Sonnet LIV Compare Contrast Essay
Most humans need people that accept and like them despite their flaws in order to feel good about themselves and without these two things it is very difficult for a person to be happy. “Sonnet 29,” by William Shakespeare, and “Sonnet LIV,” by Edmund Spenser, explain the sadness and depression that comes with rejection. The narrators try to change themselves in search for attention and approval from the people around them, but no matter how hard they try to fit in, they fail. In both “Sonnet 29” and “Sonnet LIV” the narrators feel outcast and rejected, however in “Sonnet 29” the narrator is able to able to bounce back from his rejection by thinking of love, while in “Sonnet LIV” the narrator stays negative, and ultimately these different responses
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determine each narrator’s future happiness. In the first quatrain of both sonnets, the narrators’ dismissal from the people around them helps the reader understand the sad state of mind the narrators are in and how they try to constantly gain the acceptance of others, but always seem to be overlooked. “Sonnet 29” is about a man that cannot seem to fit in no matter how hard he tries. The sonnet begins with the narrator speaking and he says, “When in disgrace with Fortune and men’s eyes, / I alone beweep my outcast state” (Shakespeare 1-2). This proves that the narrator does not have a lot of friends because whenever he feels left out he is alone, sulking about his unlucky situation. By saying, “in disgrace with Fortune,” the narrator says that he is shamed and forgotten by luck and it gives him someone or something to blame his unfortunate situation. He is implying that being rejected is not his fault and his unluckiness and the shame men give him justify him sitting alone and feeling sorry for himself. The narrator continues by saying, “Trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries, /And look upon myself and curse my fate” (3-4). This is where the reader begins to realize that the narrator’s rejection is not his fault because no matter how much he prays to God to get noticed, there is no response and no one seems to care. Finally, when the narrator says “curse my fate” one can tell how heartbroken he is about being a pariah and it makes him so upset that he does not look forward to his miserable future. In the next sonnet, “Sonnet LIV,” the narrator has similar feelings about being rejected, however instead of being rejected by society like the narrator in “Sonnet 29,” the narrator in “Sonnet LIV” is rejected by the person he loves. The narrator begins the sonnet by saying, “Of this World’s theatre in which we stay, / My love like the spectator idly sits, / Beholding me, that all pageants play, / Disguising diversely my troubled wits” (Spenser 1-4). The narrator is comparing his life to a play in which the woman he loves is the spectator. Much like the viewer of a play who usually does not contribute to the performance, his love has no emotions and just sits there watching him but never reacting. When the narrator says, “Disguising diversely my troubled wits” he is saying that he is always hiding his sadness in order to focus on how he can get his love to notice him. He continuously changes himself in order to hide his sadness or to get the attention of the person he loves, however he is still ignored and does not get the response he is looking for. Much like the narrator in “Sonnet 29,” the narrator’s tone in “Sonnet LIV” comes off like being rejected is not this fault, but his lovers but despite these differences it is clear both narrators are not satisfied being alone and want to get some attention. The second and third quatrains emphasize how much the narrators want to fit in and what they are willing to do to achieve acceptance, even it means changing who they are to fit the mold of society. In “Sonnet 29,” the narrator continues to complain about his outcast state and explains what he wishes for in life. He beings the second quatrain by saying, “Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, / Featured like him, like him with friends possessed, / Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope” (Shakespeare 5-7). The narrator wants what he cannot have: acceptance. He wishes to have friends, talent, brains, and most of all hope, all to stop the sadness he feels from his rejection. The narrator really believes that his rejection is his fault and wants to change himself in order to be noticed. This shows how hard rejection is on people and how far they are willing to go to become something someone wants. In “Sonnet LIV,” the narrator also continues to talk about how hard it is to be an outcast but once again his rejection comes not from everyone but just one person. The second quatrain is started by the narrator saying, “Sometimes I joy when glad occasion fits, / And mask in mirth to a Comedy; / Soon after when my joy to sorrow flits, / I wail and make my woes a Tragedy” (Spenser 5-8). Again, the narrator compares his life to a play and says that sometimes he is happy, like a Comedy, but then once he remembers how the woman he loves does not love him back and he is sad, like a Tragedy. The narrator in “Sonnet LIV” is somewhat happy and the only reason he is unhappy is because he is ignored by the woman he loves. This proves the power of love and how it can really change one’s happiness either for the better or for the worse. The narrator talks more about his love’s cold personality and in the third quatrain he says, “But when I laugh, she mocks: and when I cry / She laughs and hardens evermore her heart.” (11-12). By saying this, the narrator confirms how cruel his lover is and shows that nothing he does will make her pay attention to him. Both narrators are once more alone and depressed