William Shakespeare 's Sonnet 130

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.

Many men compare try to make their mistress feel special like they are no other by comparing them to false comparisons. The speaker was not afraid to be blunt about his mistress instead of how other men use false comparison and fill their mistress head up. William Shakespeare gives the speaker a blunt tone in Sonnet 130 to convey that he was not bragging on his wife saying she is all this and that. He said things that others compare their mistress to. That is what make his love for his mistress unconditional and very special.

‘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 the poets’ experiences. In ‘Sonnet 116’, Shakespeare illustrates how capability is weakened by its metaphysical stereotype and ideals such as, love which never seems to wither away according to Shakespeare 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 last contradicting comparison that portrays women 's beauty can be drawn out by the lines in Shakespeare 's sonnet involving his mistresses ' cheeks: " I have seen roses damask 'd, red and white, But no such roses see I in her cheeks." This line is in direct contraction to Griffin 's fair lady: "Her cheeks, red roses, such as seld have been" (sonnet39). This is practically a word for word mockery of Griffin 's sonnet about his women 's flesh. Shakespeare takes the idea of the rose as a simile to the cheek and morphs his to telling of that his mistress ' cheeks have not the reddest color of rose in them resulting in a pale bleak face.

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 William Shakespeare’s poem “Sonnet 130,” he describes his lover in a non-idealistic way by describing her features which are the complete opposite of a typical lady in a Petrarchan sonnet. A sonnet is a 14 line poem with 10 syllable lines and a rhyming scheme that uses iambic pentameter. Petrarchan sonnets idolize women by creating a dream lady, thus resulting in unrealistic features. The typical Petrarchan lady has blonde hair, a high forehead, pale skin, and a long neck, and the physical traits are seen as a reflection of inner beauty. Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 130” uses figurative language and a creative structure to mock the Petrarchan ideal by portraying true love for what’s in the inside instead of lust or infatuation.

Inner beauty is a concept that is thought to have been identified in modern times because of racial,ethnic, and religious segregation in the past centuries. However, very few in the undeveloped world came to realization that inner beauty is just as valuable as external attraction/beauty. In sonnet 130, William Shakespeare displays the true meaning of attraction for ones lover through imagery and figurative language. Shakespeare begins the sonnet with a simile “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;”(130.1).

The reason why Sonnet 130 is a part of the literary cannon is because the Sonnets introduce a very strict system needed to follow to even be considered a sonnet. All of Williams Shakespeare’s pieces are incredible but the Sonnets are special. All the Sonnets have to follow a strict set of rules this includes being fourteen line long and follow an ABABCDCDEFEFGG rhyme system. The creation of one of these Sonnets would be a challenge however Shakespeare developed 154 of them and so there are 2156 lines. This just goes to show the commitment and creativity of William Shakespeare. Each Sonnet also has a “Problem or Issue” for the first eight stanzas then “Opinion on the Problem” for stanza nine to twelve and finally a “Resolution” for the last two stanzas. The “Problem or Issue” is that this “Mistress” is not the ideal woman. The “Opinion on the Problem” is the He (The man describing the mistress does not know the ideal woman. Lastly, the “Resolution” can be seen to be that “He” loves besides of all these flaws or he is saying “she will do”. This is why Sonnet 130 is part of literary canon because of the meaning and the strict structure that has to be followed making it very hard to create this Sonnet.

If I was the recipient of the two sonnets, I would feel both honored and loved, while simultaneously offended and hurt. Shakespeare spends the majority of both sonnets borderline bullying his subjects. Offering only a slight rebuttal in the closing couplets of both sonnets. In Sonnet 130, Shakespeare details the mundaneness of his love, speaking of how she is not special, and he recognizes that there are many things better than her. These descriptions are countered by the final couplet of the sonnet, in which Shakespeare says how rare his love for her is, and how he unfairly compared her, thus changing the entire tone of the sonnet within the last couplet. Shakespeare employs this same tactic in Sonnet 138. In this sonnet, Shakespeare details

Would it make sense for the author of so many famous tragic love stories to be gay? In his collection of sonnets Shakespeare writes a lot about his desires for another man, which lead you to the conclusion that he was homosexual. William Shakespeare in “Sonnet 135” uses transgressive sexuality, homosocial bonding and homoerotic language to express his feelings and how the Golden Young Man does not reciprocate those same feelings. In addition, who was this Golden Young Man besides the object of Shakespeare’s

The majority of Elizabethan sonnets reflect two major themes: time and love. William Shakespeare, too, followed this convention, producing 154 sonnets, many of which deal with the usual theme of love. Because the concept of love is in itself so immense, Shakespeare found several ways to capture the essence of his passion. Therefore, in his poetry he explored various methods and used them to describe the emotions associated with his love for a mysterious "dark lady." These various ideas and views resulted in a series of sonnets that vibrantly depicts his feelings of true, undying love for his lady. Instead of making the topic less interesting, as some might expect, Shakespeare's myriad approaches

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.

Written by one of the greatest poets of all time, Sonnet 144 is among one of William Shakespeare 's most popular poems. To understand the meaning of this poem it is important to read the complete sequence of Shakespeare 's sonnets. Sonnets 1-126 are addressed to Shakespeare 's admired friend, a young man superior in social station and sonnets 127-152 are about his mistress, a dark lady, who charms the young man into an affair (POWERPOINT). Although the complete sequence of sonnets were not published until 1609, many of his sonnets circulated privately among his friends. Without Shakespeare 's autorization, in 1599, sonnets 138 and 144, amongst others were published in William Jaggard 's collection of miscllany, The Passionatte Pilgrim(597). In sonnet 144 he describes the battle between good and evil and the relationship he shares with the youth and the dark lady. The trappings of desire is the overarching theme of this specific sonnet and is written in aimbic pentameter. It follows the rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg. The arguement proceeds by quatrains with a summarizing heroic couplet at the end.

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.

“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” (Line 1). “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” (Line 1). These are both two of the famous lines from William Shakespeare’s sonnet 18 and 130. William Shakespeare was an intelligent English playwright, poet, and dramatist during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. He is known as one of the greatest playwrights of all time. Sonnet 18 and 130 are two of Shakespeare’s most famous poems. Sonnet 18 is a love poem about how he compares the woman’s love to a summer’s day. Sonnet 130 has a different approach. It is still a comparison, but it seems to be a more spiteful one. These sonnets are both share similar subjects, imagery, theme, and rhyme scheme; however they are more so different in forms and purpose.