Essays on Sonnet

Compare Sidney's 'Astrophel and Stella, sonnet 3' with Shakespeare's sonnet 83

It has to be reckoned that poetry is one of the most enchanting forms of literary expression that has intrigued the literary critics and readers alike. Poetry provides the poet with the aesthetic freedom of traversing the avenues of imagination so as to reach out to the avid readers with the poetic expressions and portrayals. Sonnet is one of the most famous forms of poetry that has engaged the readers with its quintessence of form and artistic content. Many famous literary artists have engaged in penning sonnets from the core of their hearts to enthrall the readers all over ...

Shakespeare is well known for his profound artistic language and style. He is known for writing sonnets describing love besides other themes complimented with a variety of stylistic devices (Bloom, 1987). This paper attempts to compare and contrast Sonnet 18 and 73 while pointing out instances where imagery is used to refer to human qualities by comparing them with nature. The two sonnets employ almost the same stylistic devices with differences coming out in the theme and the exact intended meaning of each sonnet. Thus, a thorough understanding is needed to contrast them. In sonnet 18, the persona describes ...

Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare is a passionate ode to true and ever-lasting love. The main theme of the sonnet is loyalty in love. The poet claims that if love is true, it can never change with time and can never disappear whatever the hardships or impediments are.

“love is not love

Which alters when it alterations finds.” In such a way, Shakespeare stresses that loyalty and sincerity are the symbols of true love. Time can change appearance – the beauty of “rosy lips and cheeks” can wither; but time can never change the feelings which two loving hearts have for each other if ...

Tone

The tone of this sonnet is dark and melancholy. It is filled with imagery which puts an emphasis on the madness of the subject, as well as the sadness of the poet for being trapped in her life and wanting the freedom the madman has. The structure of the sonnet, the descriptive adjectives used as well as other vocabulary, and the figurative language employed in it all provide a backdrop of misery and gloom.

Musical Devices

The most prominent musical device which is immediately apparent on first reading the sonnet is the rhyming words. As with sonnets of the ...

John Frederick Nims’ “Love Poem” and William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 130” are two different poems that are separated by four centuries, but the poets have successfully presented the “ideal” poems to represent the “ideal woman” in a grounded world with all her flaws. The poems reflect that love on the surface is superficial when compared to the inner beauty of a loved one. Honesty and integrity are more effective when dealing with true love.

William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 130”, was probably written to ridicule the traditional love poem that showed women as divine angelic creatures with no flaws. Shakespeare recognizes ...

Achinstein, Sharon, and Thomas Corns. "Samson Agonistes" in A Companion to Milton. N.p.: Oxford: Blackwell, 2003. Print.

The poetic form of the poem “Samson Agonistes” is free verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter). Milton used it very influential, and this style became popular with the name “Miltonic Verse.” Samuel Johnson did not accept this form of poetry writing and mocked Milton. However, he finds that the Miltonic verse was very influential.

Milton’s “Samson Agonistes” is the best example for the blank verse poetic style. In this article, the author finds a way how Milton uses the free verse in ...

Slide 2: Introduction

- The changing social and cultural aspects influence the development of themes. - Literary works suit the culture of time and place where they were written. - The short story “Editha” by William Dean Howells "Editha" explores the theme of love in a war context by disapproving war and calling for peace and love. - Amy Lowell "patterns" poem argues against societal rule and expectations urging people to be more “human”. - Claude McKay devotes his poem "America" to the country that has shown him love. - In the poems, “The bird understander” and “To ...

Vivaldi’s Four Seasons

- History The Four Seasons or Le Quattro Stagioni is composed of four violin concertos that were composed by Antonio Vivaldi in 1723. This piece is known to be his most popular classical work and one of the most well-known in the said repertoire. The Four Seasons is also considered as one of the boldest program music in the baroque period. The concertos were first published in 1725. It was intended to be part of a set of 12 concerti, Vivaldi’s 8th Opus with the title “Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione”, which he dedicated to a Bohemian patron named ...

The sonnet is made up of fourteen lines divided into three quatrains of four lines each and a couplet which consists of two lines. Shakespearean sonnets have a definite rhyme scheme which separates it from the Petrarch. Each of the three quatrains has its own end rhyme which alternates and a final two lines which share a similar end rhyme making a rhyme scheme of the English sonnet to be abab, cdcd, efef, gg.

