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William Shakespeare's influence on literature
William Shakespeare's influence on literature
William Shakespeare's influence on literature
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Shakespeare is undoubtedly the most famous playwright of all time. He brought us several plays such as Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth, and several other stagings. These ingenious plays fell under three separate categories. We classified them as comedies, tragedies, and historical. Many people are deceived into thinking that all he wrote were performances to enthrall his audiences, but he also wrote an enlarged amount of sonnets. Now a sonnet, by definition, is a poem with some type of writing pattern that contains fourteen lines. These sonnets weren’t written for fun, but to tell of how he felt. He talks of his sorrow, his love, and his fears. One thing that makes this text really conspicuous is how the …show more content…
At this point in his sonnets we have inferred two possible outcomes to his sonnets; either a women wrote them and Shakespeare took them, or Shakespeare was simply bisexual. We have come to believe that he was bisexual for the fact that in his later sonnets he tells of how he loves a women. Anyhow, Shakespeare makes it clear he has deep affection for his lover and is quite infatuated with him. This is important because it shows that he is interested in him. He even goes as far to say he’s perfect. He calls him as fair, if not fairer, than a beautiful summer day. This is the kind when the suns out and the birds are singing, not a cloud to be seen and a gentle breeze. This proves that he is interested in him and wants to learn more about him. This is a key element in any …show more content…
This particular sonnet’s focus is clearly the lover. For this, many peoples first assumption is going to be lust. When you look closer though, you see more of how he describes his lover. “Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimm 'd; And every fair from fair sometime declines…” This quote is, plain and simple, informing him that he is not perfect and has his flaws, but he loves him anyways. This quote alone proves to us that he had more than lust for this man and was willing to share a life with him. This proves that his feelings weren’t pure
Sonnets are concerned with the idea of love, which makes it an appropriate device to use. This passage can be contrasted to love. that Romeo once felt for Rosaline, however Romeo in the first instance. was unwilling and unable to act upon his shallow feelings towards the object of his affection, while at his very first meeting with Juliet. he was able to make contact with her rather than view from afar.
William Shakespeare can be considered one of the greatest writers in English language of all time. He was born in Stratford in 1564 and it is well-known that he has written 38 plays, 154 sonnets and two long narrative poems. A widely held assumption is that he wrote his sonnets during the 1590s. Thus, they belong to the Elizabethan era, where literature was in one of the most splendid moments of the English literature. Consequently, William Shakespeare stands out in this period, not only for being a playwright, but also as a poet. His sonnets gave him a reputation and are considered to be ‘Shakespeare 's most important and distinctive contributions to lyric poetry, as well as the most profoundly enigmatic works in the canon '. Shakespeare’s sonnets can be divided into three different groups, as regards the subject of the poem. One of them would be constituted by the first 126 sonnets, where the addressee is a young man. The next sonnets, 127–52, would be addressed to ‘the dark lady’, whereas the last two poems are fables about Cupid. This essay will particularly focus on Sonnet 20 and Sonnet 130, making a comparison of the two poems by establishing a relationship between form and meaning.
Wilson, John Dover. An Introduction to the Sonnets of Shakespeare: For the Use of Historians
Known as the leader in classical poetry and drama, English writer William Shakespeare, captures the passion and emotions that the romance and depths of the human heart experiences in life. This is especially shown in his vast collection of sonnets which exemplified the “carpe diem” ideology of the period, and the love that one can have for another. Two of the most famous of Shakespeare’s works, Sonnet 55 [Not Marble, nor the gilded monuments] and sonnet 116 [Let me not to the marriage of true minds], are no exception to this theme in poetry. Both of these sonnets exemplify the love that the narrator has for a mistress in his life, and how he defines his love for them. Throughout both poems, Shakespeare conveys his purpose through the content, the overall theme of love and its permanence, and the form and structure in which the sonnets are written that can sometimes break the traditional rules.
...ays him. He tricks himself into believing that he and his friend are such kindred spirits that they are truly one in mind, body and spirit, when in fact, they are not. The final line of the sonnet begins with an initial spondee, "Sweet flattery" (14) in which Shakespeare himself is admitting how sweet delusion really is, and ends in a terminal spondee, "me alone" (14) showing that the young man and Shakespeare were really never more than acquaintances that loved the same woman.] Through a figment of his imagination, he developed a mythical relationship with the young man when in fact, the only really loving relationship he had was with his own pretentious subconscious.
The sonnet opens with a seemingly joyous and innocent tribute to the young friend who is vital to the poet's emotional well being. However, the poet quickly establishes the negative aspect of his dependence on his beloved, and the complimentary metaphor that the friend is food for his soul decays into ugly imagery of the poet alternating between starving and gorging himself on that food. The poet is disgusted and frightened by his dependence on the young friend. He is consumed by guilt over his passion. Words with implicit sexual meanings permeate the sonnet -- "enjoyer", "treasure", "pursuing", "possessing", "had" -- as do allusions to five of the seven "deadly" sins -- avarice (4), gluttony (9, 14), pride (5), lust (12), and envy (6).
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.
William Shakespeare is well-known for his multiple works of literature. These famous works include his many sonnets that consist of three quatrains and a concluding couplet. Specifically, in “Sonnet 29,” the speaker is disgruntled with his life and lusts for a more favorable one. However, although the speaker does not embody all the characteristics he would like, when he thinks of a loved one, life becomes significant again. In his “Sonnet 29,” Shakespeare integrates various literary devices that highlight that happiness entails both economic and spiritual satisfaction.
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
...ve channelled portions of Plato’s Symposium into his sonnets which guides in the pursuit of beauty and truth. The sonnets even help in a better understanding of Symposium. The sonnets which are addressed to the fair youth mostly talks about desire, immortality, and deception in seeking love. In a way it gives the message that in order to find true beauty we must look with our hearts and not eyes since eyes can be deceive us but not heart as Plato says. Shakespeare’s sonnets, although they are mainly about the speaker’s love for the fair youth and dark lady, have been believed to be a replica of Plato’s idea of truth and beauty, their meaning and interpretations may change with the passage of time but they remain universal in thought and argument.
This piece of a sonnet by William Shakespeare tells us a lot about his idea of what love is.
There is a defining complication in the sonnet. “This centers on the ambiguity of the term “mistress” which could refer to a husband’s wife, or, as the Oxford English Dictionary suggests, could also mean “[a] woman loved and courted by a man; a female sweetheart” or “[a]woman other than his wife with whom a man has a long-lasting sexual relationship” (Gregory, 2). The poem does not specify if “my love” refers to the speaker’s mistress or to the speaker’s love, his feelings. Shakespeare could be implying that his feelings and his love, are equally as sacred as the supposed love of other lovers that his mistress wrongly compares him
Shakespeare uses many different methods of discourse to examine this theme of love. In both sonnets the lover is exerting his control over the narrator, but the narrator does not really mind being controlled in either sonnet. Both sonnets include many elements and references to time and waiting and all of these references relate to love by showing love’s long lifespan and varying strengths over time. The only major difference between the two sonnets lies in their addressing love. Sonnet 57 talks directly to it in a personifying manner, whereas sonnet 58 merely refers to it through other means. Through this variety of explorations of the theme of love, Shakespeare shows that love has many faces and ways of expressing itself.
In addition, the sonnet is a statement of respect about the beauty of his beloved; summ...
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.