“Since there’s no help, come let us kiss and part” by Michael Drayton, “That time of year thou mayst in me behold” by William Shakespeare and “Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink” by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Geraldine Cabañero Word count: 2737

A comparison of “Since there’s no help, come let us kiss and part” by Michael Drayton, “That time of year thou mayst in me behold” by William Shakespeare and “Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink” by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Sonnets are fourteen lined poems that follow an iambic pentameter and have a strict rhyming scheme. There are two types of rhyming patterns used in sonnets, Petrarchan and Shakespearean, each is named after the famous sonneteer that made these patterns their trademark. I have chosen one Shakespearean sonnet and another sonnet written by Michael Drayton, both are pre-1900 texts. I chose these two sonnets because they both share the theme of separation.“That time of year thou mayst in me behold” by William Shakespeare compares well with Michael Drayton’s “Since there’s no help, come let us kiss and part”, as they both use imagery to convey their feelings about the love in their relationships. Shakespeare is thought to be the greatest sonneteer of all time, in this sonnet he is asking his lover to make the most of their relationship now as when he grows too old she won’t love him anymore and will leave. He uses nature to portray how he is maturing for example he compares himself to autumn and the falling leaves. Drayton’s sonnet is about the end of a relationship and what his feelings are about it. Unlike Shakespeare’s sonnet, Drayton uses microcosmic imagery by personifying his feelings to show that they are much more personal rather than Shakespeare’s which uses macrocosmic imagery by using the environment. Sonnets, however, both end on a more uplifting note, Drayton ends in the hope of the love being rekindled and Shakespeare’s suggests that as the relationship nears the end their love will intensify and become stronger. I have also chosen a post-1900 sonnet to compare and contrast with the two pre-1900 sonnets. The sonnet I have chosen is called “Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink” by Edna St. Vincent Millay. It appealed to me because I think that it takes a more modern view on love, as it does not treat love with such melodrama it addresses the fact that love is a feeling that we do not need to physically survive. This contrasts to the two previous sonnets, which use images of death to portray the end of a relationship.

Drayton’s Sonnet is about a break–up of a relationship. The first quatrain indicate that he’s quite adamant for the relationship to end as it seems like the best solution to their failing affair. This is demonstrated by the first line “Since there’s no help, come let us kiss and part” but there seems to be an underlying uncertainty in his words as his repetitive manner implies that he is trying not only to assure his lover but also himself. Although his tone seems harsh when he says she can have “no more of me”, it can be interpreted as a masculine front that he is holding up to mask his true feelings for her. This is demonstrated in the third line when he states that he is glad to be rid of her, but it also infers that he wants to so desperately hate and forget her by “cleanly” freeing himself of her simply because he cannot handle his true emotions for her so he would rather forget that they exist. The fifth line echoes this as he suggests they part as friends but forget and “cancel” all the vows and promises that made their relationship sacred. The next three lines reflect these feelings, as he demands that they hide the love they once shared and pretend it never existed if they should meet again. This suggests that there might be other people involved in this relationship that shouldn’t know about their affection for each other which would imply that their love is adulterous. The iambic pentameter stress the “when” in line 6 which implies that the supposed other people in the relationship are somehow linked so it leads them to meet quite frequently.

This is a preview of the whole essay

After the eighth line, the next quatrain takes a different slightly darker tone. It personifies love, passion, faith and innocence, which make the poem, take on a more personal perspective. It uses personification as a form of microcosm as it concentrates on the only things that make their relationship, i.e. love, passion, faith and innocence. He uses the metaphor of love as a dying man and his companion’s passion, faith, and innocence despairing by his deathbed. Most sonnets usually conform to an iambic pentameter, yet in this poem, when the mood darkens after the second quatrain, the rhythm is more broken and seems to follow the rhythm of a heartbeat. This is appropriate as Drayton talks about his love dying as his pulse is failing. The end couplet seems to lift the sonnet out of its gloom on a hopeful note and it also resumes the normal rhythm of the iambic pentameter. Drayton ends the sonnet by hoping that in time he will be able to love again or rekindle the romance they once had, implying that of their love for one another is meant to be they will be together eventually.

