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
A number of writers uses rhetorical devices in their writings whether it’s drama, romance, or a comedy. If you become advanced in the use of rhetorical devices it makes the literature packed with fullness and brings simplicity. Rhetorical devices brings significance instead of plainly stating the details. Writer’s disguise their writings so that the readers have to fathom things out for themselves. In Candide, Voltaire used numerous rhetorical devices to enhance Candide. Voltaire’s use of satire, irony, and symbolism is designed to make fun of philosophical optimism. He utilizes several kinds of rhetorical devices such as satire, irony, and symbols.
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.
Edgar Allan Poe once said, “I would define, in brief, the poetry of words as the rhythmical creation of Beauty”("BrainyQuote"). Poe has been known for his fantastic and eerie short stories, but he also wrote poetry. In fact, it was poetry that started his career. Throughout Poe’s life, poetry was a big part of him, and with his passion he created great works like “The Raven”. With Poe’s life story, poetic vision, and great poems, he has changed the literary world forever.
Lust and Love in Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 and Campion’s There is a Garden in Her Face
Uses words in figures of speech. Examples: Alliteration, assonance, cliche, hyperbole, idiom, metaphor, onomatopoeia, personification, simile, etc.
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.
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.
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”.
...ent and wit without losing his audience. He therefore combined the two to create elitist poems with some touches of the popular.
During the course of Edmund Spencer’s Amoretti, the “Petrarchan beloved certainly underwent a transformation” (Lever 98); the speaker depicts the beloved as merciless and is not content with being an “unrequited lover” (Roche 1) as present in a Petrarchan sonnet. Throughout Sonnet 37 and Sonnet 54, the speaker provides insight into the beloved not seen within the Petrarchan sonnets; though the speaker does present his uncontrollable love for the beloved, he does so through his dissatisfaction with his position and lack of control. In Sonnet 37, the speaker describes the beloved as an enchantress who artfully captures the lover in her “golden snare” (Spencer, 6) and attempts to warn men of the beloved’s nature. Sonnet 54, the speaker is anguished by the beloved’s ignorance towards his pain and finally denies her humanity. Spencer allows the speaker to display the adversarial nature of his relationship with the beloved through the speaker’s negative description of the beloved, the presentation of hope of escaping from this love, and his discontent with his powerlessness. Spencer presents a power struggle and inverted gender roles between the lover and the beloved causing ultimate frustration for the speaker during his fight for control.
Phrases such as “divided live”, “separation”, and “absence, what a torment” portray images of longing. The narrator imagines what will become of his life once he and his lover go their separate ways (5-9). The sonnet paints an image of the bittersweet aspects of separation from one’s soulmate. The “sour leisure” refers
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.
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.
That means, the approaches of poet’s love remain the same. In one place, he portrays beauty as conveying a great responsibility in the sonnets addressed to the young man. The poet has experienced what he thinks of as "the marriage of true minds," also known as true love, that his love remains strong, and that he believes that it’s eternal. Nothing will stop their love, as in the symbols like all the ships, stars and stormy seas that fill the landscape of the poem and so on what can affect to their love. The poet is too much attracted with the young man’s beauty, though this indicates to something really bad behavior. But in another place, Shakespeare makes fun of the dark lady in sonnet 130. He explains that his lover, the dark lady, has wires for hair, bad breath, dull cleavage, a heavy step, pale lips and so on, but to him, real love is, the sonnet implies, begins when we accept our lovers for what they are as well as what they are not. But other critics may not agree with this and to them, beauty may define to something