Sonnet 130 Analysis
Explication of William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130
This sonnet dramatizes the conflict between appearance and reality, specifically drawing attention to the excessive use of romantic cliches in literature during the elizabethan era. William Shakespeare uses similes and metaphor to compare the speaker’s mistress to that of unpleasant and insulting attributes. In doing this, Shakespeare makes a joke out of the traditional conventions of love poetry at the time and their unrealistic nature when describing women. The nature of these comparisons give the reader a sense of discomfort and the volta within the concluding couplet cause the reader to reevaluate the sincerity of the falsehoods riddled in typical poetry regarding love.
The sonnet begins by addressing the speaker 's mistress and how her plain attributes compare to stereotypical romantic bodies in literature. Within the first quatrain of the Shakespearean style sonnet the speaker touches more primarily on his mistress’s physical attributes and juxtaposes them to many famously beautiful sights of nature. Doing this primarily through use of metaphor Shakespeare juxtaposes the beauty of these natural sights to the ugliness of his mistresses corresponding body parts. In the first line the author uses the word “nothing” to negate the following simile which relates his mistress’s eyes to the sun. The immediate annulment of this famous cliche strongly drives across the point that the poem and all further analogies to his mistress
Summary Of For That He Looked Not Upon Her By Gascoigne
669 Words | 3 PagesThe “gleams” on her face entice him still, but the “blazing” fire of desire in her eyes terrifies him to the point of solitude - she is no longer safe to be around. This illustration of Gascoigne’s conflicting feelings is furthered by the fact that this poem is a Shakespearean sonnet. Shakespearean sonnets tend to be tragedies or romances that describe love, and this poem comments on the torment induced by love. The author’s choice for the form of the poem reinforces the meaning as a whole, that love itself is a
George Gascoigne's For That He Looked Not Upon Her
501 Words | 3 PagesIn the poem, “For That He Looked Not upon Her,” the poet, George Gascoigne, communicates his fickle attitude towards his lover. With the use of standard Shakespearean sonnet form, exaggerated diction and vivid imagery he explains why the speaker is bound to avoid his ex-lovers eyes, since they can spell him to live a life with further deception and heartache. Gascoigne’s practice of sonnet form consists of the “ABAB” rhyme scheme, couplet, and four stanzas adding emphasis on the protagonists reluctance to see his lover’s face. As the poem progresses it becomes clear on why the speaker is warry. The poem includes paradoxing examples that elaborate his complex situation.
Imagery In 'For That He Looked Not Upon Her'
892 Words | 4 PagesIt has been said that “beauty is pain” and in the case of this poem, it is quite literal. “For That He Looked Not Upon Her” written by George Gascoigne, a sixteenth century poet, is a poem in which the speaker cannot look upon the one he loves so that he will not be trapped by her enhanced beauty and looks. In the form of an English sonnet, the speaker uses miserable diction and visual imagery to tell the readers and his love why he cannot look upon her face. Containing three quatrains and a rhyming couplet at the end, this poem displays a perfect English sonnet using iambic pentameter to make it sound serious and conversational. This is significant because most sonnets are about love and each quatrain, in English sonnets, further the speaker’s
George Gascoigne Literary Devices
470 Words | 2 PagesThis Elizabethan sonnet by George Gascoigne is a tortured self-confession of one “He” who “looked not upon her.” Gascoigne effectively illustrates the speaker’s paradoxical feelings for a woman through a series of literary devices such as extended metaphors, imagery, and alliteration, developing an easily identifiable conflict between the speaker’s desire for his lover and fear of being hurt again. The first stanza introduces us to the central paradox of the poem: why does the speaker “take no delight” in ranging his eyes “about the gleams” on his lover’s beautiful face? To answer this question, the speaker employs two extended metaphors that vividly illustrate this conundrum.
Stafford's Sonnet Comparison
754 Words | 4 PagesThe repetition of the words ‘slave’ and ‘servant’ establish the overall theme of a binding love. Shakespeare seems to share Petrarch’s idea that love is an almost otherworldly force. Shakespeare uses anaphora in lines 4,5,7, and 9 with his repetition of the word ‘nor.’ These constant contradictions make the reader think that the the speaker believes the exact opposite of what he is saying. His word choice shows the passive aggressive feelings, and underlying resentment the speaker has for his love.
