Brian Baglioni
Professor Tague
BRL: Epic to Novel-01
11-20-15
Expanding Poetic Consciousness:
Shakespeare, Thomas Gray and Mary Collier
From the 16th century to the 18th century, the convention and content of
poetry was in flux. It was constantly subject to change as poets developed their own
unique understanding of the world around them, highlighting realities of the world
that were previously ignored or neglected and reflecting these ideas in their poetry.
Shakespeare, Thomas Gray and Mary Collier are examples of poets who challenged
the accepted traditions of poetic convention. They adapted their prose from the
poets that preceded them but not without exercising their own rendition in its
execution. Such poets were
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The sonnet convention “was often a celebration of the poet 's
‘wit,’ that is, of his ability to show his poetic skill in appropriating metaphors and
conceits,” and would often portray a “despairing lover writing to a lovely,
unattainable lady in words of reverent praise and worshipful adoration” (Ian
Johnston). Shakespeare, however, went against this trend. The disparity can be seen
in Sonnet 130. Shakespeare mocks the notion of poetic storytelling that the courtly
poets (Petrarch, Wyatt, Surrey, Donne) were in favor of, namely the heavily
idealized notion of a woman’s affection or sexual attraction. “My mistress’ eyes are
nothing like the sun” (Sonnet 130). The vying and struggle for the woman’s love is
not present in this Shakespearian sonnet. Instead, it is replaced by a more realistic
rendition of prose: it does not utilize metaphors or allusions like that of Sidney or
Petrarch, or the metaphysical conceits that Donne favored: “And in some
Collins uses metaphors to teach the audience that with patience, poetry can be understanded easily. For instance, he tells the audience to “walk inside the poem’s
Literary devices are ultimately used in efforts of leading the audience to a better understanding of the author’s main point. The use of literary devices within the works that we have read throughout the semester have portrayed themselves to be strategic, to say the least. Literary devices such as metaphors, similes, alliterations, puns, and personification help to justify what the speaker is informing the audience of. In an attempt to explain the meaning of the work at hand, authors use literary devices to further verify a point, progress an argument, or to build a specific way of structure. Personally, in the analysis of Anne Bradstreet, Phillis Wheatley, and Jonathan Edwards’ notable poems and sermons, the great use of literary devices helped
Jimmy S.Baca use of metaphors, similes, imagery, diction, tone and mood are used in a very effective way in his essay Coming into Language. His use of metaphors and similes really give the reader a visual, helping develop imagery. Baca’s use of imagery paints pictures in the reader’s head but also develops a type of emotion by the use of diction. The word choice used provides the reader with an understanding of where the author is coming from leading us into tone and mood. The author’s tone starts off very low but by the end of the essay you will feel very satisfied.
Lust and Love in Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 and Campion’s There is a Garden in Her Face
...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.
Shakespeare's My Mistress' Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun Many authors compose sonnets about women whom they loved. Most of these authors embellish their women's physical characteristics by comparing them to natural wonders that we, as humans, find beautiful. Shakespeare's "My Mistress' Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun" contradicts this idea, by stating that his mistress lacks most of the qualities other men wrongly praise their women for possessing. Shakespeare presents to one that true love recognizes imperfections and feels devotion regardless of flaws, while satirically expressing his personal thoughts on Petrarchan sonnets. Through the use of comparisons, the English sonnet and an anti-Petrarchan approach, he creatively gets his point across.
Both Romantics and Modernists felt loss of authority, either from man or man's religious following. Poetry changed what it focused on as those figures lost respect or importance in the public's lives. I believe Yeats sums up my point partially in lines 19 and 20, "That twenty centuries of stony sleep/ Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle.
Throughout the course of literature poetry has always continued to evolve in many different themes along with the authors themselves. Time has allowed many readers to explicate the meanings of some poems and share what they think is the true meaning of it. Authors like Emily Dickinson for example had composed many poems that are discussed and analyzed today by everyday people, students, and even other authors.
Our literal understandings of a word are twins in constant opposition with one another, twins in constant competition to receive the most love from their mother and father. Let us pretend the parents are the literary community that demonstrates love frequently by showing a preference for one of their twins. Donald Davidson's theory expressed in What Metaphors Mean is a tragic, intellectual miscarriage; it is a theory of language that brings forth a stillborn child, a dead metaphor.
Shakespeare’s sonnet 130 is a sonnet much different than the normal love sonnets of that time. A well-known re-occurring them in Shakespeare’s sonnets is love. Shakespeare’s sonnet 130 can be interpreted many different ways. Sonnet 130 describes what love is to Shakespeare by making the poem a joke in order to mock other poets. In sonnet 130, Shakespeare spoke of a courtly love. Shakespeare goes against the usual style of courtly love writing in this sonnet. “In comparison to Petrarch’s Sonnet 90 and Shakespeare’s own Sonnets 18 and 20, Sonnet 130 is a parody of courtly love, favoring a pastoral love that is austere in its declaration, yet deep-rooted in sincerity” (Dr. Tilla Slabbert 1). Sonnet 130 mocks the men who use the traditional
The speaker uses metaphors to describe his mistress’ eyes to being like the sun; her lips being red as coral; cheeks like roses; breast white as snow; and her voices sounding like music. In the first few lines of the sonnet, the speaker view and tells of his mistress as being ugly, as if he was not attracted to her. He give...
In “Sonnet XVII,” the text begins by expressing the ways in which the narrator does not love, superficially. The narrator is captivated by his object of affection, and her inner beauty is of the upmost significance. The poem shows the narrator’s utter helplessness and vulnerability because it is characterized by raw emotions rather than logic. It then sculpts the image that the love created is so personal that the narrator is alone in his enchantment. Therefore, he is ultimately isolated because no one can fathom the love he is encountering. The narrator unveils his private thoughts, leaving him exposed and susceptible to ridicule and speculation. However, as the sonnet advances toward an end, it displays the true heartfelt description of love and finally shows how two people unite as one in an overwhelming intimacy.
“While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.” (Poe 145) Although Shakespeare antecedes Poe, the two poets use poetic devices in their poetic manuscripts. Works of poetry have poetic devices that intensifies a story; with added intensification, it makes the poem unique. In analyzing the two poets, William Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe, one can remark that the two use similar and contradictory poetic devices in their writings.
At the time of its writing, Shakespeare's one hundred thirtieth sonnet, a highly candid, simple work, introduced a new era of poems. Shakespeare's expression of love was far different from traditional sonnets in the early 1600s, in which poets highly praised their loved ones with sweet words. Instead, Shakespeare satirizes the tradition of comparing one's beloved to the beauties of the sun. From its opening phrase "My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun", shocks the audience because it does not portray a soft, beautiful woman. Despite the negative connotations of his mistress, Shakespeare speaks a true woman and true love. The sonnet is a "how-to" guide to love.
Through the form of sonnet, Shakespeare and Petrarch both address the subject of love, yet there are key contrasts in their style, structure, and in the manner, each approaches their subjects. Moreover, in "Sonnet 130," Shakespeare, in fact, parodies Petrarch's style and thoughts as his storyteller describes his mistress, whose "eyes are in no way as the sun" (Shakespeare 1918). Through his English poem, Shakespeare seems to mock the exaggerated descriptions expanded throughout Petrarch’s work by portraying the speaker’s love in terms that are characteristic of a flawed woman not a goddess. On the other hand, upon a review of "Sonnet 292" from the Canzoniere, through “Introduction to Literature and Arts,” one quickly perceives that Petrarch's work is full of symbolism. However, Petrarch’s utilization of resemblance and the romanticizing of Petrarch's female subject are normal for the Petrarchan style.