Francisca Darko

Sonnet 116 by Shakespeare and Hour by Carol Ann Duffy

Sonnet 116 and Hour are love poems that aim to describe love as a powerful force to be reckoned with. Both poems are traditional sonnets with 14 lines that express love as a “bright” “star” that almost brings light into people's lives.
Sonnet 116 describes love as a “star to every wand'ring bark” suggesting that it is the north star that guides ships home. The north star does not move so won't let you down if you were to follow it. Perhaps this is used by Shakespeare to present love as a guide, we should follow our hearts as love can never let us down Furthermore stars travel across time so Shakespeare is perhaps implying that love will last through out time.
The extended metaphor of light is also used in hour when she describes that “nothing dark will end” their “shining hour” suggesting that perhaps she feels their love makes them “bright” and powerful enough not to be stopped by anything dark, an enemy such as time. The speaker describes their love like “the Midas light” which alludes us to the story of Midas, the greek king whose touch could turn things to gold. On one hand, this story reminds the reader of the curse this power became to Midas but on the other hand, Duffy's use of this reference could be to suggest that their love almost freezes time as they are able to turn themselves to gold and stay locked in a moment together. Similarly, Shakespeare describes love as an “ever-fixed mark” suggesting it is unmoving and unchanged and frozen in “the Midas light as Duffy describes it.
Although hour seems to suggest that love can transform things such as “straw” to “gold” , Shakespeare argues that love does not alter when “alteration finds”, love cannot be altered in any way. Shakespeare seems to emphasise this point with his repetition of parts of the words, “alters when it alteration finds” and “remover to remove”. His use of repetition is perhaps to create a rhythm for the reader when reading which almost makes his argument more persuasive and memorable. Alternatively, his repetition could be to almost mirror a loving couple that almost belong to eachother and therefore come together to complete the sentences.

The speaker of hour seems to reject cliches of love such as “flowers or wine” and seems to want to embrace the “whole of the summer sky and a grass ditch”, which give natural imagery contrasting the unimaginative cliches usually connected with love. The adjective “whole” suggests fulfillment and completion, an idea similar to sonnet 116's . A “grass ditch” gives an unromantic imagery and is perhaps used by Duffy to present that when together, the speaker and her lover do not need anything more, they are “whole” and can be content with just a “grass ditch”.
Similarly sonnet 116 seems to also connect love with nature. Shakespeare uses metaphors on natural elements such as when he describes love as a “star” and he describes love as looking on “tempests and is never shaken”. He uses these natural images perhaps not only to suggest that love is realiable and won't be “shaken” by “tempests” but also to suggest love is very much a part of nature perhaps conveying his idea that it is a natural thing to love.
Alternatively, his use of nature could perhaps be to show the mystery of the origin of love. We see stars and tempests and yet many are still unable to grasp the idea of a star being formed or a tempest being formed just like often perhaps how you came to love someone so deeply can be a mystery.

The speaker in hour with her rejection of cliches makes their relationship seem more genuine and shows that she is complete with her lover although they are running out of time. She describes “for thousands of seconds we kiss”. The use if “thousands” draws out the time the speaker and her lover have as the reader immediately imagines they have longer time than they really do. Perhaps this is used to suggest that with this person she loves, she may feel she has all the time in the world, “thousands” more than she may really have.
However, the use of “seconds” makes the time sound shorter and almost as if time is constantly ticking against them suggesting that perhaps as they “kiss” the speaker is aware of the constant ticking of time.
In hour, time seems to be an obstacle that stands in the way of their love, the first line of the poem reflecting this, “love's time's beggar” suggesting that time is in control and that love has to beg for time. Duffy's use of the word “beggar” makes love seem weak and dependent on time. The connotations of “beggar” brings to mind the idea of desperation for money, money being an extended metaphor used throughout the poem.
Sonnet 116 argues against this idea with the ninth line of the poem, “love's not Time's fool” suggesting that time has no hold over love which cannot be made a fool by time. Shakespeare seems to emphasise that time is everlasting and this is why it does not depend on time, love “bears it out even to the edge of doom” suggesting that perhaps love goes beyond the “doom” of the grave.
Shakespeare argues that if love is “true” it will be without “impediments” suuggesting that “true” love is without obstacles like time.
However, Shakespeare gives “Time” a capital letter unlike Duffy almost giving it a sense of importance whilst in hour, time isn't given such importance. Duffy doesn't want to dwell on time but on love. This is shown when she ends the phrase “love is time's beggar” with a full stop in the middle of the sentence and begins with “but” which suggests the poem will not be about time but love which the speaker may feel is more important although they are aware their love will not last forever. Duffy's use of full stops is repeated in the first line of the last couplet with “no...spotlight see you better lit than here. Now.” The full stops make the reader pause before and after “Now” which almost slows down the poem and suggests that she is trying to hold on to the “now” and not think of the past or future. The word “now” is almost barricaded between two full stops making it stand out in the sentence and is shown perhaps to illusttrate that she does not want anything else but now, so the word is delibrately almost divided from the rest of the sentence almost as if the full stop shields it from “time” the next word after.

In hour, the speaker describes that they are “millionaires” with love and that something as ordinary “dropped coin” can make “love rich” suggesting that love has the power to make anything precious however Sonnet 116 argues that love's “worth's unknown” suggesting that you can't sum up the worth of love, love is priceless. However, Duffy describes that “no jewel” can “hold a candle” to “cuckoo spit” suggesting that she herself cannot compare love to a “jewel” and perhaps also feels love is priceless.
Sonnet 116 and Hour both end with a rhyming couplet- a tour de force which sums up their argument in favour of love.
Hour alludes to the story of Rumplestiltskin when Duffy suggests love can spin “gold” “from straw”. The repetition and three part listing of the word “gold” emphasises that love can make something precious out of nothing and adds rhythm to the sentence just like Shakespeare's use of repetition of words does in Sonnet 116. This is perhaps used by Duffy to suggest how magical love can be, that it can even have a place in a fairytale or alternatively as Rumplestiltskin is a fairytale, there is a suggestion that her argument about love is all fantasy and that she may only be trying to convince herself her and her lover have enough time because their love is so powerful when infact she knows they don't.
Shakespeare's tour de force is his resounding belief in his own argument that he is willing to argue that if what he has written is “error”, then he has never “writ” and “no man ever loved”, two arguments the audience is aware isn't true. Shakespeare's ending challenge perhaps proves his belief in knowing what love is enough to write 154 sonnets and his belief perhaps that he is in love.

By Francisca Darko