Using the technique of comparison, William Shakespeare describes how deep his love is for his significant other in both “Sonnet 18” and “Sonnet 130.” Shakespeare takes an unconventional approach by utilizing compare and contrast to make his point. Although he writes the sonnets differently, the moral theme happens to be the same. The two sonnets begin in total opposite tones but conclude the same. Shakespeare proves that the same underlying theme can be proved by using different poetic styles and techniques, such as rhyme scheme or comparisons, thus leads to the comparison and contrast between “Sonnet 18” and “Sonnet 130.” In “Sonnet 130,” William Shakespeare inadvertently uses blazon, a popular form of poetry during the sixteenth century, to give a detailed summary of his beloved's physical features in a negative manner. A typical blazon would describe a female's body from head to toe. It allowed writers to project an idealized woman whose features could be admired from afar. In the first four lines, “Sonnet 130” slowly reveals the conflicting image. The first line begins as a stereotypical love poem, but by the conclusion of the second line, the intent of the poem is unclear. The poem is shocking because instead of using common love poetry techniques, Shakespeare suggests that the woman he is portraying is unattractive and more beautiful things exist, for example, “coral is redder than her lips.”(Shakespeare, Sonnet 130) The poem continues in this same manner throughout, until line 12. Here Shakespeare sets a tone of criticism. Ironically, he still uses stereotypical love images such as perfume, roses and music to compare his love.
The other method used by Shakespeare in “Sonnet 130” is the element of surprise. Throughout the poem, he states a “beautiful” characteristic then shortly follows up with the diminishing of his significant other, almost giving no meaning to the characteristic previously stated. In “An Overview of “Sonnet 130,” Joanne Woolway states, “Roses are the stuff of love poetry, but the positivity of line 5 is quickly destroyed by line 6 which negatively affects the praise that the previous line had hinted. The timing is perfect; the surprise that is given from this non-comparison is far
Shakespeare’s sonnet 130, “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” and Pablo Neruda’s “My ugly love” are popularly known to describe beauty in a way hardly anyone would write: through the truth. It’s a common fact that modern lovers and poets speak or write of their beloved with what they and the audience would like to hear, with kind and breathtaking words and verses. Yet, Shakespeare and Neruda, honest men as they both were, chose to write about what love truly is, it matters most what’s on the inside rather than the outside. The theme of true beauty and love are found through Shakespeare and Neruda’s uses of imagery, structure, and tone.
Through the use of comparisons, the English sonnet and an anti-Petrarchan
Shakespeare examines love in two different ways in Sonnets 116 and 130. In the first, love is treated in its most ideal form as an uncompromising force (indeed, as the greatest force in the universe); in the latter sonnet, Shakespeare treats love from a more practical aspect: it is viewed simply and realistically without ornament. Yet both sonnets are justifiable in and of themselves, for neither misrepresents love or speaks of it slightingly. Indeed, Shakespeare illustrates two qualities of love in the two sonnets: its potential and its objectivity. This paper will compare and contrast the two sonnets by Shakespeare and show how they represent two different attitudes to love.
The ideas of love being expressed in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing and Sonnet 130 are genuinely contrasting. In Much Ado About Nothing, one of the many focal points are Beatrice and Benedick’s foolish relationship, also the most captivating, whereas in Sonnet 130, Shakespeare is talking about the misrepresentation of the “Dark Lady”, who he refers to as his mistress. Regardless of a person’s flaws disfigurements, the stress they cause, and the bickering that occurs, love can withstand time, and under the circumstances love doesn’t change for anyone, that it does not substitute itself when it finds differences in the loved one.
The second essay, titled Brenda Gutierrez (2013), also speaks about Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 30” and Millay’s “Sonnet”. Gutierrez’s essay and Similarity and Differences in Shakespeare and Millay Sonnets, talk about the same theme, making it easier to see the similarities and differences between the two essays. The common idea of the two essays is that the speaker in “Sonnet 30,” “does not rely on something like time to end his sorrows but rather the simple thought of his ‘dear friend’”. Gutierrez’s idea that both speakers, “mention their troubles though one goes into more detail than the other” is defended clearly in the essay through the meaning and theme of “Sonnet” and “Sonnet 30”. Gutierrez's essay shows once again the absence in quoted material to support the claim and the absence in the ability to see things in a new and bigger perspective.
During the Renaissance, it was common for poets to employ Petrarchan conceit to praise their lovers. Applying this type of metaphor, an author makes elaborate comparisons of his beloved to one or more very dissimilar things. Such hyperbole was often used to idolize a mistress while lamenting her cruelty. Shakespeare, in Sonnet 18, conforms somewhat to this custom of love poetry, but later breaks out of the mold entirely, writing his clearly anti-Petrarchan work, Sonnet 130.