Each of the quatrains is unique on its own in terms of ideas from the others but their close relationship is never lost. The initial quatrain introduces the subject ...

Analysis of William Wordsworth’s “The World is Too Much with Us”

“The World is Too Much with Us” by William Wordsworth is a lyrical poem written in 1802. The poem expresses Wordsworth’s emotions and feelings about the world in the times of industrialization. The disappointment in people’s preoccupation with the material world instead of cherishing nature is revealed through the form of the poem, speaker himself and figurative language. The poem has a conventional form of Petrarchan sonnet, which means that it has 14 lines and is written in iambic pentameter. The rhyme of the poem differs: the first part - octave (8 lines) has the rhyme ABBAABBA, while ...

The modernist period saw a departure from traditional modes and ways of thinking and creating art. Occurring shortly after the Victorian period, the modernist period deliberately moved away from its corseted ancestry, aiming to tell the same stories but in different modes. Among these poets was Robert Frost, whose life spanned from the end of the Victorian period into the mid-1960s. Frost was a notable poet, although not necessarily a modernist: he celebrated individuality, man’s connection with nature, and a simplicity in basic truths—he also never completely broke away from traditional forms of poetry. In his poems “The Pasture,” “Mowing,” and “ ...

William Shakespeare considered the greatest English writer has developed a vast work, approaching various themes in the plays or poems that he created. Another highly appreciated English poet is Andrew Marvell, who besides poetry was also a politician, which is visible in his work, as many poems approach politics as the main theme. This paper takes a closer look at the two poets’ literary works, focusing on two of their poems, respectively “Sonnet 18: Shall I compare Thee to a Summer Day” (William Shakespeare) and “The Garden” (Andrew Marvell), identifying the common themes between the two poems, depicting other similarities, as ...

When World War I broke, earlier poets wrote poems celebrating the outbreak of the First World War. These poems reflected an over-optimistic, sentimental and unrealistic attitude to war that mirrored the attitude of the British people, who assumed that the war was chivalrous and heroic. Rupert Brooke's “The Soldier” is an example of such early World War I poetry, in which Brooke uses strong figurative language and symbols to romanticize and sentimentalize the horrors of war. By 1915, both the British people and poets began to realize how horrific and terrible the war really was, and poems thereafter ...

‘Instructor’s Name’

‘Subject’ ‘The world is too much with us,’ by William Wordsworth Romanticism was a cultural/intellectual movement that had a profound and long lasting influence on the Europe of eighteenth century. It started during the 1700s and lasted till the mid nineteenth century. It was partly born as a reaction to the industrial revolution and the cultural and social changes brought about by the age of Enlightenment. It emphasized on love of nature and reliance of a man’s natural feelings over rationality. The movement influenced a variety of disciplines such as art, sculpture, literature, drama and music. It was deeply connected with ...

The Harlem renaissance is a cultural and artistic movement that changed the nature of African American literature and experience. The poetry of the movement was imbued with personal and third party political and social experiences. There is a raging debate on whether the movement was one of social and political propaganda or that of just the development of art. This paper builds on Du Bois’ assertion that all art is propaganda and should be treated as such. It also explores the claim that the movement was partly a modernist exploit that was aiming at creating a new form of art unique to the ...

Wit was written by Margaret Edson. This one-act play has won the Pulitzer Prize for drama. It is a story which deals with the medical profession as well as with the culture of education at universities. Both sides are brilliant in this story. Vivian Bearing is represents brilliant academic staff whereas, Doctor Kelekian and Dr Jason Posner represent the brilliant side of medical research. None of them have emotions when it comes to work. The only character which feels empathy for Vivian is the nurse, Susie. She is the only character who is acting humane. Whereas Vivian is strict ...

Disability is termed as a result of physical, mental, sensory, cognitive, developmental or emotional impairment or sometimes a combination of two, three or more (Craig .L et al 2010). Cases of disability can either be present when a person is growing, has grown or at birth. The disability degree can range between profound, moderate and severe and causes could be inherited, congenital, acquired or unknown. This essay aims at expounding the main constraints of parents when deciding on the birth of children who are disabled and further explains the influences on the same. Parents go through constraints when making decisions of ...

