The second sonnet (CXXX) compares Shakespeare’s mistress to many things. This sonnet seams more down to earth and realistic as you can visualise the comparisons he makes easily. It has a sense of truth in it. The language in this sonnet is easier to understand and there isn’t much hidden meaning in it. This sonnet (XVIII) did have an order and themes for each quatrain. Shakespeare wasn’t as excited and doesn’t make any extraordinary claims in the second sonnet. His comparisons are in a way pointless as he says, “if hairs be wires then black wires grow on her head” when he could compare her black hair with something else. This sonnet was written later on in Shakespeare’s life, which could explain why the style is so different from the first.
Shall I compare….? uses a lot of imagery to do with nature, “summer”, “buds of Maie” and “wides”. The sonnet then develops and extends the comparisons of summer towards the end of the sonnet. My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun however uses different images and isn’t just one that is extended and developed. The images aren’t all from one theme, “coral”, “snow” and “roses”.
Shakespeare’s intentions in the first sonnet (XVIII) seem to say that his love is consistent, “But thy eternal summer shall not fade. He also talks about his love like a goddess, “Nor lose possession of that faire thou ow’st. When reading the second sonnet it seems as though Shakespeare doesn’t think much about his mistress. When he says, “I love to hear her speak, yet well I know That music hath a far more pleasing sound ” it seems as though he is contradicting himself. We know that Shakespeare is saying that his mistress is normal “My mistress when she walks treads on the ground”, and she is made to look bad by being compared to false objects, “belied by false compare”. The rhyming couplet at the end shows us that Shakespeare truly lives his mistress and he thinks it is special.
I think that both sonnets are expressive and tell us how Shakespeare was feeling very clearly. His intentions when writing Shall I compare thee….? were to tell us that his love was better than a summers day. This was clearly shown and uses some similes, “But thy eternal summer”. We know exactly how Shakespeare was feeling and the poem is very descriptive and even though the comparisons are hyperbole the imagery is very effective and you can visualise it, “Rough windes do shake the darling buds of Maie”.
His intentions in My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun were to tell us that just because he compares his wife to beautiful thing and says that she isn’t like them it doesn’t mean that he doesn’t love her. He uses ordinary objects to compare her to which makes it sound more down to earth than the first sonnet. He makes comparisons to coral and says that his mistress’ lips aren’t like them, but there aren’t many people who have lips the colour of coral.
In Shall I compare thee....? Shakespeare shows that he was quite young by the great things he says about his love and in the second sonnet he gives us the feeling that he has grown old and his views on love before were just dreams and his imagination.
I thought that the first sonnet was romantic and flowery compared t other second which was realistic and in a way stating the obvious. However the second one which was written later on in Shakespeare’s life could have been affected by his experience of love which would have changed since he wrote the first one.
I prefer the first sonnet to the second as it is very lively and descriptive and shows his excitement and strong love better than the second sonnet shows his new views on love and how special it is. Even though in the first sonnet the meaning isn't written down as it is I though it was more interesting and descriptive. I also preferred the first sonnet as it was organised into quatrains and had 1 theme that was developed instead of lots of themes that weren’t developed. I think that the idea of developing one theme gives the sonnet a sense of continuity instead of stating one thing and then another.
Commentary on ‘If I profane with my unworthiest hand’ from Romeo and Juliet
If I profane with my unworthiest hand
This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this:
My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand
To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss. Shakespeare’s
Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hands too much,
Which mannerly devotion shows in this;
For saints have hands that pilgrims’ hands do touch.
And palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss.
Have not saints lips and holy palmers too?
Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.
O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do!
They pray; grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.
Saints do not move, thou grant for prayers’ sake
Then move not while my prayer’s effect I take.
The sonnet -if I profane with my unworthiest hand unlike most of Shakespeare’s sonnets has 11 syllables in the first and last line.
The first quatrain introduces the idea that that Romeo wants to kiss Juliet, which is then developed in the following quatrains. In the second quatrain the idea of using pilgrims and palmers is introduced. The third quatrain develops the pilgrims and palmers image when Romeo once again talks of kissing Juliet. This idea is once again extended and developed into the rhyming couplet where Juliet says, “Saints do not move though grant for prayers sake”.
The language in the sonnet is not too difficult to understand. There isn’t a lot of hidden meaning in this sonnet the ambiguous features are the pilgrims and palmer. The metaphors used in the sonnet are quite clever, as Romeo and Juliet aren’t trying to tell the other one what their true feelings are so they speak about it using another topic.
The intention of Shakespeare was to show how Romeo and Juliet talk to each other when they meet for the first time. “Palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss”, this is where Romeo is trying to tell Juliet that they have kissed like palmers. He then brings in the idea that palmers have lips too which they could use to kiss each other.
The mood of this sonnet is about love and there is excitement in it, “let lips do what hands do!”. The sonnet shows how keen Romeo and Juliet are to kiss each other.
This sonnet uses imagery that is quite common which makes it easier to visualise. The ambiguity of the conversation makes the sonnet interesting to read.
