Dim Lady Analysis

Dim Lady
Charles Caleb Colton once said “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”, and in Harryette Mullen’s homage to Shakespeare's sonnet 130, Mullens breathes new life into an antiquated poem by rescripting this classic work . Harryette Mullen, an american poet, writer and scholar, published the poem Dim Lady as a modern tribute to Shakespeare's sonnet and creates a contemporary translation of one of his most classic poems. Both poems explores the narrator's feelings towards their object of affection and casts an unappealing image of their beloved, all the while setting us up for a “turn” or a dramatic shift in perception of how the narrator views their partner. In the poem Harryette employs contemporary stylistic choices to create a new poem directly based off of Shakespeare's original work. Her work being a direct modern

The couplet plays a pivotal role, usually arriving in the form of a conclusion.”(AAP ). Mullen's poem differs drastically in structure lacking most fundamentals of a shakespearean sonnet. Her poem, as opposed to the typical structure of sonnets, consists of ten lines, is without quatrains and has no discernible rhyme scheme. The poem does include a couplet complete with a turn, to signify the shift in perception and concludes Mullen's poem staying true to the original form. Structurally “Dim Lady” has little to do with the firm guidelines of true sonnets, however this choice gives Mullens a greater degree of creative liberty when it comes to the rescripted Sonnet 130. The more contemporary style of free verse rather than structurally rigid helps to create the more modern feeling of the overall work and in turn allows Mullens to shape Shakespeare's work in a new