The poem I am using to compare with Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 is Anabelle Lee by Edgar Allen Poe. I choose this text because it has a similar tone and theme as Sonnet 18. In fact, they both show admiration toward their…
Sonnet 18 talks about the comparison of the narrator’s beloved with summer. The image of this poem, from the start to the end, are relatively peaceful, where you can imagine rich green trees and pretty flowers that come with summer. It also comes with the image of the sun shining beautifully down at everything. Yet the line ‘Thou art more lovely and more temperate’ tells us that the narrator’s beloved is more beautiful and calmer than that lively summer he described. Moreover, it also says ‘But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st, Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade…’, which kind of gives an impression that this woman the narrator is writing about seem to be something like a goddess. This image created by the sonnet gives us a warm feeling. In contrast to this warm image, sonnet 129 gives a rather dark image about lust and sex. In the very first line of the sonnet, negative words are used: waste and shame. As it goes on, a whole chain of negative words such as bloody, rude, cruel are used. Immediately, the image is definitely not like the one presented in sonnet 18, but a total contrast of it.…
Shakespeare's “Sonnet 130” is interesting because it works by inverting the traditions of the blazon form. The reader knows what to expect from this type of poetry, and so the dramatic force of the poem comes from his or her expectations being turned upside down. The surprise is greatest in the first four lines, in which the contrary imagery is gradually revealed. While the first line does not sound so different from a conventional love poem or poem of…
.......Shakespeare addresses Sonnets 1 through 126 to an unidentified young man with outstanding physical and intellectual attributes. The first seventeen of these urge the young man to marry so that he can pass on his superior qualities to a child, thereby allowing future generations to enjoy and appreciate these qualities when the child becomes a man. In Sonnet 18, Shakespeare alters his viewpoint, saying his own poetry may be all that is necessary to immortalize the young man and his qualities.…
This sonnet's thought can be divided into four parts. Firstly, chivalric romances are praised and put aside. Secondly, the effects they provoke are contrasted with those…
In William Shakespeare’s sonnet eighteen – “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day” an overwhelming feeling of romance is displayed. In breaking down the meaning of the poem Shakespeare makes it clear that he is comparing a young woman to a summer’s day. He reflects on how wonderful a day in the summertime is, but considers that there are still times that not all aspects of that particular day may be especially wonderful, such as the fact that the sun may be too hot at times, or that it occasionally is hidden by the clouds. Yet he notes that although this is true of nature, and that eventually this unique beauty shall fade, he claims that the beauty of this woman will go on forever – if not literally in this present life, then through preservation within his sonnet. These last lines honestly are somewhat unnerving to me. I know that is somewhat of an odd statement regarding a poem about love and…
The collection consists of beautiful and romantic sonnets exemplified by sonnet 18. The intent behind these sonnets is also highly debated, some say it is for a lover, others say it may be a fatherly love. William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 not only delivers a benchmark for human beauty, but also praise its eternality through a Shakespeare's sophisticated…
On the other hand, the mood of “Sonnet 30” makes the reader feel depressed and at some point loveless. Also, another difference between the sonnets is the tone of each. In “Sonnet 18”, a” lovely” and “temperate” (Line 2) tone is emitted yet, the tone of “Sonnet 30” is cheerless and painful as expressed in “even as I speak, for lack of love alone.”, “Yet many a man is making friends with death”. Moreover, the different respective themes of the sonnets show a great difference between William Shakespeare’s and Edna St. Vincent Millay’s perception of love. The theme of “Sonnet 18” is “the ephemeral nature of beauty.” This theme is expressed in “But thy eternal summer […] to time thou grow'st” (Line 9-12). Conversely, the theme of “Sonnet 30”, is, the importance of love for human beings. This theme is uttered in the axiom, “Love is not all: It is not meat nor drink.” The message of “Sonnet 18” is that poetry immortalizes beauty, expressed in “But thy eternal summer shall not fade” (Line 9), while the message of “Sonnet 30” is love is not essential for human beings yet, people lack of it mentioned in “Yet many a man is making friends with death” (Line 7). Concluding, “Sonnet 18” by William Shakespeare is written in a classical style due to…
William Shakespeare asserts human vulnerability in Sonnet 18 by his admiration in the beauty of his lover through the beauty in nature. He begins without garishness, “shall I compare thee to a summer day” showing signs of admiration Shakespeare compares her to the simple beauty of a summer day, slowly he builds and amplifies her beauty, becoming “eternal”. “And summer’s lease hath all too short a date” Shakespeare compares her to how beautiful summer is, however, summer ends “but thy eternal summer shall not fade” indicating how her beauty never fades, evidenced by his wonderment to preserve her beauty Shakespeare displays signs of vulnerability, however, he exposes further, signs of arrogance within the last quatrain;…
Shakespeare is a great playwright, and sonneteer, his work is admired by many people world wide and he proves to have been very good with his work on love in his writings. His sonnets are special, in that the overall perspective is not expected to be given in such a way; meaning that readers would expect that a male poet of his time would give more attention to the love of the female rather than writing 126 out of 154 sonnets for a young man more or less. For this paper I will be presenting the three most famous and most favored sonnets of the collection that are going to stand as very efficient examples of the explanation of the different forms of love expressed in the group of sonnets. I will start with sonnet 18 that is one which is proved…
Even though Shakespeare’s sonnets were written over four-hundred years ago, they have stood the test of time and have remained popular because of the issues and ideas they raise are about humans and human nature, which are both unchanging over time. Sonnet 18, Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?, is the best known sonnet out of the 154 written by William Shakespeare. This particular piece of writing still remains just as, if not more popular today, than it did during Shakespeare’s time. This is due to the depth of emotion and romantic language used, which is constantly touching the hearts of…
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.…
Sonnet 18 is a beautiful love poem that conveys the themes of human beauty and the effect of time on it through a variety of metaphors and poetic techniques. On the surface, the poem is simply a statement of praise about the beauty of the Beloved; summer tends to unpleasant extremes of windiness and heat, but the Beloved is always mild and temperate. It praises the Beloved with vivid descriptions and Shakespearian metaphors. It's simplicity derives from the similes that are taken from a very casual object as a summer's day and words that are not too hard to understand. The octet raises a question: "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" and then describes all the reasons why the comparison would not be a reasonable thing to do. Shakespeare elevates the Beloved's beauty far above the beauty of a summer's day, by using the conjunction "but", he emphasizes why the Beloved is much more than a summer day, the Beloved will never fade. While the octet elaborates on the defaults of a summer's day in order to emphasize the Beloved eternal beauty, the sestet presents a twist that implies that it is not the Beloved that Shakespeare wants to praise in this romantic poem, but rather himself.…
The sonnet has many themes that relate to the main reason the sonnet was written. Beauty is inferred to in the poem as the speakers love is compared to the summer which is also beautiful. The speaker says his the person he loves is everlastingly beautiful and how beauty fades away but the his loves beauty is always constant. The speaker starts to illustrate a picture in the readers mind that the love is a perfect being. This is another way he increases his glorification by showing how he can immortalize a great person in his writing. Another theme of this sonnet is immortality. "Shakespeare advocates seeking immortality through poetry rather than through procreation"(Sonnet 18). In the previous 17 sonnets the speaker is more focused on getting his love immortalized by procreation. In sonnet 18 his vision changes and he is more focused on immortalization by poetry.…
He is the dramatist whose language and expressions still fascinate people. Especially nowadays, in the century of language decline, Shakespeare’s well-formulated rhymes, seasoned with word games and his words, full of meaning and truth can inspire people. His sonnets are of such a beauty, that it’s a joy to read them.…