Critique of William Shakespeare's Sonnet 138 In “Sonnet 138” also known as “When My Love Swears that she is Made of Truth” is a sonnet written by William Shakespeare, has many examples of literary elements such as personification and various types of rhyme. In “Sonnet 138” the author writes the sonnet in iambic pentameter and writes in an ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GG rhyme scheme. The narrator also includes examples of connotation and denotation to help change the meaning of the poem. Throughout the sonnet the author obviously is an older man than the younger woman that he is dating. The younger woman talks to the speaker with lies. Even though that the speaker knows that they are lies he believes them anyway. Throughout the sonnet denotation and connotation is used to change the meaning of the sonnet itself. The different meanings change really what actually goes on the sonnet. In the sonnet there are different types of rhymes. One example of rhyme is located in stanza one lines two and four, are “lies” and “subtleties” are examples of masculine rhyme. Considered to be sight rhym...
"Poetry is the revelation of a feeling that the poet believes to be interior and personal [but] which the reader recognizes as his own." (Salvatore Quasimodo). There is something about the human spirit that causes us to rejoice in shared experience. We can connect on a deep level with our fellow man when we believe that somehow someone else understands us as they relate their own joys and hardships; and perhaps nowhere better is this relationship expressed than in that of the poet and his reader. For the current assignment I had the privilege (and challenge) of writing an imitation of William Shakespeare’s "Sonnet 87". This poem touched a place in my heart because I have actually given this sonnet to someone before as it then communicated my thoughts and feelings far better than I could. For this reason, Sonnet 87 was an easy choice for this project, although not quite so easy an undertaking as I endeavored to match Shakespeare’s structure and bring out his themes through similar word choice.
Truth and honesty are key elements to a good, healthy relationship. However, in Shakespeare's Sonnet 138, the key to a healthy relationship between the speaker and the Dark Lady is keeping up the lies they have constructed for one another. Through wordplay Shakespeare creates different levels of meaning, in doing this, he shows the nature of truth and flattery in relationships.
Shakespeare’s Sonnet #23 is addressed to the lovely young man, called WH. The speaker is trying to convey his complex feeling towards his lover. He is tongue-tied in the young man’s company and he is trying to explain this awkwardness and express his complex emotions in this sonnet. It is, the speaker says, due to the hugeness of his love, that makes it too heavy to carry. For the author this sonnet is a silent representation of his inner voice. To show the complexity of the situation, he compares poet’s role as a lover to an actor’s timidity onstage. He asks WH to read these silent lines and explains that love will give him the insight to read between lines. The sonnet consists of 14 lines, which are splitted into octave and a sestet, and has typical for Shakespeare’s sonnets rhyme scheme: a-b-a-b, c-d-c-d, e-f-e-f, g-g. He uses first two quatrains to establish a problem and then resolves it in a third quatrain, summarizing solution in the following couplet.
"Sonnet 144." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 6th ed. Vol. 1. Eds. M. H. Abrams,
The sonnet opens with a seemingly joyous and innocent tribute to the young friend who is vital to the poet's emotional well being. However, the poet quickly establishes the negative aspect of his dependence on his beloved, and the complimentary metaphor that the friend is food for his soul decays into ugly imagery of the poet alternating between starving and gorging himself on that food. The poet is disgusted and frightened by his dependence on the young friend. He is consumed by guilt over his passion. Words with implicit sexual meanings permeate the sonnet -- "enjoyer", "treasure", "pursuing", "possessing", "had" -- as do allusions to five of the seven "deadly" sins -- avarice (4), gluttony (9, 14), pride (5), lust (12), and envy (6).
...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.
Interesting hook: William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 138 depicts the relationship of a couple, who many believe to be Shakespeare and his mistress, a woman referred to as, The Black Lady. Throughout the sonnet, the vast use of imagery causes the reader to imagine the sonnet as if it were a play where the characters are covered by a mask of lies. Put a clever transition in here: Although Sonnet 138 depicts the speakers’ willingness to settle for false love and put on a mask, Sonnet 138 depicts a relationship that its very survival is based on this deceit. Sonnet 138 illustrates that through lies characters hide themselves, which illustrates the importance of being true to yourself and not giving into mediocrity, and deciding to put on a mask to be like everyone else, which compels an individual to put on a mask and be something they are not. Shakespeare uses the tool of paronomasia, more commonly known as puns, throughout the Sonnet 138 to demonstrate the idea of duplicity, and if one carefully analyses these puns then the truth that hides behind the mask will be understood.
The sonnet displays the Shakespearian rhyme scheme, following this rhyme pattern closely with three quatrains and a rhyming couplet. Another important aspect of this sonnet is the meter, in this case being iambic pentameter. The meter carries throughout the poem, creating a sense of conversation. The iambic pentameter is often used through natural conversation. Thus, essential to this sonnet as the speaker is directly talking to someone. The meter of each line creates that song-like flow which is upheld through conversation “Whether or not we find what we are seeking” (13). This becomes vital to the poems overall meaning; a conversation expressing loves incapability to last. The overall construction of the sonnet itself, is another way Millay uses to convey her underlined meaning. This poem uses end stops, rather than lines with the enjambed style. This is crucial to support the overall feeling of the poem’s narrator speaking to another person. When people talk, it is smooth and not choppy. By using line stops it creates a solid important flow. This allows natural stops to occur, “If you entreat me with your loveliest lie / I will protest you with my favorite vow.” (7,8) by using the end stop structure, closing off the main idea and allowing a new idea to begin. Millay constructs the flow of the sonnet also through the sentence length. The
The natural bitterness of the sonnet is set up from the earliest starting point, when the storyteller starts with a specific end goal to get his mindset off of Lenore. The
There is a defining complication in the sonnet. “This centers on the ambiguity of the term “mistress” which could refer to a husband’s wife, or, as the Oxford English Dictionary suggests, could also mean “[a] woman loved and courted by a man; a female sweetheart” or “[a]woman other than his wife with whom a man has a long-lasting sexual relationship” (Gregory, 2). The poem does not specify if “my love” refers to the speaker’s mistress or to the speaker’s love, his feelings. Shakespeare could be implying that his feelings and his love, are equally as sacred as the supposed love of other lovers that his mistress wrongly compares him
William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 130”, was published in the mid-1590, and published with the rest of Shakespeare’s sonnets in 1609. The sonnet has fourteen lines, and divided into three quatrains and one couplet at the end. The rhyme scheme is cross rhyme, with the last two lines being couplets that rhyme. The sonnet compares between nature and the poets’ lover or mistress. He shows a more realistic view of his lover. Needless to say his significant other wasn’t physically attractive, yet he loved her inside beauty. Today we may use the term, “It’s not all about looks, but what’s inside”.
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:
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.
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
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) lived in a time of religious turbulence. During the Renaissance people began to move away from the Church. Authors began to focus on the morals of the individual and on less lofty ideals than those of the Middle Ages. Shakespeare wrote one-hundred fifty-four sonnets during his lifetime. Within these sonnets he largely explored romantic love, not the love of God. In Sonnet 29 Shakespeare uses specific word choice and rhyme to show the reader that it is easy to be hopeful when life is going well, but love is always there, for rich and poor alike, even when religion fails.