The second sonnet that I chose to look at was Shakespeare’s “That time of year thou mayst in me behold”. This sonnet is about the affects of aging on a relationship. The opening quatrain starts with the metaphor of seasons changing to demonstrate how we too change and get older. Summer and spring is often associated with youth as nature starts to blossom in those seasons but in this sonnet Shakespeare is comparing himself to autumn. This suggests that although he used to be young and lively he is now ageing and fading, hence the falling leaves. “When yellow leaves, or none, or few do hang” suggests that he still has some vigour in him but that it is slowly running out as more leaves fall preparing for winter in the same way he is getting closer to death. The birds no longer sing and the churches are now “bare” and “ruined”. We could look at the historical context of this as Henry VII shut down all the Roman Catholic churches to make way for the Church of England. This would show that the man is older than his lover and is trying to illustrate the fact that he has seen times change and has experienced life more than she has which highlights his ageing.

In the following quatrain the second metaphor is using the comparison of day to night. The speaker is telling his lover that she sees the twilight of the day in him meaning he is old and weary. The sun has set and soon the night will come and when the night comes and twilight appears he grows older and nears the enviable, death. Throughout the poem the mood is continually changing. At one moment the speaker is affirming that his time is up and he must accept his fate and in the same line he speaks about things of happiness such as the yellow leaves, chirping birds, and the sunset. It seems that these colourful, happy images are glimpses of his youthful past but they all faded away as he matured.

In the last quatrain the third metaphor is developing the image of transition for the last time in the sonnet. It does this by depicting a picture of a fire burning and eventually turning into ashes, “in me thou seest the glowing of such fire”. The speaker yet again says to the woman that she has seen him as a burning fire, but now he is only “glowing”, meaning his energy for life has burned out. Then the speaker goes on to say that he feels expired, and now he lays on his deathbed. The flicking flames of a fire are being compared to the vibrancy and youthfulness that he once enjoyed but at this point ashes only remain which signifies that his life has come to a halt and the feeling of enthusiasm has diminished because of age. The final line in the last quatrain says "consumed with that which it was nourished by" meaning the oxygen that at one time fed the flames of the fire are presently being extinguished and the same applies for the speaker. He feels that he is in the final stages of his life.

The final couplet explains why he is telling his lover all of this. He explains that as his life is nearing its end, so will their love diminish, so they should try and make the most of the time they have together as knowing that their love will not last forever will intensify it and make it stronger. She will be left with the thought of the love they once shared so it is better that she is left with happy memories of their time together. I think that this is quite a manipulative way of getting her to show him more affection. The sense of urgency in his words He indicates that she will leave him behind as he grows older because she is still youthful and deserves somebody who she can grow old with and not watch them slowly fade away. But this would obviously provoke protest from his lover and make her more insistent to stay with him and prove her love for him.

I chose these two pre-1900 sonnets to compare as although they both carry the same theme of love coming to an end and use dying images to portray the end of the relationship they hold different attitudes towards the break up. Drayton wants his lover to forget their love ever existed while Shakespeare wants to make the most of the time he has left with his lover so that she will leave him with happy memories of the relationship. Both sonnets follow a Shakespearean rhyming scheme. But the rhythm in Drayton’s poem changes to reflect his feelings showed in the sonnet.
Drayton uses a microcosmic view of the relationship by personifying the qualities that make his relationship special to heighten the focus of him and his lover in the sonnet. On the other hand Shakespeare takes on a macrocosmic view by comparing his relationship to imagery that surrounds him and his lover. He recognises the beauty of nature that surrounds him and uses it to show his ageing gracefully. Drayton is more dramatic, despairing the end of love with death and not the changing of a season or the gradual transition from day to night.

