Shakespeare Sonnet 138

In Sonnet 116, Shakespeare defines love by way of truth. He begins not by launching into a discourse on the nature of love but on the nature of marriage, which, he implies, is built on commitment and truth: "Let me not to the marriage of true minds / Admit impediments." If two people are honest and truthful then they will have understood just what is expected of them in their marriage vows therefore, the poet sees no reason to object. Love follows on truth, he seems to say.

In William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 137 or “Thou blind fool, Love, what dost thou to mine eyes” the speaker appears to be blaming love and himself for being mislead about a woman. In the first quatrain the speaker is addressing “Love” as if it were a physical being when the speaker describes it to be a “blind fool” and questions what Love has done to his eyes (Lines 1-2). It can be interpreted that the “Love” is referring to Cupid as the one who is affecting the speaker’s eyesight. The speaker then goes on to explain that his eyes “know what beauty is” yet it mistakes the worst for the best (Lines 3-4). When the speaker mentions that his eyes can recognize beauty that can infer that the speaker is referring to a woman and that his eyes have

Many men compare try to make their mistress feel special like they are no other by comparing them to false comparisons. The speaker was not afraid to be blunt about his mistress instead of how other men use false comparison and fill their mistress head up. William Shakespeare gives the speaker a blunt tone in Sonnet 130 to convey that he was not bragging on his wife saying she is all this and that. He said things that others compare their mistress to. That is what make his love for his mistress unconditional and very special.

A sonnet is a poem of fourteen lines that rhyme in a particular pattern. William Shakespeare’s sonnets were the only non-dramatic poetry that he wrote. Shakespeare used sonnets within some of his plays, but his sonnets are best known as a series of one hundred and fifty-four poems. The series of one hundred and fifty-four poems tell a story about a young aristocrat and a mysterious mistress. Many people have analyzed and contemplated about the significance of these “lovers”. After analysis of the content of both the “young man” sonnets and the “dark lady sonnets”, it is clear that the poet, Shakespeare, has a great love for the young man and only lusts after his mistress.

The poem’s structure as a sonnet allows the speaker’s feelings of distrust and heartache to gradually manifest themselves as the poem’s plot progresses. Each quatrain develops and intensifies the speaker’s misery, giving the reader a deeper insight into his convoluted emotions. In the first quatrain, the speaker advises his former partner to not be surprised when she “see[s] him holding [his] louring head so low” (2). His refusal to look at her not only highlights his unhappiness but also establishes the gloomy tone of the poem. The speaker then uses the second and third quatrains to justify his remoteness; he explains how he feels betrayed by her and reveals how his distrust has led him

In, “Sonnet 130,” Shakespeare utilizes diction to show the speaker’s critical and loving shifts in tone

Poetry has always had a common theme where lovers are portrayed as goddess-like, based on their beauty and love. However, in William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 130,” written as an English sonnet, the speaker has a different vision, as he realizes that his lover’s beauty cannot be compared to that of a goddess, nor can it be found in nature for she is just a typical human being. His love for her is eventually shown, but without the use of the cliché image of beauty. Shakespeare’s use of metaphors, contrast, language and structure demonstrates that love is complicated and that real beauty is unrealistic and impossible to live up to.

Is true love an unattainable ideal? Do we all have a soul mate? Is love just an exchange of lies for the purpose of flattery? These questions, and countless others, regarding love have been pondered by philosophers and pop music stars alike for hundreds of years. William Shakespeare examines these questions from two vantage points in “Sonnet 116” and “Sonnet 138.” Firstly, in “Sonnet 116”, Shakespeare analyzes love in a rhetorical manner, meaning that he is not discussing a specific relationship of his, but theorizing on the concept of love as a whole, in abstract terms. Conversely, in “Sonnet 138”, Shakespeare analyzes love in a specific manner. He looks inward to inspect a relationship between him and a woman, also known as The Dark Lady, and paints a much different picture of love than in “Sonnet 116”, in specific terms. In William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 116” and “Sonnet 138”, Shakespeare analyzes love in abstract and specific terms; concluding that abstract love relies on affection, does not change or age, and is built upon a solid foundation of truth, while specific love, on the other hand, relies on lust, actively ignores change and aging, and revolves around deception. These two sonnets paint entirely adverse portraits of love in order to emphasize the dichotomy between the poet’s expectations of love, and the reality which does not live up to the poet’s expectations.

