Sonnets 18 and 130: Defending and Defying the Petrarchan Convention

William Shakespeare's 18 Sonnet, more popularly known as the "Shall I Compare Thee" sonnet, is about a lover who is speaking to his beloved. Most sonnets serve this same function; to profess love from the sonneteer to some individual whom he loves. In these poems, the lover always uses the most amazing adjectives to describe the woman, or sometimes the man, that he loves. The poet describes every component of his beloved, such as her hair and her lips and her eyes. Although not a sonnet, Robert Burns' poem has the same function; it is a love poem from the unnamed narrator to the

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.

In sonnet 130, Shakespeare uses conceits to describe the eyes of his mistress as “nothing like the sun” and coral as “far more red than her lips’ red” (lines 1-2). The idea of him not loving this woman because she is not traditionally good looking is disproven by the fact that Shakespeare cared enough to write a sonnet about her. Truly, if this woman was not loved she would have gone unremembered and unwritten about. The satirical tone of sonnet 130 can be perceived as rude, but the tone more accurately is used to show a loving couple that make fun of each other’s small faults: “the breath that

about all her let downs when it comes to beauty and so compares it to

“Sonnet 130: My Mistress Eyes are Nothing Like the Sun” composed by Shakespeare, is one of my favorite poems because of the way diction is creatively used to convey a message. Instead of using elaborate poetic syntax, he recurred to utilizing the same format in a more realistic context to deliver a bare interpretation of true love’s essence. As time has passed, language has evolved along with culture and gained different connotations. If this poem was to be read using today’s modern understanding of the language, this sonnet would probably cause a different response than the one from its time period.

In “Trout” by David Marlatt and “Sonnet 130” by William Shakespeare, both describe their loves in unusual, more complex ways then what is usually written in poetry. “Trout” describes a day where the speaker swims next to his love, and explains to her that she is as beautiful as a trout. Throughout the poem, however, there seems to be a tone of admiration, and the audience cannot hellp but feel that the speaker is giving his love one of the highest praises he can possibley think of. In “Sonnet 130”, the speaker juxtaposes his love to certain elements found in poetry, such as red and white roses, goddesses, and music, and says that in comparison to these she is but average and plain.

Sonnets written in Elizabethan England were usually after Petrarch’s works. Petrarch was a man who was in love with a girl name Laura de Noves. He wrote 366 poems about his love for this woman from the year 1327 all the way until 1368. His works were very stereotypical love poems that included lines like, “She ruled in beauty o'er this heart of mine, / A noble lady in a humble home, / And now her time for heavenly bliss has come, / Tis I am mortal proved, and she divine.” Petrarch wrote in such a way to charm a woman, as did many other writers of his time. However, there is one writer who took a different approach when writing about the woman he admired. This man considered on the greatest writers in the English language; William Shakespeare's “Sonnet 130” is a reverse portrayal of Petrarch’s ideas of a love sonnet and what it should be.

In particular, published in 1609, Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 is considered a more “modern” take on romantic poetry during his time. Unlike the Petrarchan love sonnets that were previously the standard form of romantic poetry for over 300 years, Shakespeare strove to challenge the status quo. "However, many Neoclassical critics were willing to attribute Shakespeare’s violation of classical rules to ignorance" (Lauder). Shakespeare’s work is a product of the cultural shifts during the Renaissance movement. Enlightened by society’s drift from restrictive views on religion, artists like Shakespeare were no longer anchored to the “classical rules.” This free rein allowed writers to be inquisitive about society, questioning how humankind fits into the greater aspect of the world. It is is even speculated that the muse for his sonnets was not actually a female mistress but a man. This is often an argument proposed to explain the seemingly mysterious atmosphere surrounding Shakespeare’s sonnets. Specifically, Sonnet 130’s mood is depicted as playful to showcase the raw complexities governing humanity in an entertaining fashion—something once unheard of in the English Tudor period. Ultimately, this same “ignorance” would only pave the way for future playwrights and poets.

William Shakespeare is one of the most celebrated poets in the world. During his career he began to notice his celebrity status, and it became evident in his work. Shakespeare’s sonnets do not portray a love of their subject, they actually portray his ego. The language, mood and treatment of the subject are the elements of the portrayal. First of all, the language used in Shakespeare’s sonnets is not romanticizing; it is egotistical.

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.

William Shakespeare is recognized for being one of greatest poets of all time. His works are still popular to this day. Many of his works included extended metaphors and similes with rhetorical language and were rooted in the nature of love. Two of his poems that are rather alike, but also very contrastive are “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” and “My mistresses’ eyes are nothing like the sun.” They both contain a core theme of love or anti-love in some aspects. While these two poems are built around the same type of subject, their interpretations come across in separate ways. In contrast to Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 18” which is a serious love poem that contains imagery and metaphors, Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 130” is more negative and humorous but contains imagery and similes.

William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130, “My mistress eyes are nothing like the sun” is one of the famous in Shakespeare’s day. The speaker compares his lover with the nature in an uncomplimentary manner, but at the end he proves that he truly loves her, which gives reliability to his argues. Using a different phenomenal metaphor, he describes the love in subverting and reverses the conventions.

Though usually written on the subject of love, sonnets are sometimes also written about beauty and nature. The themes of sonnet 130 – my mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun’- are masked underneath Shakespeare mocking the unrealistic comparisons

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.