William Shakespeare was popular for his works in the entertainment industry where he was mainly recognized as a good play writer, poet, and a dramatist. Today there are total number of “38 plays, 154 sonnets, poems and 2 narrative poems as the surviving works of the author (Damrosch 25).” He lived in the late sixteenth and the early seventieth century in England. Regardless of the fact that he died in the early seventieth century, his works have been appreciated across the globe and been translated into many languages. Shakespeare’s literary pieces works have also been used in schools. Shakespeare’s ...

John Donne’s poetry reflects a deep image of religious elements and most of his sonnets are the combination of both Catholic and Protestant. In “The Flea” and “Show Me Dear Christ” John Donne also uses religious imagery. He expresses in implicit way this tactic. HHHHis early poem “The Flea” implies the concept of sexual love; furthermore, it exemplifies unconventional metaphor by which the flea bites two lovers, who are compared on the basis of sex. Moreover, we see a woman trying to resist sexual advances. The speaker with the help of the flea was trying to convince her that the ...

Analysis of "Outcast" by Claude McKay

Outcast written by the famous poet Claude McKay is a typical 14line sonnet that expresses the live that he went through and the life that he desired. He wrote the sonnet in the 20th century. However, an analysis of the sonnet reveals its relevance in the contemporary world. Claude expresses the dark background of his parents (line 1). Sometimes, we are not happy with our background, and we, therefore, strive to change our environment for the better. We strive to attain that position where our body and spirit desire (line 2). We might consider our experience as a shadowy one, ...

(Student’s Full Name) Literary Response to the Reading of “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day” (Sonnet 18) and “The Marriage of True Minds” (Sonnet 116)

Love has been one of many poets' preferred topics, as implied by Plato's quote. William Shakespeare appears to be no different when one studies his sonnets, “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day” (Sonnet 18) and “The Marriage of True Minds” (Sonnet 116). Shakespeare's sonnets were first published as a collection in 1609. The personas of both poems, with the theme of love as their focus, idealize love and the subject ...

Introduction

Harlem Renaissance or New Negro Movement is a cultural movement , headed by leading African-American writers and artists , the heyday of African-American culture in the 1920s - 1930s . The development of Harlem Renaissance led to the recognition of a large influence of the culture of African-Americans on the culture of the United States of America. America first tried to get rid of stereotypes about blacks, who for decades have inculcated in American culture . There was a new image of an African American : educated, highly cultured and equal member of society. This cultural movement elected as its center the New York district of ...

Poetry is an apt form for expressing inner sentiments, which can sometimes seem impossible to relate to others. When a person sees beauty, it is an individual impression. But through poetry, removed and subjective notions can be explored. William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 18” and John Keats' “Ode on a Grecian Urn” both relate a concept of, love, beauty in art, and its weathering time. As will be shown, both Shakespeare and Keats convey these concepts in unique ways. Comparing and contrasting these two widely recited and studied works allows one to get to the heart of how they use the poetic form ...

Analysis of the following poems: William Wordsworth, "The world is too much with us;"

Emily Bronte, "Often rebuked, yet Always Back Returning;" Alfred Lord Tennyson, “Ulysses" and Emily Dickinson, "I heard a Fly Buzz-when I died" Good poetry, like good music transcends time. The poetry of these five poets are legendary; they share one common thread, the mastery of using diction to stimulate the senses. One cannot study British Literature without encountering William Wordsworth. In his sonnet, yes, it is a Petrarchan sonnet, "The world is too Much with Us," he politely expresses his disgust with man’s deviation from nature. Wordsworth begins his sonnet by saying that worldly advancements have ...

Part 1 – Explication:

O: Mark but this flea, and mark in this, How little that which thou deniest me is; I: Mark here means “See” or “Look at”. In this line, the poet brings attention of the reader to an insignificant flea. He relates the small size of the flea to the thing that his beloved has denied him, without knowing that the thing she has denied to him is very little.

O: It suck'd me first, and now sucks thee,

And in this flea our two bloods mingled be. I: He tells that the flea sucked, after sucking his blood, is now sucking hers. He is strangely ...

