Sonnet 75

This sonnet achieves rhythm, melody and a complexity of sound within the limited sonnet structure. These numbers of devices are used to enhance the melody of their work. The repetitive consonant sounds in a series of words, known as alliteration is commonly used in this

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

Elizabeth Bishop’s poem, ‘Sonnet’ bears little resemblance to its namesake at first glance. Bishop plays with our expectations, molding the well-known sonnet form into something new. She transforms the meter and rhyme scheme of the sonnet to the point of metamorphosis, but she retains the skeletal structure of the form; fourteen lines broken down into the customary octave and sestet. Her invocation and subsequent subversion of the anticipated poetic form provide her with a baseline to branch off from and without that context, the structure would not have the same effect on the poem’s meaning.

Shakespeare’s 98th sonnet is a beautiful presentation of platonic love and missing a beloved friend. Sonnet 98 is wonderfully put together with artistic patterns of imagery, such as the description of the flowers, diction, which creates a tone of youth and longing for the presence of a loved one, This sonnet is one in the fair youth sequence, which are sonnets where the speaker writes about his love for a young man, and the second of three sonnets mentioning his beloveds absence. The imagery in sonnet 98 is vivid and colorful and gives the reader feelings of youth and deep admiration for the young man addressed in the Fair Youth sequence of Shakespeare's sonnets.

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.

Being a sonnet, the prologue contains iambic pentameter, containing one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable. This means that words such as grudge, fatal, foes, death and strife are emphasized. Such as in the aforementioned case of alliteration emphasizing words such as these, with negative implications, will naturally make the tragic end of the two lovers stand out more to the audience and thus show the results of the theme of relationship between free will and fate, claiming that if free will were to be used to defy fate, it will end in a

In “Sonnet II,” by Millay, the speaker describes how time has gone on and she still misses her former boyfriend. Similar to that, in “Sonnet 73,” by Shakespeare, the speaker describes how time has gone on, taking his youth away. Overall, through the use of gloomy imagery and a dreary tone, Shakespeare and Millay present time’s negative effects on a person, within their dismal sonnets.

In 2010 Billy Collins writes Sonnet, a piece of literary work I consider to be the antihero of sonnets. Collins ironically follows neither the constructs of a Shakespearean nor Petrarchan Sonnet throughout. He also creatively breathes new life into a strict art form while rejecting the historical rules a sonnet must follow in this work. Upon further review of Sonnet, it becomes clear that this deliberate rule breaking is a skilled nod & side-step to historic norms and a promotion of a new age of creativity in the making of a sonnet.

Made up of three quatrains and couplet in iambic pentameter, Sonnet 1 contains the common thread of encouraging procreation, however each has a small topic shift that defines the tone of the quatrain. The first quatrain is an axiom, ending with the line “His tender heir might bear his own memory” signifying to the reader the speaker’s purpose behind their argument. By structuring the sonnet this way Shakespeare uses a structure that is similar to some persuasive arguments in real life. The rhyme scheme also helps to reflect this as Shakespeare uses the ABAB CDCD EFEF GG rhyme scheme to draw the reader’s attention to word that strengthen the speaker’s argument. An example of this is the rhyme between ‘’spring’’ and ‘’niggarding’’ in the third quatrain.

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.

The author’s diction in the sonnet creates a strong and firm point that is being shown, as well as understood. Words such as “nobly”, “precious”, “constrained”, etc. all give a

In the following chapters, I am primarily concerned with how the sonnet functions as a

Shakespeare, in his procreation sonnets created a renewed sense of life into one man, whom was the center reason he wrote the seventeen sonnets. These pro life or procreation sonnets revolve around a central theme and a central argument of marrying, as well as the producing of new life. Shakespeare is able to create this central theme of marrying and production of new life through several well used literary elements. Allegory, parallelism and repetition, all used in the individual sonnets and the work put together as a whole to create the central theme of procreation and pro life.

Shakespeare’s sonnet 60 expresses the inevitable end that comes with time and uses this dark truth to express his hopefulness that his poetry will carry his beloved’s beauty and worth into the future in some way so that it may never die. This love poem is, as all sonnets are, fourteen lines. Three quatrains form these fourteen lines, and each quatrain consists of two lines. Furthermore, the last two lines that follow these quatrains are known as the couplet. This sonnet has the rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG, as most Shakespearean sonnets follow. In each of the three quatrains, Shakespeare discusses a different idea. In this particular sonnet, the idea is how time continues to pass on, causing everything to die. The couplet connects these ideas to one central theme, this theme being Shakespeare’s hope for the beauty of his beloved’s immortality through his poetry’s continuation into future times.

     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.