The imagery portrayed in both Shakespeare and Neruda’s sonnet share the juxtaposition between negative and positive imagery. Still, Neruda’s sonnet constantly interchanges negative and positive verses more than Shakespeare does. For instance, the first quatrain of Neruda’s sonnet perfectly portrays the mentioned juxtaposition with “My ugly, you’re a messy chestnut. My beauty, you are pretty as the wind. Ugly: your mouth is big enough for two mouths. Beauty: your kisses are as fresh as melons.” This imagery, in addition, involves two famous types of poetic devices: metaphor and simile. It’s intriguing to see that the metaphors are used to describe the ugly, while the similes are used for the beauty. These two devices add on to our understanding as readers to see that with the metaphors for the ugly is meant to make us see an over exaggerated view of the speaker’s reality in regards to his beloved and the similes for the beauty is meant for us to see what the speaker really sees because he is in love. In contrast, Shakespeare’s sonnet twice as much negative, but honest imagery within the three quatrains. The first quatrain serves as the ideal example of the concept, “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips’ red; If snow be white,…
Ever notice in movies how the villain or villainess always seems to have a black cloud looming over them or lighting striking the ground beside them? The same strange happenings where used in the story Macbeth to reveal character. Shakespeare uses figurative language to tie Macbeth’s bad choices and others around him to nature and to illustrate nature’s efforts to expose Macbeth and bring Scotland back to balance. The figurative language that he uses is to explore human nature and show its connections with the natural world and the supernatural.…
Shakespeare balances absence and presence in Sonnet 73 by using a metaphor inside a metaphor in each quatrain. In the first quatrain, he compares his age old age to the beginning of winter when there are barely any leaves left on the trees. He continues to compare the bare boughs from the first metaphor, with a choir loft in a church while the choir members are being compared to the “late birds” (1177). Additionally, he personifies the branches by saying the bare boughs are shaking from the cold. The branches cannot actually feel cold, so they are just shaking from the wind. The entire quatrain is filled with brilliant imagery. In the second quatrain, he compares his old age to the fading twilight and the sun fading in the west. He continues…
Most men when trying to gain the affections of a lady will say things that when looked upon later seem outlandish and impossible. Comparing a woman to natural perfections such as flowers or the sky seem fairly adequate at a time when a young man’s heart is swept up in raw emotion, but in truth no woman or man for that matter will ever be perfect. Shakespeare knows this fact all too well and displays his understanding through his work in Sonnet 130. In this sonnet, Shakespeare uses a frank tone to convey his feelings of love to a woman who does not try to misrepresent herself as the perfect embodiment of a woman.…
Shakespeare, arguably, is one of the most credited and well-known writers. People of all ages have heard of Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s work is studied, criticized, praised, quoted, reenacted, and referenced. His work has affected many aspects of modern society including giving us many new words.…
William Shakespeare's "Sonnet 129" is cited as an invective poem, but it is much more complicated than that. Invective poetry refers to vituperative or censoriously abusive poetry used to express blame or rebuke. "Sonnet 129" is a poem of mixed emotions and is not singularly invective. It expresses hate, but, underneath its loathing, lies layers of shame and madness. How the poem is set up is the main way the reader can see these underlying emotions.…
images the speaker uses gives the reader a sense of the mood he/ she is in,…
Shakespeare wrote his poem about a mistress who is not beautiful but he finds beauty in her flaws. Shakespeare uses metaphors to describe his mistress. “If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head ” (Shakespeare). He portrays her hair as thin, dark and heavy. He describes her voice as not being pleasing.…
William Shakespeare, a well respected, favored poet, actor, and playwright uses a very unique metaphor and other types of figurative language for his theme and his message in the poem, The Seven Ages of Man. Shakespeare was born on April 1564, in Stratford-upon-A located in the United Kingdom. Many historians believe he was a guinness for being a startling writing without being educated while other historians don’t suppose he wrote any of the poems, plays, and stories. Although, still today millions of myths are spoken of we don't know the truth of his enigmatic life.…
The sonnet, being one of the most traditional and recognized forms of poetry, has been used and altered in many time periods by writers to convey different messages to the audience. The strict constraints of the form have often been used to parallel the subject in the poem. Many times, the first three quatrains introduce the subject and build on one another, showing progression in the poem. The final couplet brings closure to the poem by bringing the main ideas together. On other occasions, the couplet makes a statement of irony or refutes the main idea with a counter statement. It leaves the reader with a last impression of what the author is trying to say. Shakespeare's "Sonnet 65" is one example of Shakespearian sonnet form and it works with the constraints of this structure to question how one can escape the ravages of time on love and beauty. Shakespeare shows that even the objects in nature least vulnerable to time like brass, stone, and iron are mortal and eventually are destroyed. Of course the more fragile aspects of nature will die if these things do. The final couplet gives hope and provides a solution to the dilemma of time by having the author overcome mortality with his immortal writings.…
William Shakespeare’s sonnet 138 is published in 1599 in a poetry collection entitled “The Passionate Pilgrime”. It reveals the nature of his frustrating relationship with The Dark Lady, emphasizing the effects of his age and his decline in beauty, and the effects on a sexual/romantic relationship.…
Poet and screenwriter, Susan Griffin, once said, “A story is told as much by silence as by speech.” This statement underlines the fact that just because words are not spoken, it does not mean that there is no meaning behind the silence. Someone’s lack of words can have as much, if not even more, power as another’s most persuasive speech. In Sonnet 102, Shakespeare explains why he believes in the power of silence regarding his feelings towards his true love. His allusion to the nightingale correlates perfectly with the paradox of his increasing love for a woman in conveying the sonnet’s overall theme that silence is always preferable to just meaningless words.…
Sonnet 116 was written by William Shakespeare and published in 1609. William Shakespeare was an English writer and poet, and has written a lot of famous plays, amongst them Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare lived in the Elizabethan era. At that time, the literature and art was in bloom, and his works are clearly characterized by that era both as language and theme goes.…
William Shakespeare was a well known poet and play writer who lived from 1564-1616. In 1609, He wrote the poem, My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun, Sonnet 130. In the poem, Shakespeare describes the woman he loves, in a way that would seem not as complimentary as Petrarchan sonnets would have been. The Dark Lady, who is featured in this poem, is also featured in sonnets 127-154, but this time there is a twist. At first, Shakespeare sounds critical of his mistress, but in the last two lines of the poem, he talks about how he genuinely loves her. This poem can be taken the wrong way at first, but with a closer look at purpose, form, and content, the meaning of this poem becomes much clearer.…
When you love someone you respect, appreciate, and do everything in your power not to hurt them. There is a way of expressing your love to someone, through a sonnet. A sonnet is a fourteen line poem using a formal rhyme scheme. William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor widely recognized. One of his most famous works is the 154 Sonnets. These sonnets are about passage of time, love, beauty, and mortality. In the sonnets his view of love is different. In sonnet 118 he is talking about his waywardness and unfaithfulness. William Shakespeare’s view of love in sonnet 118 is uncontrollable. He explains that love is something you cannot control.…