Sharing Feelings In The Sonnets Essay, Research Paper
Shakespeare, as well as writing
many famous plays is also noted for his sonnets. A sonnet is traditionally a
fourteen-line poem, Shakespeare mostly wrote his sonnets about love. It was
traditional during the Elizabethan age, for gentlemen to write love sonnets
about their lover and give it to her. It was the way men used to woe women they
liked. Shakespeare wrote one hundred and
fifty four sonnets and due to the number and their consistent quality, his
particular style became known as ?the Shakespearean sonnet form?.? A Shakespearean sonnet has fourteen lines,
broken down into three quatrains and ending with a rhyming couplet. In each quatrain a different
subject is discussed and described, the subject is then changed at the start of
each new quatrain. A Shakespearean sonnet has the
rhyming pattern ABABCDCDEFEFGG. For example in ?Shall compare thee?, the first
quatrain shows this rhyming pattern, it is at the beginning so is the ABAB
part.?Shall I compare
thee to a Summers day? Thou art more
lovely and more temperate: Rough windes do
shake the darling buds of Maie, And Sommers lease
hath all too short a date: The rhyming couplet, i.e. GG,
often finishes a Shakespearean sonnet, for example the last two lines of ?Let
me not?. This type of ending often ends the poem with a satis factory
conclusion, as below illustrates.?If this be error
and upon me proved, I never writ, nor
man ever loved.? This essay will explore and
explain how Shakespeare expressed his feelings about love and eternity through
his sonnets. Two of Shakespeare?s most famous sonnets will be used to
illustrate the findings. These will be ?Shall I compare thee?.?? Sonnet
XVII (18) and ?Let me not? sonnet CXVI (116). ?Shall I Compare thee??? is
probably Shakespeare?s most famous sonnet. The sonnet is written by Shakespeare
about and to a woman he loves. In the sonnet he describes the beauty of the
woman and he debates whether or not to compare her to a summer?s day. ?Shall I compare thee to a Summers day?? The poem opens with the question
above and follows with two quatrains debating whether she is as lovely as the
summertime. These lines express the feelings he has for the woman and show how
beautiful he thinks his lover is. Shakespeare wants to compare the
woman to a perfect summers day, where it is warm, sunny, gentle and fair. However he finds fault with his
comparison. The summer?s day is found to be less than perfect. In lines 2,3 and 4 he compliments
the woman by saying that her beauty is more perfect than the beauty of a
summer?s day, as her beauty is more ?temperate? than an English summer.
An English summer is often windy and short.?Thou art more
temperate: Rough windes do
shake the darling buds of Maie, And Sommers lease
hath all too short a date:? With the beginning of the second
quatrain he describes how the sun in the summertime is less than perfect. He
uses a metaphor to describe the sun; he calls it ?the eye of heaven?. Shakespeare tells of how the sun
can be too hot in the summer and its light can be dimmed by clouds and overcast
weather.?Sometimes too hot the eye of Heaven shines? And often his gold
complexion dim?d, In Line 6 he uses personification
to describe the sun. Shakespeare refers to the sun as ?he?, giving the sun
human qualities. The sun?s colour and light is referred to as a ?gold
complexion?. This is also personification, as complexion is a word used to
describe a humans? skin. Shakespeare writes that summer
can be beautiful but at some point it declines from its previous beauty and
perfection.?And fair from fair some-time declines,?After complementing his
sweetheart by contrasting her beauty with summer?s flaws, he suggests that she
is more beautiful than a summer?s day, as she will not lose her beauty or
perfection. This compliment is backed up by
Shakespeare saying that her perfection and the love he has for her will live on
through death and never fade, like a summer?s day does. This is due to this
sonnet. Shakespeare is saying in the last
two lines, that, as long as people are alive, these verses will live on
celebrating her beauty and the love he has for her.?So long as men
can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this
and this gives life to thee.??Shall I compare thee???