Robert Frost’s, “Acquainted with the Night,” was written in 1928 and it is as haunting and lovely as any of his other works . The narrator of the poem possesses qualities typical of Frost’s narrators, as he assesses the loneliness of life, as well as the inevitability of death. Depression, as well as Frost’s unusual iambic pentameter use is also present. He is not one for rhyming, but instead uses a slow, steady cadence to draw the reader down a slow, almost familiar path that will inevitably lead us baffled at out so much could be said in such a ...

Importance of Love in Love is Not All and Since feeling is First

“Love” is probably the most frequent and debatable topic as being identified in the arena of poetry. The majority of the best and extremely renowned poets have presented expressed their thoughts regarding love by means of their poems. It is the actual reason that makes the poetry rich and unique. Many of the poets portray the same issue, but they convey its significance with an entirely different viewpoint. Every poet explains love through his unique style and communicates his emotions and concepts involving love in an entirely imaginative and impressive way. There is an example of two poems written ...

Renaissance has the connotation of a rebirth age after the dark age. It signifies changes, improvements, and development of a culture or a country from the chaos of the dark ages. One revolutionary cultural movement that happened in the span of 1920s is called as the Harlem Renaissance. Harlem Renaissance was previously referred to as the New Negro Movement which is named after the anthology in 1925 by Alain Locke. The new African-American movement that included their cultural expressions all over the urban areas of the North eastern as well as the Midwestern part of the United States that were affected by ...

Why Poetry Cannot Emerge From GOFAI and why The Extended Mind Approach is a Better AlternativeGOFAI was once thought of as a pathway that could eventually lead to the emergence of a machine intelligence that supervenes from circuitry and in the same way that human intelligence was thought emerge from the connectedness of neurons. Intelligence breaks down to reasoning, which is the manipulation of representations (PHIL342, Lec 7b). GOFAI does is based upon symbolic logic. GOFAI was once theorized as the way that machines could have minds. But while GOFAI systems have been able to mimic human behavior, and sometimes even eerily ...

Among William Shakespeare’s most famous sonnets is Sonnet 18 because it is the greatest love poems of all times. Sonnet 18 presents a variety of poetic devices considering the distinctive structure Among William Shakespeare’s, most famous sonnets are Sonnet 18 because it is the greatest love poems of all times. Sonnet 18 presents a variety of poetic devices considering the distinctive structure that Shakespeare uses effectively. In as much as readers may want to look for a complicated structure, it is more straightforward, because its language is brief, concise and unto the point. Shakespeare starts by praising his friend and ...

How is The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock Different from Other Love Poems?

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is one of the greatest poems ever written in English language. Ascribed to Modernism, this poem was written in 1910 and first published in 1915 by American-British writer and poet T. S. Eliot. The title gives the reader the idea that this poem is a love song; but The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock has actually become so important int he history of English Literature due to the fact that it is not. The poem does not revolve around a love story (as opposed to the title); it mostly concentrates on the ...

Robert Frost, an American poet of the late 19th century was dubbed as one of America’s finest poets. Literally, his poems reflect the serene appreciation of quiet living in the countryside, the simple appreciation over small things and the values of life (Fagan, 33). In this paper, I would like to argue that Robert Frost’s poems reflect individuality, despite the gentle poetic words of his poems. Normally, a reader might perceive Frost as an ‘effeminate; due to the quality of his chosen words. Most poets at the time of war use a much stronger voice in order to express ...

Introduction

Form in poetry refers to the physical structure of the poem. This can mean the length of lines, the repetition, the rhyming, and the system of the rhymes. When these features have been organized into a recognizable pattern, then they can be described to belong to a certain form. The commonest forms of poems include sonnets, villanelles, blank verses, and sestinas. The form of a poem aids the poet in expressing the theme and the feelings that accompany the poet’s expression. Form of a poem can be the manner of the complexity of the poem. The poem can be simple and ...

