Analysis “Sonnet I” by William Percy
Sonnet I from William Percy, Sonnets to the Fairest Coelia. London, 1594.
Analysis of the communicative situation and the topic, about the figuartive language, the metre and the central problem.
1. Communicative Situation and Topic
In the following I am going to analyse the poem “Sonnet I” by William Percy which is the first part of his series “Sonnets to the Fairest Coelia” (1594).
The poem deals with a man suffering from unreturned love which leads to an unexpected change of his attitude towards the beloved woman. It is divided into four sections, each of them dealing with its own topic.
In order to identify the speaker, the reader has to rely on the personal pronoun “I” (line 2). The speaker is a man whose fate is put into the focus right from the beginning. He addresses the woman he loves calling her “my goddesse” (l.1). Furthermore he limits the use of deictics to the possessive pronoun “her” in order to describe the addressee. In the first section (ll. 1-4) his misery is caused by her rejection, portraying him as a helpless victim. Thus, a big discrepancy between the speaker and the addressee is created. In the second quartain (ll. 5-8) he tries to escape from his role as a victim by hoping that the woman will drop her prejudices. With this hope the communicative situation gradually begins to change. Unlike her position in the beginning, the addressee is now taking down to a more vulnerable position, as we can see in line 7. There he ironically describes that she herself becomes a victim of a lover. He now gains the competence to cope with his past and his pain “My doom is past, nor can be now vnactit” (l.8). In the upcoming section (ll. 9-12) the speaker describes himself offensively as a “spotless louer” (l.9). He directly addresses her using the personal pronoun “thou” in lines 9-10. To put emphasis on this statement he indicates that the woman is going to regret her behavior. Considering him becoming the superior partner, there is a turning
Analysis of the communicative situation and the topic, about the figuartive language, the metre and the central problem.
1. Communicative Situation and Topic
In the following I am going to analyse the poem “Sonnet I” by William Percy which is the first part of his series “Sonnets to the Fairest Coelia” (1594).
The poem deals with a man suffering from unreturned love which leads to an unexpected change of his attitude towards the beloved woman. It is divided into four sections, each of them dealing with its own topic.
In order to identify the speaker, the reader has to rely on the personal pronoun “I” (line 2). The speaker is a man whose fate is put into the focus right from the beginning. He addresses the woman he loves calling her “my goddesse” (l.1). Furthermore he limits the use of deictics to the possessive pronoun “her” in order to describe the addressee. In the first section (ll. 1-4) his misery is caused by her rejection, portraying him as a helpless victim. Thus, a big discrepancy between the speaker and the addressee is created. In the second quartain (ll. 5-8) he tries to escape from his role as a victim by hoping that the woman will drop her prejudices. With this hope the communicative situation gradually begins to change. Unlike her position in the beginning, the addressee is now taking down to a more vulnerable position, as we can see in line 7. There he ironically describes that she herself becomes a victim of a lover. He now gains the competence to cope with his past and his pain “My doom is past, nor can be now vnactit” (l.8). In the upcoming section (ll. 9-12) the speaker describes himself offensively as a “spotless louer” (l.9). He directly addresses her using the personal pronoun “thou” in lines 9-10. To put emphasis on this statement he indicates that the woman is going to regret her behavior. Considering him becoming the superior partner, there is a turning