shows how strong Shakespeare?s feelings were for his lover. His emotions really
come over through his disguised and obvious compliments and contrasts. He
thinks she is beautiful and, unlike a summer?s day, her perfection will not
fade, as this very sonnet is written to illustrate and capture the woman?s
beauty and the love he has for her. ? ?Let me not..? is another
sonnet written by Shakespeare. This sonnet is not praising a loved one, it is
written to teach people about love. In fact the content of the sonnet may even
be written to warn people about love, which may not be ?real?, as Shakespeare
seems more bitter than in love. He begins by saying he doesn?t
want to hinder the marriage of like-minded people, but to take note about what
he has to say. The poem is written in a negative context to emphasise the
positive aspects of love.?Let me not to the marriage of true mindes? Shakespeare explains that people must admit that there
are certain barriers, which prevent love being ?real? love. His next two lines
make their point by having a repetitive word, such as alter and alteration.?Admit
impediments, love is not love Which alters when
it alteration findes, Or bends with the
remover to remove.? Shakespeare means by these lines
that love is not love if one person is changed by the other, or because of the
love, they both change. He wants to make his point clear
that love is to be kept the same; it must never change, as it is an everlasting
thing.In the second quatrain, lines
5,6,7 and 8, a theme develops. These phrases explain his thoughts on love and
how even the biggest problems cannot change ?real? love. He uses metaphors in
the shape of old nautical terms to show this. The use of nautical terms as
metaphors is quite fitting for the time in which Shakespeare wrote his sonnet.
The Elizabethan age was a time of great exploration by famous seafarers, such
as Sir Francis Drake, who notoriously circumnavigated the globe and pirated
Spanish ships. Also during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, Sir Walter Raleigh,
was another great adventurer. From his travels, Raleigh introduced potatoes and
tobacco to England. He also helped to fight against the Spanish Armada. To represent love he uses
?marke?, to represent the problems he uses ?tempest?. A marke is a fixed guide, which
helps sailors to navigate their course correctly. A tempest is a storm, so like
a marke, being unshakable against even the strongest storm; love is also
unshakable by problems. The mariner theme is also used again to represent and
reinforce the permanence of ?real? love. Stars were used to help guide sailors.
A star is fixed in the sky, in the same position and it follows a fixed course.
This use of permanence again is to reinforce the idea that ?real? love is
unshakable. ?O? no, it is an
ever fixed marke That lookes on
tempests and is never shaken; It is the star to
every wandering barke, Whose worths
unknowne,although his highth be taken. After making his point that
problems cannot change ?real? love, in this quatrain he explains how time cannot
change ?real? love. He explains that the beauty may
go due to time, but ?real? love does not alter, it continues right up until
death.Lov?s not Times foole, though rsie lips and cheeks Within his sickles
bending compasse come, Love alters not
with his breefe houres and weekes, But bears it out
even to the edge of doome: Shakespeare explains that two
people who are in ?real? love don?t change because of it, problems cannot
change their love for each other and although time may change beauty, time will
not hinder ?real? love and it will continue until the death of both partners. Shakespeare is convinced that this is true and to show
how strongly he believes this, he makes two important statements:?If this be error
and upon me proved, I never writ, nor
no man ever loved.? By this he means that if he is
wrong and it is proved against him, he has never written anything and no man
has ever loved. We know that neither of these
statements is wrong, as Shakespeare wrote many famous plays and sonnets and
falling in love is part of the human nature, so Shakespeare must be right. The
two passages also convey a certain smugness Shakespeare has, due to his social
and literary skills.In both ?Shall I compare
thee??? and ?Let me not? Shakespeare communicates passion and
feeling. In ?Shall I compare thee???
it is the passion for a woman, and how beautiful and perfect she is. In ?Let me not? he is
passionate about warning people about love which is not true; to prove this he
shows what true love is like. Shakespeare effectively uses
metaphors to represent ideas and story comparisons. These help to enforce ideas
in the mind of the reader and they communicate how passionately Shakespeare
feels about certain subjects. Shakespeare?s love sonnets
communicate feelings through language and his obvious experience, through being
in love.