Comparing Love In Sonnet And Harryette Mullen's Dim Lady
956 Words | 4 PagesHer sonnet may have fourteen lines, but it does not follow a rhyme scheme or iambic pentameter (Mullen Lines 1-14). By breaking away from the standard conventions and structure of a sonnet, she creates a creative and sarcastic method of criticizing Shakespeare’s typical male speaker. Criticizing this classic speaker plays into Mullen’s criticism of sonnets that focus on love as a whole. Her sarcastic and comedic word choice directly contrasts Shakespeare’s, which permits her criticism. Shakespeare’s speaker focuses on the woman’s ugly features in order to bring out her personality (Lines 1-14).
Sonnet By James Weldon Johnson Analysis
1539 Words | 7 PagesHeroes, people say don't be them, because it risks your life and it is not worth it, you don’t get paid, you don’t get powers, you're just you by the end of the day and do something some people call dumb. But being a hero is not just Rafael at a fair to become one, to be one is to do what’s right even when everyone is not. Do it for the better of life, not for glory, but for anything that drives you to keep going. All heroes are different, but also the heroes come from the same roots about how they do what they do. We are going to dig deep into that reason why soon.
Dim Lady Analysis
605 Words | 3 PagesStructurally “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
Helena's Soliloquy Analysis
1157 Words | 5 PagesHelena, one of the main characters of this Shakespearean comedy, expresses her thoughts on love through a soliloquy. This soliloquy is written in verse and in “iambic pentameter” - five unaccented syllables, each followed by an accented one - as the rest of the play is, but with the characteristic that it rhymes. The soliloquy is composed of “heroic couplets” - rhyming verse in iambic pentameter- in opposition to “blank verse” - unrhymed iambic pentameter- which is the predominant type of verse in the play. Helena’s soliloquy, formed, as mentioned before, by heroic couplets, follows the rhyme scheme AABBCC as can be seen in this extract: “Things base and vile, folding no quantity, (A) Love can transpose to form and dignity: (A) Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind; (B) And therefore is wing 'd Cupid painted blind: (B)
Sonnets Comparison Essay
1515 Words | 7 PagesThe two poems I will be comparing and contrasting in this essay are two of William Shakespeare 's most popular sonnets. Sonnets in chapter 19, 'Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? ', and in chapter 23, 'Let me not to the marriage of true minds, ' of our Literature book. Both of these poems deal with the subject of love but each poem deals with its subject matter in a slightly different way. Each also has a different purpose and audience. In the case of 'Shall I compare thee ' the audience is meant to be the person Shakespeare is writing the sonnet about.
Love And Sight In Romeo And Juliet
1074 Words | 5 PagesIn Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 148”, the speaker is clearly a man that is in love, but seems to think of love in a negative way. He feels that love itself is tricking him and clouding his judgment. He sees his love as far better than everyone else sees her to be. He states, “O me, what eyes hath love put in my head/ Which have no correspondence with true sight!”
Similarities Between Sonnet 18 And My Last Duchess
1282 Words | 6 PagesIn these short poems, the authors utilize particular rhetorical techniques and methods to reflect the speakers’ personality and motivation. Therefore, presenting the speaker becomes the main focus of the authors. In Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 and Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess,” both poems reflect the speakers’ traits through monologue, figurative language, and symbolism. However, these two speakers’ personalities are different due to their attitude toward their beloved. The speaker in Sonnet 18 is gentle and delighted but frustrated because the ideal metaphor comparison of summer is not perfect for describing his beloved; the poem thus suggests that the way you love others reflects how you feel about yourself.
Sonnet 71 Figurative Language
1351 Words | 6 PagesWilliam Shakespeare’s sonnets are closely related in the idea that the theme as well as the subject of the poem remain consistent. A distinctive factor among Shakespeare’s sonnets however, is that they each contain somewhat varying tones. Two specific sonnets that prove this are “Sonnet 71” and “Sonnet 73” respectively. Both sonnets refer to the same subject, what is seemingly the speaker of the poem’s lover or mistress. The theme of death and dying are ones which remain present throughout each text.
Petrarch Sonnet 1 Analysis
782 Words | 4 PagesLooking at your list of first sentences, assess whether the paper moves logically from one topic to the next. This is a hard question to answer. To be honest, I am not sure how logical should look like in this case. I think it does move logically; I feel like there is a connection between all the sentences, but I am just not
A Comparison Of Love In Sonnet 116 And Forbidding Mourning
848 Words | 4 PagesThough both poems are exquisite expositions of love the question remains as to which one demonstrates the most superb love. Shakespeare 's “Sonnet 116” begins by depicting his version if the perfect love. According to Shakespeare, love must be a “marriage of two minds”. This ideology in itself exhibits a higher level love than common man could ever experience. For love to truly be Neoplatonic, it must merge every aspect of a relationship beyond the physical.
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