A sonnet is a 14-line poem usually written in iambic pentameter. They often take on the rhyme scheme of the English or Italian forms. William Shakespeare's “My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun” is from 1609 and it is an English sonnet. This Shakespearean sonnet expresses that women do not have to look like flowers or the sun in order to be beautiful because real love does not need the perfect setting or people since we are humans and imperfection is nothing to be ashamed of; true love comes from the heart. “My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun,” is a traditional English form poem, also known as a Shakespearean Sonnet. The rhyme scheme for this poem is: a,b,a,b,c,d,c,d,e,f,e,f,g,g, containing 3 quatrains and a couplet. A quatrain is a 4-line stanza (a poetic paragraph), and a couplet is a 2-line rhyme. This sonnet compares a woman to a number of other beauties, but it seems like everything about her is not good enough for the writer. These comparisons can be seen throughout the poem: on the first line, when it says that her eyes are “nothing like the sun,” (Shakespeare 1126), meaning that her eyes could be prettier. On the second line with: her lips are less red than coral, saying that her lips are pale. Also that her breasts are dun-colored, again getting compared to white snow, and at the end of the first quatrain it reads, “If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head,” (1126) this is self-explanatory saying that her hairs are like black wires on her head. In the second quatrain, the speaker keeps up his romanticism by saying that he has seen roses separated by color into red and white, but he cannot see any roses in his mistress’s cheeks; and also the breath that “reeks” (1126) from his mistress is less desirab... ... middle of paper ... ...o not finish reading the poem, then she would have filed a divorce because it is only at the end that one can fully understand this poem and what the speaker is trying to say by making all of those comparisons. Throughout the poem, the speaker seems to see the glass half empty instead of half full because he likes some of the qualities that his woman has, but then he turns it around like with her breath not being as pleasant as perfume or the way that she talks. The rhetorical structure of Shakespeare's “My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun” is important because it creates the effect of an expanding and developing argument, and prevents the poem from becoming stagnant by relying on funny comparisons between the speaker's mistress with several objects and things for its first twelve lines, which keeps the sonnet flowing smoothly while also stating a clear theme.
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Show More...uty which is impossible for any woman or man to match. Campion's poem reflects this impossible ideal that society inflicts on us. This woman in There is a Garden in Her Face could never really live up to the image that the speaker has created of her. The image is false, and so is his love because he is only focusing on her outward appearance. The speaker in Shakespeare's sonnet clearly is not in love with his mistress' looks. Everything about her is contrary to society's standards, but he understands the absurdity of these standards and rejects them. There is more to his mistress than meets the eye, and that is why he truly loves her.
Another piece Shakespeare analyzes is his mistress’ hair. A major cliché today about women 's beauty is their hair. Men assume that it should be silky and smooth and sometimes even shiny. Shakespeare ends up turning this assumption on its head in this poem. Back in Shakespeare’s time, the readers might have recognized all these worn-out similes as allusions or references to images in other love poems. For example, the image of hair as black as wires sprouting out of her head might be meant to gross the audience out. It almost sounds like Shakespeare is referencing a creepy
This poem speaks of a love that is truer than denoting a woman's physical perfection or her "angelic voice." As those traits are all ones that will fade with time, Shakespeare exclaims his true love by revealing her personality traits that caused his love. Shakespeare suggests that the eyes of the woman he loves are not twinkling like the sun: "My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun" (1). Her hair is compared to a wire: "If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head" (3). These negative comparisons may sound almost unloving, however, Shakespeare proves that the mistress outdistances any goddess. This shows that the poet appreciates her human beauties unlike a Petrarchan sonnet that stresses a woman's cheek as red a rose or her face white as snow. Straying away from the dazzling rhetoric, this Shakespearean poem projects a humane and friendly impression and elicits laughter while expressing a truer love. A Petrarchan sonnet states that love must never change; this poem offers a more genuine expression of love by describing a natural woman.
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...
Shakespeare and Petrarch, two poets popular for their contributions on the issue of love, both tackle the subject of their work through sonnet, yet there are key contrasts in their style, structure, and in the way, each approaches their subjects. Moreover, it is clear that 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). Shakespeare seems, by all accounts, to mock the exaggerated descriptions expanded throughout Petrarch’s piece by giving an English poem portraying the speaker’s love in terms that are characteristic of a flawed woman not a goddess. On the other hand, Petrarch's work is full of symbolism. In reviewing "Sonnet 292" from the Canzoniere, through “Introduction to Literature and Arts,” Petrarch’s utilization of resemblance and the romanticizing of Petrarch's female subject are normal for the Petrarchan work. The leading major contrast between the two poems is the piece structure utilized (McLaughlin).
The use of figurative language and imagery in the two sonnets “How do I love thee” by Elizabeth Browning, and “Shall I compare Thee to a summer’s day” by William Shakespeare, convey complex emotions pertaining to love. The way that Shakespeare describes his feelings toward his significant other, suggests that he desires for the love he shares with his possible mistress to transcend death and last eternally. Mrs. Browning’s use of figurative language is more apparent, as she describes the various ways that she loves this particular person, expressing the extent of her intense unconditional love. Shakespeare uses personification of the Sun, during a summer’s day, to determine whether a summer’s day actually captures the essence of this individual that he loves so dearly. Shakespeare’s sonnet asks a question that he answers when he writes this person into an existence that will last for an eternity, which a limited summers day cannot. Shakespeare’s use of imagery and figurative language is more effective.
