Sonnet 130 and My Ugly Love Contrast and Comparison Essay

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

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.

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.

A certain individual may establish beauty merely by what is viewed upon the naked eye, yet someone else can measure beauty by using more fundamental qualities, such as good morals and ideas, which lie beneath one’s surface. This is a topic of discussion that leaves many to ask the question, what is the true meaning of beauty? There are two prominent sonnets, which relate to the principles of true beauty; Petrarch’s “Gli Occhi Oi Ch’ Io Paralai” and “Sonnet 130” by William Shakespeare. These sonnets do nothing less, but use imagery to define the bountiful amount of beauty and how much love they possess for an individual. “Gli Occhi Oi Ch’ Io Paralai,” represents the true beauty love has by its use of excessive descriptions and tone. “Sonnet 130” proves that beauty is not measured by idealistic, regal measures, but rather proposes beauty is average and nothing out of the ordinary. For each sonnet effectively describes its interpretations on the joys of beauty and love.

The first quatrain of Shakespeare “Sonnet 130” reinforces his idea of real “beauty”. The images of an imperfect body and exceptional hair gives the sonnet a contradictory tone. If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun (line, 3). Shakespeare reveals the imperfection of women through this line. For men breasts characterizes

True love is a tricky concept positively understood by no being despite the dramatic descriptions created all around the world by millions of explorers. In his work “Sonnet 130,” William Shakespeare dives into the exaggerations of the realities of love in use of negatively placed similes, while Robert Burns in his work “A Red, Red Rose” shares a supposed story with uses of similar figurative language, which allows a greater look into the simplicities of true love. These authors’ reasonings behind their works have been widely researched for centuries. As told by the figurative language Shakespeare uses in his work “Sonnet 130” it can be inferred that he is simply making fun of the usual writings on the feelings of love, despite some of his other works that succumb to these

As active readers, we often associate love with the benevolent attributes of nature. In accordance, many authors, including William Shakespeare, base a majority of their pieces around this theme due to its credited notoriety amongst their audiences; however, critics argue that the comparisons employed by said authors are often over exaggerated. Shakespeare uses various literary devices such as imagery and similes to both exemplify the concept of love in nature as well as negate it in his poems “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day…” and “My mistress’ eyes.”

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.

When it comes to love, each person seems to have a differing opinion and definition on what constitutes genuine love. Two of these interpretations come from Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “Sonnet 14” and the song “Superficial Love” by Ruth Berhe. To serve as a bit of a refresher, within the sonnet, Browning focuses on how love can never dwindle when it does not rely on temporal reasons to stay alive. As for the song, Berhe states her desire to have something that is more than just a superficial love with her lover. Given that both writers draw attention towards the subject of love, it makes it easier for individuals to quickly begin the process of analyzing and comparing both works. After all, we are constantly and instantaneously making

Since the beginning of time human beings has found a variety of ways to illustrate their affections to one another. An intriguing form to present an individual’s ideal thoughts across is the form of poetry, for it displays a deep and mysterious meaning behind the connotation of the words used. Poetry allows a writer to express themselves through the act of writing with the usage of a few words. However, it is sometimes difficult for a reader to comprehend what the poem is trying to imply, but that is the beauty behind poetry, which is a reader may have a different interpretation from another. In the poems, “She walks in beauty”, by Lord Byron and “Sonnet 130”, by William Shakespeare have their unique distinguish upon how the words are projected to their respective lover, which they are comparing their physical appearance, implementing their feelings, and understanding what the lover means to them.

During the Renaissance period, most poets were writing love poems about their lovers/mistresses. The poets of this time often compared love to high, unrealistic, and unattainable beauty. Shakespeare, in his sonnet 18, continues the tradition of his time by comparing the speakers' love/mistress to the summer time of the year. It is during this time of the year that the flowers and the nature that surround them are at there peak for beauty. The theme of the poem is to show the speakers true interpretation of beauty. Beauties worst enemy is time and although beauty might fade it can still live on through a person's memory or words of a poem. The speaker realizes that beauty, like the subject of the poem, will remain perfect not in the

Throughout William Shakespeare’s sonnet, the reader understands that the speaker is going through a very difficult time. Shakespeare gives us a lot of emotions such as depression, happiness, and envy are expressed with figures of speech. A reader can get a sense of despair from what the narrative expresses and feels about himself. The speaker is self-centered and only talks about himself and how he feels. The theme involved in this sonnet is the power that love has and the speaker’s disposition.

We often fall in love with people and think long and hard about what it is that we really love about them. Is it their smile? Personality? Laugh, maybe? The eyes? We can all agree that we all have the same problem. That we can’t exactly explain “why” we love the person. Well in this case, sonnet XVII, Pablo Neruda loves his beloved from the inside, not the outside features. Pablo Neruda was born in Chile and his sonnets are originally written in Spanish. He published the 100 Love Sonnets in 1959. He had an affair with his second wife with Matilde Urrutia. Later, they got married in 1966, but they have been together since 1946. Apparently, Urrutia is the inspiration for 100 love Sonnets. So let’s assume that the sonnets are about

To write a sonnet is a complex and often difficult undertaking worthy of numerous mathematical formulas. Literary elements carefully crafted with mathematical precision in iambic pentameter: every word with its purpose and design, written with near-perfect execution. Shakespeare was a master of his time with his famous Elizabethan poetry; he became so adored by utilizing a delicate balance of word and verse. He is meticulously careful in crafting his signature sonnets, and is world-renowned throughout the ages due to his elements of imagery that contribute to his universal themes of love and the everlasting nature of poetry. His sonnets are still thought of until this day as beautiful illustrations of reality,