A Critical Analysis of the Poem "What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why" by Edna St. Vincent Millay A sonnet refers to Italian poetic form invented by Giacomo Da Lentini. Sonnet derives from the Italian word sonetto meaning a little song or sound (Miller 1). Two kinds of sonnet exist; the Italian sonnet and Shakespearean sonnets. Italian sonnet has a fundamental break between the last six lines, sestet, and the first eight lines, octave. It has a typical rhyme scheme abbabba cdecde. Edna St. Vincent Millay’s “What lips my lips have kissed” is an example of an ...

Love is an all-too-common subject of poetry, the short poetic form being an elegant and evocative way to convey the complex ways people can love and be loved by others. To that end, examining and comparing the ways in which love is presented in the works of some of history’s greatest poets allows us to see the broad spectrum available to us for poetry. William Shakespeare’s Sonnets 18 and 147 both demonstrate an idealized form of personal love, in which the lover supplicates themselves before the beloved (and is figuratively made sick by this love). Comparing and ...

1. Research the term “sonnet” and indicate which the two main forms are in the sonnet tradition. Cite your sources in doing so. MacNeice refers to the term “sonnet” in line ten. How does MacNeice’s sonnet differ from traditional sonnets? How does it resemble those other sonnets? Explain in detail. Sonnet is a poem that consists of fourteen lines with variable rhyme scheme and structure. Sonnets are considered to be of Italian origin and from Italian the term means “little sound or song”. There are two traditional sonnet forms: the Italian (or Petrarchan) Sonnet and the English (or ...

3. The language MacNeice uses in lines one and two is quite appealing. How are the lines linked? How does line two create an effective impression? How are stanzas one and two linked in their subject matter? The first two lines are linked together, as in both of them the poet is talking about music. Line one says that someone is practicing music somewhere; and in line two the reader is told that the written notes of the music (which is being practiced and can be heard) resemble little fish who shake their tails and disappear. Maybe the ...

Classic English Literature

What makes Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 and Much Ado About Nothing is that they portray women representing two qualities associated with love; appearance and character. While Shakespeare’s lady love in the sonnet is ‘dark and average,’ his play shows Hero’s love conquering ‘deceit and infidelity.’ His play Much Ado About Nothing and poem, Sonnet 130, share similar theme as the lovers struggle to achieve true love through their struggle against deception, music, and punishment. Love can be deceiving, and it can be the cause for heartbreaks resulting in failure. After Claudio leaves Hero’s wedding angrily, ...

The Romantic Period implies that the period reflects a time of whirlwind and old-fashioned romance. But, it does not. The misconception of the period is common and anyone can make such errors about the true meaning of the Romanticism. The Romantic Era in literature is the period that saw many writers placing fundamental significance on the emotions and on the individual. While the Romantic period lasted for approximately thirty years, it revolutionized the way individuals see literature today. Literary critics points to romanticism as the principal artistic movement in the latter part of the 1700s. The influence of the era ...

Sonnet 43 entitled “How do I Love Thee” is a poem with 14 lines that is written in iambic pentameter. It follows the a-b-b-a, a-b-b-a pattern of rhymes that is typical to Italian sonnets. It also follows the form which consists of the octet that is the first eight lines and the sestet that is the final six lines. The theme of the poem could be recognized in the octet, and the sestet consists of the conclusion of the poem together with the poem’s resolution. The poem consists of hyperbole and exaggeration for describing love as being eternal (Bardhan, ...

Every person knows William Shakespeare, who is considered to be one of the greatest English writers. He was born and raised in Stafford-upon-Avenue. Right in his hometown, he had found his wife -Anne Hathaway. During his writing career, he wrote down 154 sonnets, 2 poems and 38 plays. Two of his best known sonnets are ‘Sonnet 18’ - “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day” and ‘Sonnet 130’ - “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like a sun”. They both have present similarities and difference between them. They are written in the same Shakespearean format - sonnet. Both of ...

The poem is a narrative, giving a close encounter of how life has been in her sphere. Millay narrates how she wasted out her love after an encounter with numerous lovers. Though a change occurs in the poem where Millay applies comparative image in expressing her personal feelings of love loss. Millay indicates” I cannot say what love have come and gone”, this indicates that never loved her young lover men by enjoyed with them. She has lost all the lovers since she changed from one lover to another. From the line, it’s clear that she feels a lot of loss after ...

