Sonnet 75

“Sonnet 75” Edmund Spenser is one of the most widely known Elizabethan poets. He often put himself in the center of his poems, expressing very personal thoughts, emotions, and convictions. Such poetry, known as 'lyric,' became popular during Spenser's time where poems were more focused on the individual. In his poem known as Sonnet 75, Spenser proclaims his love to his woman with the use of symbols, her name and heaven, external conflicts, and alliteration.

When it comes to Spencer’s “Sonnet 75” the text is very figurative, in fact majority of the writing is figurative language. The types of figurative language used in Sonnet 75 are mainly imagery, and symbolism. This would categorize the sonnet known as a “lyrical” writing. These tools help the poet convey his message and images to the reader by allowing them to imagine and create a personal relationship through personal experiences or memories with a loved one that would be relevant to the meaning of his sonnet through his writing of personal conflicts he felt. In Spenser's sonnet, he and his lover are walking along the shore of a beach where he attempts to proclaim his deep love for her by writing her name in the sand. He wants the name to be permanent to prove to her that he will forever love her, but unfortunately, the waves of the shore keep coming and washing the name away. He tries writing her name a second time, but the handwritten name again suffers the same fate and another wave comes and erases it away. Spenser includes a dialogue in his poem as the woman confronts him on what she calls a vain act, pointing out that he cannot immortalize a mortal thing like love. She continues to tell him that even if he could, she is a mortal human being and will eventually die. The poet then responds to her statements confidently, claiming that he can immortalize her virtues and his love for her in his poetry, and that when they die on earth, their love will still live and that he will write her name in the heavens where it will stay forever and they shall start a new life there together. The main symbol of this sonnet is the name the poet wrote in the sand of the shore. This written name symbolizes his love for the woman he's with, and it's the initial reason this sonnet was written. Lines two and four, where Spenser produces the images of the beach waves crashing on the coast and erasing the name, represent the first conflict in the poem. The poet has a conflict with the waves since he wants the name he has written in the sand to stay but the waves keep coming and washing it away. Imagery such as this conveys the meaning of Spencer’s writing and appeals to the readers imagination by giving them a visual of what Spencer’s frustration would look like by depicting his feelings with the imagery of frustration being the waves washing away her name and his attempts to prove his love to her. The imagery used in the first conflict of the sonnet would help the author relate to the reader by relevance of emotion. And if not, should hope to strike the emotional side of the reader with a relevant time or event in which the reader himself/herself too, felt hopeless or frustrated when their continuous attempts to do or prove something was being metaphorically “washed away” or never enough. The sonnet is highly symbolic, and you can see it in addition to the sound imagery of the waves, several other sound imageries are depicted in the communication between a man and his lover. He does not agree with her statement that his writing is vain, because his love toward her is "immortalize" which is forever. In fact, he acknowledges that she will not live forever physically but she will be eternal in his heart and fame, another way of expressing his emotional feeling toward his lover by written a poem. "But you shall live by fame," because "my verse your virtues rare shall eternize." There is another phrase expressing his emotional feeling, "where, whenas death shall all the world subdue" is supposed to mean he will still love her, does not matter if she is still alive or in death. "Our love shall live" represent immortalize allows for "later life renew" illustrate starting a new life again. The images of this poem portray that he is trying to expresses his love towards his lover. He keeps trying to write her name into the sand and the tides from the ocean keep erasing it. He desires to express his love toward her therefore he decides to use a different method of expression, by writing a poem of her/ inspired by her. The symbolic image of this Sonnet is he has succeeded into writing his feelings for her; eternally.