, we detect rather easily that it is presented in a very traditional way. Besides the classical end-rhyme scheme, we find a lot of examples ( e.g. line 11) of alliteration, which give the poem a very harmonic and smooth tone. But in analysing the formal aspects, there is a far more interesting and important point. The syntax of the poem already tell us a lot, especially about the word lust (l.2). In twelve of fourteen lines lust is the subject. To put it in another way, we can say that almost the whole poem is subjected - in the sense of being dominated, ruled by something - to lust.
Shakespeare's sonnets are a romantic and charming series of poems. His use of rhyme and passionate, eloquent language serve to illuminate his strong feelings. These techniques were probably the most fluent way for such a writer as him to express the immeasurable love that he obviously felt for his mysterious lady. Examining the numerous ways Shakespeare found to describe it, the reader believes that this love was undoubtedly lasting and authentic. He often made heart-felt comments about his emotions that could also suit lovers in the present day. Because of this, and the fact that people read them yet, Shakespeare's sonnets are timeless and universal, just like the concept of love itself.
Shakespeare's Sonnet 116, denying Time's harvest of love, contains 46 iambic, 15 spondaic, 6 pyrrhic, and 3 trochaic feet. Like the varying magnitudes of stars that distinguish the sky's constellations, infused with myths describing all degrees and types of love, the spondaic, trochaic, and pyrrhic substitutions create a pattern of meaning that can be inferred by the discerning eye and mind. Shakespeare emphasizes his denial of the effects of Time on love by accenting "not" in lines 1, 2, 9, and 11, and "no" in lines 5 and 14. The forceful spondees at the beginning and the regular iambic feet at the end of each quatrain progressively build the poet's passionate rejection of love's transience. Quatrains 1 and 3, declaring what love cannot be, enfold his definition of love in Quatrain 2. The spondee, "It is," draws attention to the word "star" and the poem's essential metaphor, equating love and the North Star, at the poem's heart in lines 7 and 8. This figure of speech implies that while one can feel the intensity of one's love, i.e. measur...
The love described in this sonnet is a dangerous, obsessive, and possessive love. Fenghua Ma states “the love that appears in Shakespeare’s early works takes on a bright and optimistic look” (Ma 920). Following Shakespeare’s early works, he transitioned to a period focused primarily on themes discussing tragic love. In a sense, the development of the theme in Sonnet 75 could be compared to Shakespeare 's career. The beginning of the sonnet discusses how essential the narrator 's lover is to his life. However, as the sonnet continues, the positive, optimistic view of love disappears, just as Shakespeare 's themes transitioned from optimistic views of love to tragic love throughout his career. On certain days, the narrator describes that he is over satisfied by looking at his lover excessively, but on other days, he is deprived of not having seen his lover at all. Shakespeare writes, “Thus do I pine and surfeit day by day, / Or gluttoning on all, or all away” (Shakespeare l.13-14). The narrator is admitting to having an obsession and unhealthy relationship with his lover. He either sees too much or not enough of his
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
Sonnet 73 by William Shakespeare is widely read and studied. But what is Shakespeare trying to say? Though it seems there will not be a simple answer, for a better understanding of Shakespeare's Sonnet 73, this essay offers an explication of the sonnet from The Norton Anthology of English Literature:
A sonnet is usually written for young love with passion and longing for the individual. This specific sonnet is about a sons love for his mother. The tone through the eyes of the son is one of somber. Somber is coupled with adoration in the way he conveys his message about his mother. The setting is during wartime and the particular war is blurred without further details. The mother has lost someone very close to her and his son visualizes his mother in different roles. His unconditional love is evident as he portrays his mother in everyday life with the challenges she is facing. In the sonnet “To my Mother” George Barker uses poetic devices such as similes, imagery, and connotation to demonstrate his mother’s strong and endearing qualities.
The fourteen line sonnet is constructed by three quatrains and one couplet. With the organization of the poem, Shakespeare accomplishes to work out a different idea in each of the three quatrains as he writes the sonnet to lend itself naturally. Each of the quatrain contains a pair of images that create one universal idea in the quatrain. The poem is written in a iambic pentameter with a rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. Giving the poem a smooth rhyming transition from stanza to
A sonnet is usually written for young love with passion and longing for the individual. This specific sonnet is about a sons love for his mother. The tone through the eyes of the son is one of somber. Somber is coupled with adoration in the way he conveys his message about his mother. The setting is during war-time and the particular war is blurred without further details. The mother has lost someone very close to her and his son visualizes his mother in different roles. His unconditional love is evident as he portrays his mother in everyday life with the challenges she is facing. In the sonnet “To my Mother” George Barker uses poetic devices such as similes, imagery, and connotation to demonstrate his mother’s strong and endearing qualities.