Shakespeare Poem

hakespeareArmando Acosta Many of England’s greatest writers are known for their epic masterpieces. William Shakespeare who wrote during the 15th century, created many plays, lyric poems as well as sonnets. Known as a well respected master of his craft, Shakespeare wrote many fine lyrics which can now be found in his plays, poems, and sonnets. Similarly, Thomas Hardy, a realist poet in the 19th century, is best known for his pessimistic style and tone used in many poems and novels. The poem It Was a Lover and His Lass by Shakespeare and The Ruined Maid by Hardy contain several devices such as style, rhyme scheme, speaker, and central ideas in which the reader can compare and contrast literary devices used in different eras of the mastery craft of poetry. The poem It Was a Lover and His Lass by Shakespeare expresses thoughts and feelings of a single narrator, speaks on the topic of love, and has musical qualities making it a lyric poem. This lyric poem also consists of ending rhyming words. For example, each stanza is composed of six lines in which the first and the third line rhyme the last word such as “lass” (1) and “pass .” (3) Shakespeare also makes use of repetition in the final three lines of each respective stanza, “With a hey, and a ho, and hey nonimo,” is repeated by Shakespeare on the second line of each stanza. In addition, Shakespeare also uses repetition in the following lines, “In the spring time, the only pretty ring time, / When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding: / Sweet lovers love spring.” in the last three lines of each stanza. The poem tells a story of a lover (narrator) and his lass and their intimate encounters. Like many of Shakespeare’s use of word choice include informal language such as “nonino,” which can if referred to a vagina. By using the word “Lover” in the title it is clear the poem is intended for a mature audience. The Ruined Maid by Hardy is written with many exclamation points and quotation marks. The