Shakespeare basically strives against the stream by proclaiming his independence from the Petrarchan traditions and doing the exact opposite of those. Through the use of his rhetorical and argumentative structure the author plays an elaborate joke on the hyperbolism and exaggerated compliments. While doing so he also proclaims his love in a truthful manner which puts his declaration on a whole other level. With the use of the couplet he changes the tone of the poem into a plain but very powerful underlying message – his love to his mistress is so deep that he does not need to uses hyperbolic terms to describe it. To conclude, Sonnet 130 is an unconventional love poem which simultaneously criticises the Petrarchan traditions and declares another special notion of
In the play, Caliban is inferior to Prospero; in the poem, he is inferior to the god Setebos. He is portrayed as a subject in both works; however, this subjugation does not dehumanize him. Browning enhances Shakespeare’s play by communicating that Caliban’s humanity is reinforced not only by his emotions, language, and beliefs but also his submission to higher powers, which reveals Caliban’s acceptance of his own powerlessness and mortality. Colonialism was a prevalent issue during Shakespeare’s time, and The Tempest reflects the injustice of how conquered people were rendered powerless by their conquerors. There were frequent
Despite all the similarities seen above, Shakespeare endows his work with many aspects of his time and adds new characters and situations to complicate even more the plot and almost triple the incidents of error. Shakespeare altered plot elements and location and modified the comic tone and mood when adapting Plautus to the English stage. In terms of theatrical representation, we find wide differences because the way of acting changed drastically between one work and another. In Plautus’ times, the use of masks was common and it prevented to see the faces and facial expressions of the actors. As they didn’t use masks in Elizabethan Shakespeare had to look for actors who looked alike as much that people could believe that they were twins since.
Shakespeare’s comedy was determined by language and complex plots involving mistaken identity. A good example is if a character disguises themselves as a member of the opposite sex, you can classify the play as a comedy. Popular comedies include: Much Ado About Nothing, The Tempest and The Merchant of Venice. Shakespeare also used his history plays to make social and political interpretation. Therefore, they are not historically accurate
Byron created works of art which respected and opposed accustomed conventions at the same time. Among the many issues that Don Juan addresses genre subversion seems to be the most obvious one raised by the poem. He parodies or attacks the conventions of epic poetry. Byron began Don Juan as “a literary manifesto to his age,” and he “vigorously attacks the literary pretensions” of his fellow Romantic poets, or as Jerome J. McGann terms them, the poets of “the Lakist School” (57). Byron identified Pope as one of his chief influences hence, he felt that his Romantic contemporaries who attacked Pope “showed their neglect of the rules of propriety in verse, a neglect which carried over to the debasement of political and ethical ideas.
The structure of ‘Sonnet 116’ is composed to formulate Shakespeare’s quixotic concept of love. Throughout the three quatrains and couplet, the poet changes how he describes love; as what love is not, what it is, and what love is capable of. Quatrain one introduces the primary idea, that is, what Shakespeare’s version of love is not. According to ‘Sonnet 116’: “Love is not love if it alters when it alteration finds/ Or bends with the remover to remove”. Essentially, Shakespeare’s message in quatrain one is that love is not love if it changes when the context changes, or leaves when there is nothing to be loved.
As the article continues, Knapp somewhat weakens his argument while discussing Shelley’s choice of stanzaic format by introducing the possibility that Shelley did not concern himself with the particularities of odes versus hymns. “Since Shelley composes homostanzaic hymns and odes with such frequency, it is difficult to ascertain the structural distinction he draws between the two genres. Indeed, many commentators assume that Shelley makes no distinction” (Knapp). If such is the case, then the discussion of Shelley’s intentions becomes moot. However, the noticeable structural differences between “Hymn” and Shelley’s most famous ode, “Ode to the West Wind,” lend credence to the likelihood that Shelley chose one over the other deliberately for “Hymn.” Also, given the premise of “Hymn” is Shelley speaking to the Spirit, having, “vowed that [he] would dedicate [his] powers / To thee and thine”, the weight of such a promise is better reinforced with the divine gravitas of a hymn when compared to an ode (Shelley).
One of the heatedly discussed topics is William Shakespeare’s affiliation with the Petrarchan sonnet writing tradition. Currently, there exist at least three suppositions in this regard: Some critics believe that Sonnets are written in perfect accordance with the Petrarchan convention; others – such as Katherine A. Craik, Douglas Trevor and Michael Schoenfeldt – claim that the sequence breaks with the tradition altogether. The third group of literary scholars and critics – including Michael R. G. Spiller and Phyllis Rackin – poises between the first two, arguing that although Shakespeare did introduce some innovations into the already existing convention he still remained within it, writing his sonnet sequence rather conventionally. Regardless of the aforementioned disagreement, there seems to be also a debate in the academic circles about the Sonnets’ main characters: Whereas Schoenfeldt
Romanticism was a period of time that occurred during the famous Age of Reason, but went against its philosophies. Instead of intellect, logic, and science, Romanticist felt those were what’s wrong with society and liked to focus on spiritual connections and nature instead. They used their poetry to convey their emotions and ideals to others. The person who is considered to be the founder of Romanticism was a man named William Wordsworth. His poetry was used to portray his feelings toward the Age of Reason and revolt against it.
Mathew Arnold as a Critic of English Literature – With Special Reference to Functions of Poetry Dr. George Kolanchery Asst. Professor (English),Bayan College, Oman (Aff. Purdue University, USA) Abstract Mathew Arnold is an important critic of English Literature. Before him, English criticism was in fog, and whatever criticism we find, is more based on personal notions than on any consistent methods. Dryden is regarded as the first critic of English, but his criticism is based on personal notion- sympathy and knowledge rather than on any formula.