Shakespeare Sonnet 2 Tone

Joseph Kurbanov
Mrs. Drake
Honors English: Block - H
11 January 2010
Analysis for Shakespeare's Sonnets Two and Three
Sonnet 2... In Shakespeare’s Sonnet II, the sonnet progresses from a gentle warning, to a more stern threat by the end of the poem. In the first stanza, Shakespeare says that in forty years when the man is all wrinkled, the beauty of his youth will mean nothing. But if he has a child, then the legacy of his beauty will live on forever. In the second stanza, Shakespeare says that the man will hate himself if he does not have children, and when he gets old and decrepit he cannot see his beauty passed on to anyone. He will look back on his life, and realize how greedy and selfish he was by not having children. In the third
stanza, Shakespeare provides a glimpse into the future, for the man to see and hear the feelings of regret that he will experience if he does not have a child. The man will be much happier if he is to have a child, and forever see his beauty live on, on Earth. Each quatrain helps to develop Shakespeare’s argument by slowly changing from a more subtle warning to a very clear threat. His theme or message is that if you are selfish in your youth, you will regret your decisions in your old age. The tone of this poem is light-hearted, but still very sincere. Shakespeare tries to make the man see the errors of his ways, and uses brilliant imagery to help prove his point. He uses words like, “treasure,” “deep trenches,” “all-eating shame,” and, “lusty days,” to help illustrate his point. Shakespeare also uses antithesis when he says, “And see thy blood warm when thou feel'st it cold”. This means that if the man is dying and he has no children, then he will just die. However, if he is dying and has children, then he will see his blood running warm through the veins of someone who also has the beauty of his father that has been passed down to him. Shakespeare threatens the man by warning him that he will wish that he could have had a child when he is old and cannot have children anymore. In this sonnet, Shakespeare compares old age to a warrior or a soldier. He says that forty winters will “besiege” your brow, and dig “deep trenches” in thy beauty’s field.” “Field” refers to a battlefield but also a face and the deep trenches refer obviously to trenches, but also wrinkles. The tone that is created by this poem is very calm, but also very sincere. Shakespeare uses quotation marks to show the thought that the man might think in his future. He wants to show that the man will want to look down at his children and know that his legacy will continue on Earth forever.

Sonnett 3... In Shakespeare’s sonnet 3, Shakespeare is telling W.H. that he needs to first look at himself in the mirror, and tell himself that its time to have a child. By not reproducing, he is robbing the world of his beauty, and prevents a woman from becoming a mother. Shakespeare asks, where is the woman who’s “unear’d” or unploughed womb would be saddened by how selfish W.H. is? Shakespeare also asks W.H. what man would be stupid enough to care so much about himself that he would NOT want to continue his beauty in his offspring? Shakespeare calls W.H. the mirror of his mother, and whenever she looks at him, she sees herself in her youthful beauty. Soon W.H. will realize that if he does not have children, when he dies his image and his beauty will die with him. Shakespeare uses the theme of mirrors in this sonnet to full effect. At first, Shakespeare says that W.H. needs to look at himself in the mirror to tell himself that he needs to have children. Then he says that W.H. is the mirror of his mother, and through him she is able to see how beautiful she was when she was younger. Then, Shakespeare begs that W.H. have children, so that he, too, can have a mirror to himself when he is old and wrinkled. The tone of this poem is a very serious tone.
Shakespeare uses words such as “disdains,” “repair,” and “posterity” to break up the flow of the sonnet. The sonnet does not flow incredibly easily, like most of Shakespeare’s sonnets, and does not have a really lyrical sense to it. It is more of a speech than a song. The tonal change occurs at line 12, right at the rhyming couplet. The whole sonnet up until that point is basically Shakespeare telling W.H. that all his earthly beauty will be for nothing if he does not have children. At the couplet, Shakespeare offers W.H. a way out of dying along with his image: reproduce. The last line of the sonnet is very threatening. It promises W.H. that if he does not have children then all his beauty will be meaningless because it will die with him. The poem gradually gets more serious as it progresses, starting off with a gentle nudge to get W.H. to look in the mirror and convince himself that having children is the best way to preserve his beauty, and finally in the last line Shakespeare warns W.H. that he will die with his image if he does not. The diction in this sonnet chops it up to make it more speech like than songlike. Shakespeare uses alliteration in this poem with words such as “thou though” and “thine” in line 11, and words like, “face” and “form” in line 2, along with “fresh,” in line 3. Shakespeare also uses antithesis when he puts words like “fond” and “tomb” right near each other in line 7, or the words, “renewest” and
“beguile” in lines 3 and 4. This use of antithesis shows that the sonnet is progressively moving past a light-hearted tone, and getting more severe and solemn. The poetic imagery in this sonnet is very important, with the main symbol throughout the sonnet being a mirror, and looking into the mirror.
The metaphor continues throughout the sonnet, and is very important to the progression of the sonnet. Shakespeare also compares W.H. and his potential wife to farm tools, specifically plows. He calls the wife’s womb, “unear’d,” or “unploughed,” which means that W.H. or any other man has yet to impregnate her. Shakespeare also says that it is unjust to deny her this right. Shakespeare compares W.H. to the plow, specifically to prove that there is a woman in the world who is destined to be the mother of W.H.’s children. W.H. needs to have children to continue his beauty, and the woman who’s “field” is ready to be “planted” by W.H. is out waiting for
him.