Humor is a literary tool that helps make the viewer laugh or have amusement. There will be two poems that was written by a man named named Shakespeare. I will be able to show humor in both of these poems which are; “Sonnet 130” and Midsummer’s Night Dream. My goal in this essay is to show the comparisons in humor between these two poems, while explaining identification and explanation of the author’s… choices on the audience imperative.
William Shakespeare, an English playwright and poet, is perhaps the most famous writer in the English language. One of his poems, Sonnet 130, is a parody of typical Petrarchan love poetry in which Petrarch often wrote about an idealized woman he loved and worshipped. In Shakespeare’s sonnet, he makes fun of the idea that a woman can be so perfect and so amazing by describing his mistress as a completely average person. This makes the Petrarchan love poems seem silly and false because, as Shakespeare seems to suggest, no one is that perfect and amazing, including Shakespeare’s “mistress”. The last lines of the poem make clear that Shakespeare did not approve of these high, unreasonable standards of the time. Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 begins with Shakespeare intentionally comparing his mistress to the unreasonable, exaggerated
In this compare and contrast essay I will compare four poems in detail and mention two in the passing to find similarities and differences. The poems and sonnets I have chosen to compare are ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ and ‘My Last Duchess’ by Robert Browning and Sonnet 18 and Sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare
In the hands of a master such as Shakespeare, the conventions of the sonnet form are manipulated and transformed into something unique and originally emphasized. Both sonnets in one way or another subvert the conventions of the base Petrarchan sonnet; though they are about love, the traditional topic of sonnets, whilst in Sonnet 20 the object of desire is unattainable and there is no evidence of the level of affection being requited, the target is male, and the target of the poet's affections in Sonnet 130 is the poetic voice's current mistress. It also seems important to note that love in neither of these cases is of the generic youthful female Aryan stereotype, and
The title of the poem “My mistress eyes are nothing like the sun” suggests that the speaker is not in love with his ‘mistress’. However, this is not the case. Shakespeare uses figurative language by using criticizing hyperboles to mock the traditional love sonnet. Thus, showing not only that the ideal woman is not always a ‘goddess’, but mocking the way others write about love. Shakespeare proves that love can be written about and accomplished without the artificial and exuberant. The speaker’s tone is ironic, sarcastic, and comical turning the traditional conceit around using satire. The traditional iambic pentameter rhyming scheme of the sonnet makes the diction fall into place as relaxed, truthful, and with elegance in the easy flowing verse. In turn, making this sonnet one of parody and real love.
The sonnet, being one of the most traditional and recognized forms of poetry, has been used and altered in many time periods by writers to convey different messages to the audience. The strict constraints of the form have often been used to parallel the subject in the poem. Many times, the first three quatrains introduce the subject and build on one another, showing progression in the poem. The final couplet brings closure to the poem by bringing the main ideas together. On other occasions, the couplet makes a statement of irony or refutes the main idea with a counter statement. It leaves the reader with a last impression of what the author is trying to say.
“Sonnet 130” written by William Shakespeare, is one of his most well known poems and can be analyzed and broken apart in great depth. The poem is written in fourteen lines which makes it a sonnet. Like all of Shakespeare’s sonnets the meter is iambic pentameter. The rhyme scheme for “Sonnet 130” is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. An overlaying theme for “Sonnet 130” is, “True love is based on how beautiful you find someone on the inside.” Shakespeare proves to have a great view on true love in this sonnet. He cares more about what’s on the inside rather than what’s on the outside. “Sonnet 130’s” theme can be proven by Shakespeare's use of poetic and literary devices, the tone and mood of the sonnet, and the motif of true love.
William Shakespeare is recognized for being one of greatest poets of all time. His works are still popular to this day. Many of his works included extended metaphors and similes with rhetorical language and were rooted in the nature of love. Two of his poems that are rather alike, but also very contrastive are “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” and “My mistresses’ eyes are nothing like the sun.” They both contain a core theme of love or anti-love in some aspects. While these two poems are built around the same type of subject, their interpretations come across in separate ways. In contrast to Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 18” which is a serious love poem that contains imagery and metaphors, Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 130” is more negative and humorous but contains imagery and similes.
To begin with, the sonnets both share an obvious and similar subject, which is love. The message in each poem just are delivered in different ways. “The universal Heritage Dictionary, as “a set of attitudes toward love that was strong.’” Sonnet 18 is what you would call your classic love poem. He is explaining how the woman’s love is compared to a summer’s day. He is basically saying his love for her will never die and will always live on. While in sonnet 130, it comes off as very spiteful and mean in the beginning. It’s not your classic love poem that one would be used to. He is pointing out all of her physical flaws by comparing them to things. For example, in the poem he says “I have seen