not knowing if they will have a horrible cruel future or wonderful loving one. After the volta in each sonnet, the feelings of the narrators change and by thinking of his lover, the narrator in “Sonnet LIV” is able to accept that he does not fit in and overall accept himself while the narrator in “Sonnet 29” wallows in his rejection. In “Sonnet 29,” the narrator has been depressed and sad due to his rejection from society but after the volta his state of mind begins to change. He says, “Haply I think on thee, and then my state, /...sings hymns at heaven’s gate” (Shakespeare 10-11). When the narrator thinks of the person he loves, he instantly becomes happy, ultimately proving the power of love. Instead of wallowing in his sadness the narrator decides to do something about it and in result, he is happy. He continues on to say, “That then I scorn to change my state with kings”(14). In the beginning of the sonnet the narrator was questioning his existence and wishing to be someone else, but when he thinks of the person he loves he would not want to be anyone else, not even a powerful and rich king. This happy outcome for the narrator in “Sonnet 29” is very different from the narrator’s outcome in “Sonnet LIV.” The narrator stays in his depressed state and says, “What then can move her? If not mirth nor moan, / She is no woman, but a senseless stone.” (Spenser 13-14). The narrator accepts that the woman he loves has no heart or emotion but this realization does not make him happy. In the end of the sonnet, he is alone not because there is no one that wants him but it is because he has become too involved with a women who clearly is not interested in him. He has done nothing about his miserable state except complain about a woman and by staying negative and not finding someone that makes him happy, the narrator in “Sonnet LIV” does not a happy outcome but a sad dark one filled with regret and sadness. “Sonnet 29” and “Sonnet LIV” are about men who struggle to gain acceptance but seal their future happiness by either thinking of love, like in “Sonnet LIV,” or continuing to complain about a heartless woman, like in “Sonnet 29.” These sonnets prove that love is the answer to rejection and is a way to get out a dark place.
One could be the richest man in the world but still feel empty and poor without being surrounded by people who love him. From the beginning the narrator in “Sonnet LIV” knew that the person he loved was not interested in him, however he got hung up on it and persisted the relationship even though it caused him great suffering. Not realizing the effects of a bad relationship a person can greatly hurt their future instead of ensuring a happy one. In this situation love can be seen as a weapon or a drug curing rejection. In “Sonnet 29” love is a drug where it takes the narrator, a man who is “in disgrace with Fortune,” out of a unhappy place and make feel like the luckiest man alive while in “Sonnet LIV,” love is a weapon, causing the narrator endless pain that can only be cured by love. Rejection can always bring out the sad insecure part of people but what really defines who someone is is how they are able to get strength from the mean people around them and use that strength to not only create a happy future but to somehow find love in a world full of heartless judgmental
people.
determine each narrator’s future happiness. In the first quatrain of both sonnets, the narrators’ dismissal from the people around them helps the reader understand the sad state of mind the narrators are in and how they try to constantly gain the acceptance of others, but always seem to be overlooked. “Sonnet 29” is about a man that cannot seem to fit in no matter how hard he tries. The sonnet begins with the narrator speaking and he says, “When in disgrace with Fortune and men’s eyes, / I alone beweep my outcast state” (Shakespeare 1-2). This proves that the narrator does not have a lot of friends because whenever he feels left out he is alone, sulking about his unlucky situation. By saying, “in disgrace with Fortune,” the narrator says that he is shamed and forgotten by luck and it gives him someone or something to blame his unfortunate situation. He is implying that being rejected is not his fault and his unluckiness and the shame men give him justify him sitting alone and feeling sorry for himself. The narrator continues by saying, “Trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries, /And look upon myself and curse my fate” (3-4). This is where the reader begins to realize that the narrator’s rejection is not his fault because no matter how much he prays to God to get noticed, there is no response and no one seems to care. Finally, when the narrator says “curse my fate” one can tell how heartbroken he is about being a pariah and it makes him so upset that he does not look forward to his miserable future. In the next sonnet, “Sonnet LIV,” the narrator has similar feelings about being rejected, however instead of being rejected by society like the narrator in “Sonnet 29,” the narrator in “Sonnet LIV” is rejected by the person he loves. The narrator begins the sonnet by saying, “Of this World’s theatre in which we stay, / My love like the spectator idly sits, / Beholding me, that all pageants play, / Disguising diversely my troubled wits” (Spenser 1-4). The narrator is comparing his life to a play in which the woman he loves is the spectator. Much like the viewer of a play who usually does not contribute to the performance, his love has no emotions and just sits there watching him but never reacting. When the narrator says, “Disguising diversely my troubled wits” he is saying that he is always hiding his sadness in order to focus on how he can get his love to notice him. He continuously changes himself in order to hide his sadness or to get the attention