The poet, Eliot, reflects on the masterpieces of the Modernist Movement that shows the character traits of Modernism. Eliot the modernist poet, experiments with the structure and form of the poem. This shows him to be experimental as well as innovative. The “Love Song” was indeed an innovation technically and it was intrigued by the idiom and the broken sequences of the French symbolist. The poem is unique in various senses. It proclaims a complete break with the traditional valuation of poetry as something serious (Sarker, 57). The main theme of this poem is paralysis. The root of paralysis ...

Plan / Outline

In order to reflect the challenges that has been faced by the African-American literature, the paper plans to compare the content of two poems. One poem is written in the 1950’s era which was a difficult and crucial period for the African Americans, while the other one has been written in the contemporary era to highlight the work of the poet of that poem and how African American literature survived in Amercia. The essay has also quoted examples from the essay to make it more simple and explainable. - Introduction - This paper aims to compare and ...

Classic English Literature

In drawing comparison between Shakespeare’s Sonnets 130 and 148, it is quite clear that Shakespeare uses the topic of vision (descriptions), and emotion (expressions) to highlight his feelings for his mistress. He has, by using themes such as love, beauty, emotion, and uncertainty, been able to draw the subconscious mind of his readers to relive what he himself must have experienced. Using contradictory and contrasting unconventional styles, Shakespeare was able to set off a precedence of intuitive thinking in his readers’ minds. When juxtaposed with each other, it looks like Sonnet 130 is the predecessor to Sonnet 148, for ...

Organization

Abstract The world of literature encompasses numerous feelings and emotions in its wide array of literary works. As readers, we are not unknown to use of centralized themes in the works of literature which vary according to many factors, like the type of work, the author and the plot of the work. In this paper we will compare a few renowned works of literature based on their usage of the central theme of love. This paper will be an analysis of the concept of theme which can be found in both prose and poetry. For our reference, we have ...

This is the story which was composed as from the period when the Scandinavian militants invaded Britain. Beowulf has eventually played a big role towards the development of the modern literature. The author of the story is still unrecognized despite of the rumors which stress that the author was an Anglo Saxon. By the time the story was composed, invaders had already stayed in the Britain for so many years. Beowulf proved himself as the true warrior when he killed Greandal himself. He did not need mortal weapons any further since they were not helpful, instead he used the swords ...

Classic English Literature

Penelope Devereux was perhaps one of the finest exponents of the renaissance art and literature art historians. While she inspired some of the finest Elizabethan poetry and sonnet sequence by Sir Philip Sidney in Astrophel and Stella, it is with utmost curiosity that generations later, people sought to see this person in flesh. An undated photo which many historians claimed to be that of her and her sister Dorothy, and taken with many other paintings from Leicester House and listed among the paintings in the high gallery shows the two sisters in costumes worn in the late 1570s. While ...

Led Zeppelin lyrics “thank you” and William Shakespeare’s sonnet 116 both discuss love and have several similarities. The compositions are both short poems whose common theme is love. Zeppelin’s mention of a woman as the target of his love and Shakespeare’s mention of, “marriage of true minds” further show that the poems mean erotic or romantic love between couples and not any other kind of love. The two poems explain the difficulties and conditions that true love is supposed to overcome and overlook. They are both extreme ideals of love stating that love never changes and never ...

Analysis of the Shakespeare sonnets

The 1st seventeen Sonnets send a message to the poet close friend, he has an unknown identity, and he assumes that the friend exists. He is trying to convince the friend to make a move and start a family. The main aim is to install his beauty to the offspring’s that will be born as a result of marriage. The poet says that, “From the fairest creatures, from all beautiful creatures, we desire increase, we want offspring, riper, more ripe (1-10). The major theme in the Shakespeare sonnets is Love; it conquers all the other themes. Apart from love, there are ...

Shakespeare’s sonnets treat time as an enemy of mankind. In many of the sonnets, the speaker worries about the ravages of time and expresses disgust at the way time takes away the things that human beings cherish. In the first seventeen sonnets, for example, the speaker juxtaposes time and beauty. As the speaker praises the youthful vitality of the young man (described in the sonnets), he also conveys his worries about ravages of time. The speaker’s concerns arise from past experiences. Nevertheless, the speaker devises several means to reduce the harmful effects of time on the young ...

