Shakespeare 's Sonnets : Reoccurring Themes

One of the most inauthentic sonnets of the Elizabethan Era is that of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130. “My Mistress’s eyes,” fails to provide an accurate portrayal of love and the unencumbered passion that is typically seen in many of the traditional sonnets of his time, such as that of Sonnet 18. Unlike Sonnet 18 which testifies a beauty which transcends the heavens, Sonnet 130 merely satirizes the unequivocal devotion to one’s love, as well as love itself, found in many traditional sonnets during the Elizabethan Era. The sharply contrasted styles of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 and Sonnet 130 are exemplified within the opening lines, where Shakespeare opens both sonnets with a traditional comparison.

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.

Poetry can help authors bring forward many different emotions through just the themes that they choose to deliver. Some poets show their sadness, disgust, unashamedly talk about their romantic relationships, and most of the time love. Poets can change the entire poem just by the mood that they set, the tone that they are using, or the imagery that they use to describe. Shakespeare is a big example of using different themes, tones and imagery. In three of his sonnets they deal with romantic love and they have been very widely popular throughout many years even though some of his writing can be hard to decipher.

In "Sonnet 18," Shakespeare shows his audience that his love will be preserved through his "eternal lines" of poetry by comparing his love and poetry with a summer's day. Shakespeare then uses personification to emphasize these comparisons and make his theme clearer to his audience. Shakespeare also uses repetition of single words and ideas throughout the sonnet in order to stress the theme that his love and poetry are eternal, unlike other aspects of the natural world. Using the devices of metaphor, personification, repetition, and progression of tone, Shakespeare reveals his theme that the natural world is imperfect and transitory while his love is made eternal through his lines of poetry.

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.

This essay will address how Shakespeare and Rossetti engage with the sonnet form, through Rossetti’s “A Sonnet” and Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 52”. Both poets arguably subvert the traditional Petrarchan sonnet genre, though in different ways. Rossetti’s ‘A Sonnet’ explores the sonnet as an art form rather than as a means of currency, as sonnets were seen to be at the time, and how if treated as a commodity, the value of a sonnet is diminished. Similarly, Shakespeare’s ‘Sonnet 52’ explores the connection between frequency and worth. However, ‘Sonnet 52’ adheres more closely to traditional sonnet form, as the prevalent theme is romance, and the idealisation of the “fair youth”. In contrast to Shakespeare’s adherence to the traditional romantic focus of sonnets, Rossetti subverts the genre by using “The Sonnet” as a metatextual device to explore his ideas around the form of a sonnet itself.

Throughout the Elizabethan Era William Shakespeare composed numerous poems, sonnets, and plays. Shakespeare is credited for writing one hundred and fifty-four sonnets. Theses sonnets that he compiled had multiple themes; consisting of love, procreation, greed, selfishness, and even death. During his allotted time as an author he wrote two sonnets titled “Sonnet XXII” and “Sonnet XXIII”.

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.

Shakespeare’s sonnets are considered to be some of the greatest and most eloquent poems in all of English literature. So by analyzing his genius in poetry and style, scholars and ordinary readers alike, try to understand the genius in the poet. There is very little known of Shakespeare’s personal life or feelings he had about himself. This being so a lot of scholars focus on his style and way of saying things to try and get a better understanding of Shakespeare the person. Many scholars have tried to get an insight into shakespeare by analyzing how and what he wrote. Many poets use poetry as a way to express their feelings and emotions, so readers of Shakespeare should be able to start to grasp a picture of who he was by reading his poetry and paying attention to the similarities and unique differences of his work to the norm of the day.

‘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.

Each quatrain is used to develop a sequence of metaphors or ideas. The couplets are used to summarise the sonnet or is a new take on the foregoing ideas and images. Most of Shakespearean sonnets focus on the theme of love, beauty and worthiness. Sonnet 18’s theme focused on the stability of love and its power to immortalize the subject about whom the poet was writing. The rhyming couplets in this poem helps redefine the whole poem and also sums it up. It states that the poet believes that as long as there is breath in mankind, his poetry too will live on and that the person that is described in the poem will remain immortal. In Sonnet 18, each line is end-stopped and self-contained; there is punctuation at the end of each line, which creates a pause. All of the lines between one to nine are comparing a man to the summer’s day as the first line, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”, helps define the comparisons that are written later on in the poem (the main axis of comparison). From the ninth line of the poem, the volta takes place and Shakespeare switches from describing a man with the summer day to describing the immortality of his beloved. He has metamorphosed into the standard of how true beauty should be defined in the sestet. Shakespearean sonnets usually have a lot of alliteration and assonance but Sonnet 18 isn’t heavy with alliteration and assonances and the language is

Sonnets are known for its rigid format and being the hoard of poets’ flowery love confessions and tormenting heartache. While most poets generally stick to that cliche topic of love and the traditional English or Petrarchan structures, sonnets are not defined by these archetypal features. Both Shakespeare’s “My mistress’ eyes are…” and Collins’s “Sonnet” satirically defy those typical sonnets. However both poems differ, as Shakespeare follows the standard English sonnet style and parodies the classic subject of love to show how ridiculous and idealistic love sonnets can be; while Collins on the other hand, breaks free from those stern sonnet rules to joke about the strictness of sonnet structures to define typical sonnet rules.

William Shakespeare, man with intelligence, creativity, and with great passion for love, was one of the most prestige playwright, poet, and actor from the British Literature. He contributed his whole life writing some of the finest and well known plays and poems that are still highly valued in the present literary world. Shakespeare’s conventional themes for most of his plays and poems are about universal matters such as love, jealousy, and beauty which were common focus during the Renaissance era. During this period, Shakespeare’s poems, "Sonnet 29" and "Sonnet 130", demonstrates his views and morals regarding love to convey the theme of triumph of true love over beauty and wealth.

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.

“Romeo and Juliet” may be one of Shakespeare’s greatest works, but the famous poet has written a numerous amount of other fantastic masterpieces. Another one of Shakespeare's great works “Sonnet 116”, was written during the Victorian time period in England. This poem is Shakespeare’s interpretation of what true love is, and what it looks like. Throughout the poem, there are many literary devices used to convey Shakespeare’s belief on true love such as metaphors, imagery, and repetition.