‘Sonnet 116’ by William Shakespeare and ‘What Lips My Lips Have Kissed, And Where, And Why” by Edna St. Vincent Millay are both sonnets that discuss companionship and a glimpse of the poets’ experiences. In ‘Sonnet 116’, Shakespeare illustrates how capability is weakened by its metaphysical stereotype and ideals such as, love which never seems to wither away according to Shakespeare while on the contrary, in ‘What Lips My Lips Have Kissed, And Where, And Why” Millay feeds on the chaos between the ideal of love and its harsh reality, heartbreak. Both poets seem to be love struck but there is a significant difference in the two. I will compare and contrast ‘Sonnet 116’ by William Shakespeare and ‘What Lips My Lips Have Kissed, And Where, And Why” by Edna St. Vincent Millay. I will also inquire and analyze why this particular form of poetry established different effects.

Matthew Casim, Solomon Joseph, Will Jones Sonnet Assessment (Sonnet 138) Period 5 10/11/16 “Lie”-ing on the Marriage Bed (694 words) Throughout his sonnets, William Shakespeare addresses questions of human psychology and morality, using tactful diction and syntax to convey a main point. Particularly, sonnets 127 to 154 present a dark lady as an appealing yet ultimately immoral lover. in Sonnet 138, Shakespeare presents a love relationship full of deceit through the subtle difference between knowledge and thought and “mind-games” between the speaker and his lover, the dark lady.

Shakespeare conveys these two human experiences through iambic pentameter, a rhythm and style that he often incorporates to deliver his thoughts. In “Sonnet 148” and two excerpts from the play Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare exposes the validity of the relationship

Love comes in many colors. The blood-crimson of lust and the jade-green of jealously are but two of the vast palate required to paint this inescapable human passion. William Shakespeare’s store of colors is unrivaled. No human failing, foible or foolishness escapes his gentle, comedic reproof. He equally enjoins his audience to venture as bravely as he does into the palpable horror of love gone amiss. In “OTHELLO,”“MACBETH,” and many more dramas, love’s fatal potential to provoke vengeance or the quest for earthly power is powerfully felt. These are epic investigations of love’s progression. A sonnet, however, is the equivalent of the modern short story. It is a snapshot of a single, significant experience. In two of Shakespeare’s sonnets – diverse in time and temperament, but complimentary in their conclusions – Shakespeare states his deepest feelings about the potential for a human love that is an un-judgmental commitment to the selfless nourishment of a partner. Sonnet 116, with a certainty and wisdom obtained from experience and suffering, marches out a rigorous and profound definition of true love. Sonnet 29 finds a soul in turmoil salvaged by an epiphany of understanding the power of true love to heal. By examining the perspective of the respective speakers, their individual progresses, the themes evoked and the poetic devices employed to compliment content this essay argues that for Shakespeare, true and enduring

In the last quatrain of “Sonnet 138,” the speaker questions why the lies are necessary to perpetuate the affair (9-10), then “makes lame excuses for” the deceptions (Levin “Shakespeare’s”). The couplet concludes the sonnet by the speaker resigning himself to the situation (13-4).

Shakespeare, considerably one of the greatest writers in the history of literature, has produced and published hundreds of romanticized sonnets and various breathtaking plays. Nowadays, many high school and college students spend their time reading, analyzing, and interpreting Shakespearian works trying to understand his intricate vernacular. Many phrases, names, and references in his compositions are still controversial. However, as Shakespeare’s writings are further analyzed, we begin to see more about who he was as a person and what role he played in society. Two examples of his true personality include him writing several romantic sonnets to another man and writing humorously obscene plays.

In the second quatrain, the speaker is talking more about growing old, and the fact that both of them are lying to each other. This quatrain confirms what is set up in the first quatrain, that she treats him like he is a younger man than he is. The line “Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young”(5) is the speaker telling us that he is tricking himself into believing that she thinks he is like a younger man. The speaker is not very confident at all. He lets his own vanity get in the way of the Dark Lady's infidelities. She tells him what he wants to hear even though she knows it's not true, as is evident when the speaker says “Although she knows my days are past the best”(6) and he gladly accepts these lies. With her accepting the lie that he is a younger man, in return, he must accept the lie that she is telling him. In the last line of the quatrain, the line “On both sides thus is a simple truth suppress'd”(8) says that both the speaker and the Dark Lady are ignoring reality in order to keep the status quo of their relationship. In order to feel better about themselves.