Similarities And Differences In Shakespeare And Millay Sonnets

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.

Written in the form of a Shakespearean sonnet, one could hardly mistake it for anything so pleasant. Sonnets being traditionally used for beautiful, appealing topics, already there is contradiction between

Sonnets are known for having a 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 common features. Both Shakespeare’s “My mistress’ eyes are…” and Collins’s “Sonnet” satirically poke at typical sonnets, however, Shakespeare follows the standard English sonnet style while parodying the classic subject of love to show how ridiculous and idealistic love sonnets can be. On the other hand, Collins breaks free from those stern sonnet rules to joke about the strictness of sonnet structures while defining typical sonnet rules.

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 popularity of William Shakespeare’s “Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?” poem has perhaps impacted sonnets more than any other. This sonnet has cast a stereotype of these fourteen line poems to all be bubbly, jovial poems centered around a motif of love. In “The Professor,” however, Joshua Mehigan uses the deterioration of the narrator’s way of life throughout the work to demonstrate an unexpected contrast to the typical presentation and purpose of sonnets. The poet challenges the tradition of gushing affection in his poem and instead expresses the clash between expectations and reality. Through the poem, there is a recurring duality between Mehigan’s and the speaker’s notions of lifestyle.

Poets and authors alike evoke emotion and pictures from one single word. The imagery and thoughts put into the readers’ heads by these different writers are the base of one’s creativity and imagination while reading the author’s work of art. William Shakespeare is one of the most well-known poets of all time that is able to elicit these emotions from the reader to allow the reader to fully understand what Shakespeare is trying to accomplish with his poems. Shakespeare keeps his audience entertained with a whopping 154 sonnets, each having a different meaning and imagery associated with it. Sonnet 18, “[Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day]”, and Sonnet 55, “[Not Marble, nor the Gilded Monuments]”, are both one of Shakespeare’s most famous works. Shakespeare uses these sonnets to explore the powerful relationship between humanity, art, and time.

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.

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

This sonnet serves to invoke a strong sense of realism in love, arguing that as strong an intensity of emotion as may be held, may be held, without the need for delusions of grandeur, taking the view that trying to reconcile two essentially different and diverse things as equal is to do true justice to neither. The beloved in this case thus represents more the need for a character developed to challenge stereotype than an actual real-life woman,

‘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.

The Sonnet 18 “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day “ is around the most admired and prominent of the 154 poems of William Shakespeare . Most researchers concur that the true recipient of the lyric, the mate of pleasant toward oneself, whom the artist is composing, is a man, however the sonnet is generally used to portray a lady. In the piece, the pleasant toward oneself contrasts his adoration with a June through August, and contends that his affection is superior to summer (Kennedy & Gioia). He additionally states that your beau will live everlastingly through the expressions of the lyric. Researchers have discovered parallels between this poem and sonnets Tristia and Amores of Ovid . A few interpretations have uncovered

Some questions about the Sonnets which have been the subject of no little controversy the only one that seems to claim notice here is the identity of the "rival poet" of Sonnets 79-86. Spenser, Marlowe, Drayton, Nash, Daniel, and others have been suggested by some critics, and Mr. Lee adds Barnabe Barnes, "a poetic panegyrist of Southampton and a prolific sonneteer, who was deemed by contemporary critics certain to prove a great poet." On the whole, Chapman, the person Professor Minto was the first to suggest, and the person Dowden, Furnivall, and many others have endorsed, is most likely to have been the poet that Shakespeare had had in mind. Mr. Lee, having dated the Sonnets in 1592 and 1593, naturally objects that Chapman had produced no

     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.

To write a sonnet sequence then, about life and loves in California is really to form a sub-text which clearly states that the ‘intention’ of the narrative is to present a range of the diverse and possible kinds of loves, which are possible and acceptable in a ‘modern’ metropolis. Seth’s sonnet sequence is compared with Shakespeare’s sonnets in the style and form it takes.

Two constant themes throughout this collection of sonnets is one’s eternal fate and preservation once that fate is reached.. Shakespeare battles with the idea of how to preserve not only the beauty of his subject, which in this case is the young man, but also his work without losing value and merit. Sonnet 17 and Sonnet 55 share the common idea that preservation is necessary and important, but each take different approaches to this preservation. From Sonnet 17 to Sonnet 55, Shakespeare grows confident in his craft and begins to develop a different ideology when it comes to preservation. In this paper, I will compare and contrast Sonnet 17 and Sonnet 55 and thoroughly examine Shakespeare’s changing preservation ideology.