Shakespeare Sonnet Compare and Contrast Essay

Love can be a tricky thing. Love can be the begging to something new, something beautiful. While, Love can also be a dangerous and deserving thing. Love is a feeling many will feel whether for someone or something. Yet, loving someone can truly show not only who someone is as a person but, can show things about yourself you never knew. Thing you wish you never knew. Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 137” shows the dirt and ugly and immoral side your heart can obtain when love is blinding you.

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.

William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 116” and Edna St. Vincent Millay’s “Love Is Not All” both attempt to define love, by telling what love is and what it is not. Shakespeare’s sonnet praises love and speaks of love in its most ideal form, while Millay’s poem begins by giving the impression that the speaker feels that love is not all, but during the unfolding of the poem we find the ironic truth that love is all. Shakespeare, on the other hand, depicts love as perfect and necessary from the beginning to the end of his poem. Although these two authors have taken two completely different approaches, both have worked to show the importance of love and to define it. However, Shakespeare is most confident of his definition of love, while Millay seems

“Sonnet 116” written by William Shakespeare is focusing on the strength and true power of love. Love is a feeling that sustainable to alterations, that take place at certain points in life, and love is even stronger than a breakup because separation cannot eliminate feelings. The writer makes use of metaphors expressing love as a feeling of mind not just heart as young readers may see it. To Shakespeare love is an immortal felling that is similar to a mark on a person’s life.

In conclusion, Shakespeare shows us that love has two faces. One face shows us that love can be beautiful and can bring happiness, the other shows a darker and more painful side where love can be heartbreaking and mournful.

Everyone in the world, in one way or another, experiences love; However, the source of it is unknown. In Sonnet 130 the author, William Shakespeare introduces a speaker who is in love with a woman he refers to as his mistress. The speaker expresses his love for her through a sonnet, but unlike other authors of his time, Shakespeare writes his sonnet in a more unique and humorous way. Shakespeare’s excess use of negative similes and a mysterious tone change help convey the meaning of love on a deeper, more intimate level by showing that looks are not as important as one’s inner beauty. Shakespeare compares his mistress to several beautiful things, but the comparison is never in favor of the speaker’s lover, which shows how the sonnet

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.

Love is a feeling towards a person that has stuck by your side through thick and thin. In Sonnet 18, William Shakespeare writes about his eternal love and beauty. In Sonnet 30, Edna Millay writes about more important thing than love but love being the best one of all of them. These poems talk about how much love means to the authors because they won’t give it up even if death comes in their way. They are different because Shakespeare compare two beauties and Millay talks about how important love is to her.

These characters together describe love as an unstoppable force that can defeat any obstacle. The character in sonnet 116, love is an immortal force; love overcomes age, death, and even time. “Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks within his bending sickle’s compass come” Sonnet 116. Love defies times effects on youth and beauty, it repels old age and wrinkles. It’s an unshakable force that unlike the physical being does not decay. Shakespeare doesn’t just describe love as physical beauty. He also describes love as a great friendship and a great

And while these contrasting definitions of love may not be the only types out there, both illustrate how love can affect one’s life positively and as well as negatively. For Shakespeare, love can immortalize

Through these two sonnets Shakespeare attempts to define love. To us, love is merely a word and only takes the evocative power which we give it. Maybe love can be the ageless, unbending, and prevailing entity that stands the test of time during everything. Or maybe it can vary: yielding and changing shape but never breaking or losing strength. Is true love transient or is it boundless?

Light/Dark. Comfort/Despair. Love/Hate. These three pairs of words manage to sum up William Shakespeare's "Sonnet 116" and "Sonnet 147," while also demonstrating the duality of Shakespeare's heart. "Sonnet 116" reveals to a careful reader the aspects of Shakespeare's concept of what ideal love is. However, "Sonnet 147" shows the danger of believing in this ideal form of love. These two sonnets perfectly complement and clarify each other while also giving the reader insight into William Shakespeare's life.

‘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 each poet’s experiences. In ‘Sonnet 116’, Shakespeare illustrates how capability is weakened by its metaphysical stereotype and ideals such as, love, 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.

Through poetry like “To My Dear and Loving Husband”, “A Red, Red Rose”, and Sonnet 43, we are shown the invariable strength of true love. In the 12 line poem, “To My Dear and Loving Husband” the reader is shown a wife completely in love with her husband to the point that the poet gives hyperboles such as “I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold/ or all the riches that the East doth hold/ my love is such that rivers cannot quench.” A love that inspires such devotion and fervor leaves a mark on two lovers that is not easily erased. As Shakespeare states in his Sonnet 116, “it is an ever-fixed mark/ that looks on tempests and is never shaken.” Love is not simply a feeling that one can do away with when they tire of it. Love is a force of nature. Love knows no bounds and will use it’s strength to accomplish the unthinkable in the name of

Shakespeare, who wrote the sonnets in 1609, expresses his own feelings through his greatest work of literature. The theme of love in the poems reflect thoughts from the Renaissance period. Love is one of many components of Shakespeare’s life shown in the sonnets. Love can be defined in many ways other than a strong affection for a lover. In Shakespeare’s sonnets, the concept of love can be seen through many uncommon means such as the love of life before death in “Sonnet 73,” love in marriage in “Sonnet 116,” love through sexual desire in “Sonnet 129,” and love through nature in “Sonnet 130,” proving that love can be expressed through many different feelings and emotions.