Comparing Imtiaz Dharker's Sonnet 130 With Blessing

Compare and Contrast
‘Sonnet 130’ with ‘Blessing’

In this essay I am going to discuss and explore ‘Sonnet 130’ by William Shakespeare and ‘Blessing’ by Imtiaz Dharker. I will focus on the differences and similarities between both poems in terms of language, themes and poetic devices.

I feel that ‘Sonnet 130’ seems to imply the fact that Shakespeare is insulting his Mistress. He does so by saying what she is not. He says negative things about her appearance and voice.

The ‘Blessing’ poem is about people and children in a slum and their reaction towards water. They believe it as the ‘Voice of a kindly god’ because they hardly get any water in the slum. Water is rare to them.

The poems
are similar in that they are both descriptive poems. The ‘Blessing’ by Dharker describes how the people in the slum would react and feel if there was a sudden outburst of water. As I have mentioned before water is rare to them and they feel it is a gift from god. We know this because in the poem it says ‘imagine the drip of it, the small splash, echo in a tin mug, the voice of a kindly god.’ In this stanza he is describing how rarely they get water and how much they believe just the sound of it makes them feel like it’s the sound of a kindly god.

However, in ‘Sonnet 130’ Shakespeare is describing his mistress and how awful she looks and sounds.
We know this because in Sonnet ‘130’ he says ‘I have seen roses damasked, red and white, But no such roses do I see in her cheeks.’ By this line he is stating that ‘damasked roses’, meaning large and fragrant roses, are not what his Mistress’ cheeks are like. Another example is ‘And in some perfumes there is more delight, than in the breath that from my mistress reeks’. Shakespeare is saying that in perfume there is more delight in smelling it rather than his mistress’ breath which he says reeks-foul
smelling.

A difference between the two poems in terms of language is that Shakespeare uses old English as he was a poet, playwright in the 16th and 17th century whereas Dharker is a more of a modern day poet. For instance ‘That music hath a far more pleasing sound’. In this line Shakespeare uses the word ‘hath’ which is the old English word for ‘has’. But Dharker uses words that are from the modern day.

Another similarity between the two poems is that both poems use enjambment.
In Shakespeare’s sonnet the enjambment falls between the lines ‘And in some perfumes there is more delight than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.’ After the word ‘delight’ the rest of the sentence is on another line. Then after the word ‘reeks’ there is a fullstop where the enjambment ends.

A difference between both the poems is that Dharker’s poem is a normal poem and Shakespeare’s poem is a sonnet. A sonnet is a poem with fourteen lines that has a unique rhythm called an iambic pentameter. However Dharker’s poem is a normal poem that describes people’s reaction to water in a slum.

Similes are used in both these poems. A simile is when you compare one thing to another thing that is common and easy to picture in your mind. In other words a good poetic device used to create an image in your head. In ‘Blessing’ Dharker uses the simile ‘The skin cracks like a pod.’ Dharker means that, because there is hardly ever any water in the slum the ground cracks like a pod. By using a simile he has compared the ground to something common and created an image in my
head.

Shakespeare uses many similes in ‘Sonnet 130’. One of many examples is ‘My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun’. He is saying that his mistress’ eyes aren’t shiny and beautiful like the sun in fact they are the complete opposite.

Both poems also use metaphors. A metaphor is a poetic device that is used to compare two things. It does so by comparing something to something else that is literally not possible. For example in Shakespeare’s poem he says ‘Coral is far more red, than her lips.’ Shakespeare is explaining that his mistress’ lips are nothing like the coral. He is comparing it to coral because coral is red and having red lips is good but his mistress does not have nice lips.

In ‘Blessing’ a example of a metaphor is ‘naked children screaming in the liquid sun’. By the words ‘liquid sun’ she means they feel as if heat is being poured over them and that’s why they have been longing for water.

The theme of the poem ‘Blessing’, meaning the central idea or the main focus, is how people and children feel and react when they see water. It also focus’ on why they react this way and how they feel when water is not there and how they are praying for it and when they finally do get water, they feel as if their prayers have been answered. We know this because in the second stanza they say ‘imagine the drip of it, the small splash, echo in a tin mug, the voice of a kindly god.’ This stanza is explaining that when they hear the sound of water they feel as if it is the sound of a kindly god.

However the theme of Shakespeare’s poem is totally different to the theme of ‘Blessing’. The theme of Shakespeare poem is him insulting his Mistress and how grotesque she looks. We know this because in his sonnet all of his lines are insults. For instance, ‘If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.’ He says that, if wires could grow on people’s heads then that is what is growing on his Mistress’ head.

Overall I think that both these poems have used a range of poetic devices. There stanzas and line are relevant to their theme. I have discovered that both poems have a number of similarities and differences between them. They both have a good use of imagery and they are easy to understand.

By Geerthana Sankar 8GR1
6C