Theme of Love in Sonnets 18, 75 and 43 Essay Example
In Shakespeare's sonnet 18, Edmund Spenser's sonnet 75 and Elizabeth Barret Browning's sonnet 43 a key idea encompassed through all of them is the theme of love, which is portrayed using an array of language features most commonly figurative language.
Shakespeare uses Figurative language to help himself portray the theme of love in sonnet 18 .
"Shall I compare thee to a summers day?" at the start of the sonnet he asks a rhetorical question too himself if he is able to compare the beauty of his lover and his love for that person through a summer's day. But he decides against this instead using an extended metaphor to describe just how much better this person is compared to a summers day "Thou art more lovely and temperate." This line in the sonnet means that this person is more lovely and constant than a summers day, he uses this extended metaphor to show exactly how much he is in love with this person, as the complete octet and two thirds of the sestet in the sonnet are dedicated to describing and making his lover sound perfect in every way. He then uses the last two lines of the sestet to explain to his lover that even when both of them are dead and gone beyond the grave, that they will still be famous because of his sonnet describing his love for that person. "So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and gives life to thee." I believe that Shakespeare knew all these years ago that people will always fall in love and this is the key to this sonnet living on and in turn the person he wrote it for.
In the same way Shakespeare is trying to immortalize his love through a sonnet using figurative language, Edmund Spencer does also. "One day I wrote her name upon the strand, But came the waves and washed it -away" He is talking about how he is trying to write her name in the sand, but the waves a metaphor for time keep on destroying it meaning he has to do it again. "Again I tried to write it with a second hand, But came the tide, and
Shakespeare uses Figurative language to help himself portray the theme of love in sonnet 18 .
"Shall I compare thee to a summers day?" at the start of the sonnet he asks a rhetorical question too himself if he is able to compare the beauty of his lover and his love for that person through a summer's day. But he decides against this instead using an extended metaphor to describe just how much better this person is compared to a summers day "Thou art more lovely and temperate." This line in the sonnet means that this person is more lovely and constant than a summers day, he uses this extended metaphor to show exactly how much he is in love with this person, as the complete octet and two thirds of the sestet in the sonnet are dedicated to describing and making his lover sound perfect in every way. He then uses the last two lines of the sestet to explain to his lover that even when both of them are dead and gone beyond the grave, that they will still be famous because of his sonnet describing his love for that person. "So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and gives life to thee." I believe that Shakespeare knew all these years ago that people will always fall in love and this is the key to this sonnet living on and in turn the person he wrote it for.
In the same way Shakespeare is trying to immortalize his love through a sonnet using figurative language, Edmund Spencer does also. "One day I wrote her name upon the strand, But came the waves and washed it -away" He is talking about how he is trying to write her name in the sand, but the waves a metaphor for time keep on destroying it meaning he has to do it again. "Again I tried to write it with a second hand, But came the tide, and