There are many elements in Shakespeare's sonnets life, selfishness, dreariness but the most important on of all is love. The way he describes love in his sonnets is very sensual, kind of like infatuation. He also uses elements of nature to describe the beauty of the woman or women in his sonnets. In sonnet 19 the speaker states “Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate.” (Shakespeare Lines 1-2) He is comparing a woman to a summers day which is commonly presumed as beautiful, bright, delightful and then they state that she is more lovelier and more mild than than a summers day. Throughout the sonnet the speaker is basically saying that summer itself does not last long enough and that her eternal summer will not fade , and she will not lose her beauty with time. She will be forever beautiful to him and no dark clouds, rainy days, will make him lose sight of her beauty. In sonnet 15 the speaker says “When I perceive that men as plants increase, Cheered and checked even by the self-same sky, Vaunt in their youthful sap, at height decrease, and wear theur brave state out of memory.” (Shakespeare lines 5-8) What the speaker is saying in these lines is, when he observes that men grow like plants he realizes they are encouraged and raised by the same sky, wallowing in their youthful demenior and then declining when they are at their height, then they vanish until their glory is no longer remembered.
Due to all of these shortcomings of summer, Shakespeare contends in the third quatrain of this sonnet that comparing his lover to this season fails to do her justice. While "often is gold [summer's] complexion dimmed," her "eternal summer shall not fade" (6, 9). She, unlike summer, will never deteriorate. He further asserts that his beloved will neither become less beautiful, nor even die, because she is immortalized through his poetry. The sonnet is concluded with the couplet, "So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, / So long live this, and this gives life to thee" (13-14). T...
Most people have heard on television or in movies, some guy tell his girlfriend that she has eyes as deep as the ocean or lips as soft as velvet. Although these all sound very romantic they are probably not true. In the first line of this sonnet, Shakespeare says "his mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun". then he says that her lips are not as red as coral, and that her skin is not as white as snow. of coarse she doesn't have white skin no person has truly white skin. So to assume that he was stating that she was then dark and pail lipped would be wrong. One cannot claim, that since he says she is not one thing, that he must be implying she is the opposite.
This sonnet is an anti-love poem that ironically shows how the fairness of a lady is contingent upon nature's blessings and her external manifestations. The Spenserian style brings unity to this sonnet, in that it's theme and rhyme is interwoven throughout, but the focus of her "fairness" is divided into an octave and a sestet. The first eight lines praise her physical features (hair, cheeks, smile), while the last six lines praise her internal features (words, spirit, heart). This sonnet intentionally hides the speaker's ridicule behind counterfeit love-language, using phrases like: "fair golden hairs" (line 1), and "rose in her red cheeks" (line 3), and "her eyes the fire of love does spark" (line 4). This traditional love language fills pages of literature and song, and has conventionally been used to praise the attributes of a lover; but this sonnet betrays such language by exhibiting a critique rather than commendation. This sonnet appears to praise the beauty of a lady but ironically ridicules her by declaring that her "fairness" is contingent upon nature, physical features, and displaying a gentle spirit, which hides her pride.
In Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18, also known as “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” represents and discusses the love and beauty of his beloved. Also, the speaker refers to his love more sweet, temperate, and fair than all the beauty that he can see in nature. He also speaks how the sun can be dim and that nature’s beauty is random: “And often is his gold complexion dimm’d / And every fair from fair sometimes declines” (6-7). At the end of the poem the speaker explains that they beauty of the person that is being mentioned is not so short because, his love with live as long as people are still reading this sonnet. The beauty of his beloved with last longer than nature, because although nature is beautiful flowers and other things still have to die: “So long as men can breathe or eyes can see / so long lives this and this gives life to thee” (13-14) Also, the speaker is comparing his love to a summer’s day, but does not really say anything specific or that the qualities given to his beloved are more superior to a summer’s day, which can allow the reader to understand that his beloved can stay young, beautiful, and never going to die.
In William Shakespeare’s sonnet “shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” the audience is introduced to a poem in which he himself goes into depth about the person he is infatuated with. The author does not give any type of hints telling the audience who the poem is towards because it can be for both male and female. That’s the interesting part about William Shakespeare’s work which is to second hand guess yourself and thinking otherwise. Making you think and think rational when you read his work. The sonnet “Shall I compare thee to a summers day” is one of his most famous and published poem. Shakespeare’s tone of voice at the commence of the poem is somewhat relaxed and joyful because he is going on talking about the person he is intrigued by. Throughout the passage Metaphors, similes and imagery can all be found in the poem itself
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.
In his "Sonnet 130," William Shakespeare presents an uncommon variation on the staple Elizabethan era love poem. While sonnets on the subject of love typically presented a problem which would be solved through the poet 's skills of rhetoric, in "Sonnet 130" Shakespeare creates a unique satirical love poem which eschews the common idealistic comparisons on a woman 's beauty in favor of a photographic accuracy. The poem 's final rhyming couplet makes it clear that the author 's intentions are to depict realistic and not idealistic beauty. While it would be a basic interpretation to read the "mistress" in the sonnet as the author 's lover, a closer analysis reveals a more unorthodox possibility. Instead of interpreting the sonnet as a standard
The speaker paints a picture of his lovers’ uninspiring beauty. In the first quatrain by describing his, “mistress’ eyes” (Shakespeare 1) as they, “are nothing like the sun” (Shakespeare