In Shakespeare’s Sonnet 92, a very pragmatic yet idealistic lover talks to his lady about how much he loves her, and the place she holds in his heart. In essence, the sonnet itself is about the man arming himself against disappointment – a constant motif in the sonnet is about whether or not the woman will hurt him, to which he claims that “need I not to fear the worst of wrongs / When in the least of them my life hath end” (lines 5-6). The poet loves the woman so much that, even if she were to hurt him a little ...

This paper entails an anthology of three poems. These poems include Langston Hughes’s Poem As I grew older, Shakespeare’s Sonnet #4, and Emily Dickinson’s "Nature" is what we see. These three poems are crafted by poets with great experience about life and nature. The overarching message that is presented in these three poems is that life is difficult and has numerous challenges. Every opportunity that comes our ways should be exploited to its fullest. Our lives should be simple so that we can sustainably protect resources for future generations. The rationale of this anthology is ...

John Milton, in the poem On His Blindness, talks of the frustration of the speaker who is blind and hence unable to serve God. The speaker’s frustration finds a reply from “Patience” who tells that the Almighty does not really require man’s work. All he asks for is the perseverance to bear with the “mild yoke” and embrace what the God asks for with faith in heart. The poet puts to use the form and his quintessential touch in language and content of his work. The poem is considered one of Milton’s immortal literary works. A close ...

Although the two poets Countee Cullen and Langston Hughes derived their inspiration and influence from the need to redeem the African Americans’ consciences from the shackles of the white supremacist oppression, their approach to poetry contrasted with respect to form, style, and the use of illusions (Reid 48). The poems ‘Harlem’ and ‘Yet Do I Marvel’ as written by Hughes and Cullen demonstrate differences in form and style in ways that illustrate the manner in which the poets attempted to locate their subject matter from the multiple influences that determined the thematic and formal structures of the poems. Hughes ...

William Carlos Williams’s poem “The Red Wheelbarrow” is a simple, image-based poem in which an unknown speaker describes a red wheelbarrow and chickens. The simplicity of the poem, which is demonstrated by its length and subject, combine with the statement made in the first line of the poem to realistically depict a slice of reality. The structure of the poem helps to establish how a reader should view the poem. It is comprised of four stanzas with two lines each. The poem is made up of only one sentence which is not capitalized at its beginning. This sentence is broken up ...

The poem that one chose is “How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43). This poem was written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning in 1845 while Robert Browning, an English poet, was courting her. It is part of the “Sonnets from the Portuguese”, which is a collection of 44 love poems written by Elizabeth, with Robert as his inspiration. Sonnet 43 is the most popular love poem of Elizabeth. One is drawn to this poem because of its universal message, and that is love. Although, there are a plethora of love poems written, one thinks that this poem is one of the ...

Written in October 1816, John Keats infamous poem is one of romance in terms of how it breaks down the simple act of reading. On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer was the climax in John Keats’ first collection of poems. The rhythms of the Chapman sonnet convey a wide-sweeping sense of movement – of planets circling the heavens, and ships circumnavigating the earth (Rumens). A gift for a beloved friend, Charles Cowden Clarke, the poem is a fantastically constant symbol of study as the sonnet defines an event in the creative journey, vital in significance to the progress of reading. The ...

Ray Robert, comments on Shakespeare’s use of the word “complexion” in Shakespeare’s sonnet 18. Editors and critics of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 all agree that the word “complexion” refers to both facial complexion as well as the face of the personified sun. The face of the sun is at times dimmed by clouds and similarly internal clouds of melancholy darken the disposition or complexion of the young man. The author notes that, Shakespeare in his sonnets refers to a “combination of humors of the body” which determines a person’s “complexion” or his/her temperament. As such, the author asserts ...

Sonnet 18 is one of William Shakespeare's best-known poems, a declaration of love for someone who is deeply adored for simply being who they are. The work itself is one of the finest examples of the sonnet format in the English literary canon, and its beautiful language transcends identity and personage to become an incredibly influential and powerful poem. This is due to the poem's lack of specific description of the person who is being adored in the poem; the qualities Shakespeare describes are universal enough to be nonspecific, and many are impossible to reach, like immortality and eternal youth. ...