Sonnets In Shakespeare: An Analysis Of Shakespeare's Sonnet

Sonnets became a huge part of English literature when it was established by Petrarch in the fourteenth century. Sonnets were originally known as love poems from the writer to their lovers, but later developed into other kinds of poems. Seizing the day, living in the moment, and enjoying the youth are all examples of other meanings sonnets can have. During a sonnet, a story can unravel throughout the quatrains and eventually changing the thought process and emotion of the poem. Shakespeare followed a different format in his sonnets than Petrarch did. Sonnet 87 is a Shakespearean sonnet consisting of three quatrains and a couplet. The first quatrain begins by saying, “Farewell! Thou art too dear for my possessing” meaning that Shakespeare

At the end of the quatrain the couplet states how . He states “Thus have I had thee as a dream doth flatter; in sleep a king, but waking no such matter. Shakespeare is saying that even in his dreams he is truly not deserving of the gift for when he wakes up, he is no longer a king as he feels when he is asleep. The gift that Shakespeare is talking about is his youth, he knows he is growing old and he knows that it is time to part ways, which is the problem that he talks about in the first two quatrains. He comes up with a solution in the third quatrain when he is willing to return the gift because he simply does not deserve it. The poem brings a sad emotion to it because it is about growing old and not having the true abilities to do what he once could do. Shakespeare also feels as though he didn 't use his youth to his full advantage as seen in the end couplet. Paraphrasing, he says something about how the time in which he had his youth was wonderful and he felt like a king however, now that he has grown old and lost it, that is no longer the case. He also feels this way from earlier in the poem when he says,“Thyself thou gav’st, thy own worth then not knowing, or me, to whom thou gav’st, else mistaking; so thy great gift, upon

Shakespeare changed the way sonnets were written by not following the usual Petrarchan style that had be used centuries before. Although sonnets are difficult to understand, translation will help uncover a deeper meaning to the poem that can be very emotional or sometimes, like in this poem, be about accepting where you are and being happy about it. The way the sonnet builds up in the first two quatrains gives us a plot of what is happening and also why it is happening. It isn 't until the ninth line when the turn comes in that the poem starts to take a more joyful tone where the author is content with returning the gift and will not look back on it. The key to the whole poem was the final couplet, that lets the reader know that the author has finished discussing his youth and is giving a sense that he is ready to move on with his life. Overall, sonnets from this period give us a view into what was important to the people of this time, and even can apply to our lives a