The three sonnets I have chosen to use are, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” by William Shakespeare, “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning and “Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea” also by William Shakespeare. In these three sonnets I will explore the themes of beauty/love, eternity and time. I have chosen these three sonnets because they're all different yet all explore similar themes. The theme of love and beauty is explored in all of these sonnets. With “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” Shakespeare is speaking about how her beauty will last forever even though he compares his lover to summer he states that her beauty will be much longer than summer because, Summer’s lease hath all too short a date and thy eternal summer shall not fade, this is because unlike her beauty, summer is temporal and will not last forever whereas her beauty will exist beyond time, as it is eternal. However with, “Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea” he seems to doubt the strength of her beauty, How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea, whose action is no stronger than a flower? this is because of beauty can be seen as weak however he values beauty, and thinks that its gentle and can get crushed because it is facing a much more physical threat and I think that Shakespeare is trying to make us think that beauty cannot win. In, “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways” Browning uses many repetitions to get her point across and to prove her love, I love thee, I think this is because she wants to show not only the strength of her love but also her passion and dedication for him as she constantly repeats herself. The theme of eternity plays an important r... ... middle of paper ... ...to a summer’s day?” Where the Volta showcases his change of mind, but his mysteries are always explained in the final couplet making the intent clear. However Browning’s sonnet seemed quite clear from the beginning and makes it seem quite dull because of the way she does not portray mystery and how she keeps constantly repeating herself to make sure she’s being heard and that everyone understands her amount of devotion. Her sonnet is just a long answer as is Shakespeare’s but hers doesn’t seem as interesting because the answer could do with more detail and it could be shown with a sense of conviction and a sense of strength because even though the repetitions make the sonnet seem confident it also makes it seem weak because the thought of having to repeat herself just to make sure she convinces the other person and maybe somehow she is trying to convince herself.
The poet uses the associations with autumn to comment on love by explaining how love is the trees in autumn who survive the winter. For instance, the lines, “The strong root still alive under the snow, love will endure – if I can let you go.” From these lines I can conclude that although the poet might let go of her lover like how trees let of their leaves, their love will continue because the roots of the tree never die throughout the winter. For this example, of a comparison of love to autumn, the poet creates an image of a tree root prospering under the snow, even if the part of the tree above ground looks dead. Additionally, the author correlates autumn with love in the lines, “If I come to know what they do know, that fall is the release,
Conclusion: Both Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Barret Browning and Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare use poetic devices such as: word choice, figurative language, and imagery to delve into the passions of fervent love.
When he writes "And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare as any she, belied with false compare." (lines 13-14) in the final couplet, one responds with an enlightened appreciation, making them understand Shakespeare's message that true love consists of something deeper than physical beauty. Shakespeare expresses his ideas in a wonderful fashion. Not only does he express himself through direct interpretation of his sonnet, but also through the levels at which he styled and produced it. One cannot help but appreciate his message of true love over lust, along with his creative criticism of Petrarchan sonnets.
Analysis of To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell and Sonnet by Elizabeth B. Browning
Shakespeare’s sonnets include love, the danger of lust and love, difference between real beauty and clichéd beauty, the significance of time, life and death and other natural symbols such as, star, weather and so on. Among the sonnets, I found two sonnets are more interesting that show Shakespeare’s love for his addressee. The first sonnet is about the handsome young man, where William Shakespeare elucidated about his boundless love for him and that is sonnet 116. The poem explains about the lovers who have come to each other freely and entered into a relationship based on trust and understanding. The first four lines reveal the poet’s love towards his lover that is constant and strong and will not change if there any alternation comes. Next four lines explain about his love which is not breakable or shaken by the storm and that love can guide others as an example of true love but that extent of love cannot be measured or calculated. The remaining lines of the third quatrain refer the natural love which can’t be affected by anything throughout the time (it can also mean to death). In the last couplet, if
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 Charlotte Smith’s Elegiac Sonnets, Smith uses nature as a vehicle to express her complex emotions and yearning for a renewal of her spirit. Utilizing the immortal characteristics of spring and the tempestuous nature of the ocean, Smith creates a poetic world that is both a comfort and a hindrance to her tortured soul. Even while spring can provide her with temporary solace and the ocean is a friend in her sorrow, both parts of nature constantly remind her of something that she will never be able to accomplish: the renewal of her anguished spirit and complete happiness in life once more. Through three of her sonnets in this collection, Smith connects with the different parts of nature and displays her sensible temperament with her envy over nature’s ability to easily renew its beauty and vitality.
== Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of maie, And summers lease hath all to short a date: 5 Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines, = == == ==
In Elizabeth Browning’s poem ‘Sonnet 43’, Browning explores the concept of love through her sonnet in a first person narrative, revealing the intense love she feels for her beloved, a love which she does not posses in a materialistic manner, rather she takes it as a eternal feeling, which she values dearly, through listing the different ways she loves her beloved.
Shakespeare's Exploration in Sonnet 2 of the Themes of Age and Beauty. Look closely at the effects of language, imagery and handling of the sonnet form. Comment on ways in which the poem’s methods and concerns are characteristics of other Shakespeare sonnets you have studied. The second of Shakespeare’s sonnets conveys an argument the poet is. making somewhat implicitly to a subject whose identity is hazy and unknown to the reader, even in retrospect.
(Burns, 2014) So when he speaks of his feelings they are intense and he uses similes such as the” melody sweetly played in June”. (Burns, 2014) Then he uses earth’s elements as smiles to show the depths of love; Such as “So deep in luv an I; And I will love thee still , my dear, Tilla the seas gang dry.” (Burns, 2014) This is really deep for when in time will all of the seas ever go dry. Then he goes on to state “Till a the sea’s game dry, my dear, And the rocks melt wi’ the sun; And I will luv thee still, my dear, while the sands o’ life shall run.” (Burns, 2014) This is epic for his love will never end until the Earth dies for; or he does.
Shakespeare writes in the first line of “Sonnet 18”, “Shall I Compare thee to a Summer’s Day”, setting the tone for the sonnet, explaining that the beloved’s beauty is comparable to a summer’s day. The speaker then goes on to explain that summer is not as fabulous as it seems, the winds shake the buds that emerged in spring, that summer ends too quickly, and the sun can get too hot or can be covered by clouds. The speaker says that everything beautiful eventually fades by chance or by nature’s changes (Shmoop Editorial Team). The last 6 lines of this sonnet declare that his summer will never fade, death will never be able to take the beloved from him as their love lives inside the lines of this
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.
“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day” a poem written by William Shakespeare, is the eighteenth sonnet by this famous writer and a poet. Shakespeare, a popular english poet had written fifty four sonnets. “Shall I compare thee to summer’s day” is the most popular of all the fifty four sonnets which emphasized Shakespeare’s love poem with the theme of love. The poem, “If thou must love me” is also a popular poem and a sonnet (number fourteen) written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Browning’s poem revolves around the theme of love towards her expectations from her lover to be. Both shakespeare’s and Browning”s poems are completely two different poems but still they share some literary terms in common. Both poems dealt with the same subject matter even though the both described love in their different point of view. Both speakers expresses true natural love and the eternity of true love.
Shakespeare addresses his first 126 sonnets to the same fair man. Sonnet 18, by far one of the most famous of Shakespeare's sonnets, was written to illustrate his love and adoration for the man. "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? / Thou art more lovely and more temperate" (18.1-2). The first few lines of this sonnet place vivid images in the readers mind about a beautiful and sweet tempered person. Most readers be...