of the person he loves, however he is still ignored and does not get the response he is looking for. Much like the narrator in “Sonnet 29,” the narrator’s tone in “Sonnet LIV” comes off like being rejected is not this fault, but his lovers but despite these differences it is clear both narrators are not satisfied being alone and want to get some attention. The second and third quatrains emphasize how much the narrators want to fit in and what they are willing to do to achieve acceptance, even it means changing who they are to fit the mold of society. In “Sonnet 29,” the narrator continues to complain about his outcast state and explains what he wishes for in life. He beings the second quatrain by saying, “Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, / Featured like him, like him with friends possessed, / Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope” (Shakespeare 5-7). The narrator wants what he cannot have: acceptance. He wishes to have friends, talent, brains, and most of all hope, all to stop the sadness he feels from his rejection. The narrator really believes that his rejection is his fault and wants to change himself in order to be noticed. This shows how hard rejection is on people and how far they are willing to go to become something someone wants. In “Sonnet LIV,” the narrator also continues to talk about how hard it is to be an outcast but once again his rejection comes not from everyone but just one person. The second quatrain is started by the narrator saying, “Sometimes I joy when glad occasion fits, / And mask in mirth to a Comedy; / Soon after when my joy to sorrow flits, / I wail and make my woes a Tragedy” (Spenser 5-8). Again, the narrator compares his life to a play and says that sometimes he is happy, like a Comedy, but then once he remembers how the woman he loves does not love him back and he is sad, like a Tragedy. The narrator in “Sonnet LIV” is somewhat happy and the only reason he is unhappy is because he is ignored by the woman he loves. This proves the power of love and how it can really change one’s happiness either for the better or for the worse. The narrator talks more about his love’s cold personality and in the third quatrain he says, “But when I laugh, she mocks: and when I cry / She laughs and hardens evermore her heart.” (11-12). By saying this, the narrator confirms how cruel his lover is and shows that nothing he does will make her pay attention to him. Both narrators are once more alone and depressed not knowing if they will have a horrible cruel future or wonderful loving one. After the volta in each sonnet, the feelings of the narrators change and by thinking of his lover, the narrator in “Sonnet LIV” is able to accept that he does not fit in and overall accept himself while the narrator in “Sonnet 29” wallows in his rejection. In “Sonnet 29,” the narrator has been depressed and sad due to his rejection from society but after the volta his state of mind begins to change. He says, “Haply I think on thee, and then my state, /...sings hymns at heaven’s gate” (Shakespeare 10-11). When the narrator thinks of the person he loves, he instantly becomes happy, ultimately proving the power of love. Instead of wallowing in his sadness the narrator decides to do something about it and in result, he is happy. He continues on to say, “That then I scorn to change my state with kings”(14). In the beginning of the sonnet the narrator was questioning his existence and wishing to be someone else, but when he thinks of the person he loves he would not want to be anyone else, not even a powerful and rich king. This happy outcome for the narrator in “Sonnet 29” is very different from the narrator’s outcome in “Sonnet LIV.” The narrator stays in his depressed state and says, “What then can move her? If not mirth nor moan, / She is no woman, but a senseless stone.” (Spenser 13-14). The narrator accepts that the woman he loves has no heart or emotion but this realization does not make him happy. In the end of the sonnet, he is alone not because there is no one that wants him but it is because he has become too involved with a women who clearly is not interested in him. He has done nothing about his miserable state except complain about a woman and by staying negative and not finding someone that makes him happy, the narrator in “Sonnet LIV” does not a happy outcome but a sad dark one filled with regret and sadness. “Sonnet 29” and “Sonnet LIV” are about men who struggle to gain acceptance but seal their future happiness by either thinking of love, like in “Sonnet LIV,” or continuing to complain about a heartless woman, like in “Sonnet 29.” These sonnets prove that love is the answer to rejection and is a way to get out a dark place.
One could be the richest man in the world but still feel empty and poor without being surrounded by people who love him. From the beginning the narrator in “Sonnet LIV” knew that the person he loved was not interested in him, however he got hung up on it and persisted the relationship even though it caused him great suffering. Not realizing the effects of a bad relationship a person can greatly hurt their future instead of ensuring a happy one. In this situation love can be seen as a weapon or a drug curing rejection. In “Sonnet 29” love is a drug where it takes the narrator, a man who is “in disgrace with Fortune,” out of a unhappy place and make feel like the luckiest man alive while in “Sonnet LIV,” love is a weapon, causing the narrator endless pain that can only be cured by love. Rejection can always bring out the sad insecure part of people but what really defines who someone is is how they are able to get strength from the mean people around them and use that strength to not only create a happy future but to somehow find love in a world full of heartless judgmental
people.