The third sonnet I have chosen to analyse is a post-1900 sonnet written by Edna St. Vincent Millay, Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink. Millay opens the sonnet by declaring that love is not always practical and that it is unable to solve physical needs. The first two quatrains illustrate that it cannot physically provide shelter, save lives or heal. The first two lines of the second quatrain state, “Love cannot fill the thickened lung with breath, nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone.” However, a few lines later, she says that “many a man is making friends with death” because they cannot find the love that they desire. Literature of all time periods often seems to promote the ideal that true love makes life worth living. Characters who are willing to forfeit everything they possess including their own lives in order to gain love are exalted as models to be admired. Millay speaks to this ideal in the last two lines of the second quatrain, “Yet many a man is making friends with death…for lack of love alone.” Love is unable to provide any basic needs, such as, food or shelter, and yet people are willing to die in their pursuit of it. What is it about love that inspires people to sacrifice everything that the world considers important in order to find it?

In the third quatrain, from a personal perspective, Millay mentions that if she were in a desperate situation, she might be willing to sell her love to gain peace or to trade the memories of being together for food. Although she says this would be a possibility, she ends the poem by stating that it is not likely that she would ever sacrifice her love. The third quatrain does not deal with what love is physically incapable of but the power that it holds. Love is not tangible but it can emotionally provide shelter and heal people. Millay recognises this is what makes love sacred is why she wouldn’t trade her love of the memories of being in love to save herself from violence or starvation, perhaps, because the pain of not knowing love is far greater, as demonstrated in the last two lines of the second quatrain.

As readers, we are left to wonder why she would not be willing to trade her love in order to fill basic needs. What makes love more important than physical comfort or food? Not only that, but why will people give up great riches and wealth in order to be with the one they love? There are many examples found in society, which show men and women going to great lengths to find true love. In 1936, only five years after this poem was written, King Edward VIII of England went so far as to abdicate his throne, so that he might marry the woman he loved. When Edward resigned his position as king, he stated, “I have found it impossible to carry on the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge the duties of king as I would wish to do without the help and support of the woman I love

Our culture places high value on success, wealth, and fame. There is a general conception that in order to be successful, one must accumulate material goods and property. However, we hold in high esteem the ideal that it is honourable to give up that which the world holds dear in return for love. In the poem, Millay says,

“It may well be that in a difficult hour,

Pinned down by pain and moaning release,

Or nagged by want past resolution’s power,

I might be driven to sell your love for peace,

Or trade the memory of this night for food.”

This statement reflects the cultural and societal belief that the benefits of accumulating riches outweigh the rewards of finding true love. However, Millay does not end on that note. Instead, the final line reflects an idealistic perspective that believes that “love conquers all.” We are left with the impression that Millay considers love to be more important than any material possessions or physical comforts. She closes by saying, “It may well be. I do not think I would.”

I chose this sonnet to compare with the two pre-1900 sonnets because it takes a different view on love. Both pre-1900 sonnets illustrate the end of love with dying imagery, this implies that life is love and without it we are dead. This is clearly demonstrated in Drayton’s sonnet when he compares the end of his relationship to a pulse failing. Millay, however makes it clear that although it is precious, we do not need love to survive.

Millay uses images of material things which we depend on to depict how we portray love, for example we look for comfort in love like shelter and we hang onto loved ones as if we need them to survive. Drayton’s sonnet compares love to life and Shakespeare shows his graceful ageing through images of nature. The sonnets all uses things that we appreciate and hold dear to ourselves, our home, our lives and the beauty that surrounds us. But Millay doesn’t stick to using, physical or emotional metaphors she combines them. For example “Nor yet clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone” may seem like a physical metaphor explaining that it cannot heal disease or mend broken bones. But figuratively speaking love can heal broken hearts and nurture “diseased” minds that take a cynical approach to love.

All three sonnets follow the Shakespearean rhyming scheme but Millay’s and Drayton’s sonnet both have a petrachean break in them. The break in the middle of the sonnet seems to indicate a change of subject and of tone, both sonnets consider how important love is to them. Millay indicates that’s she would not sacrifice love for material things and Drayton ends by in the hope of love being rekindled. Both poets show that love doesn’t necessarily mean sacrificing life as it can be rekindled and although it has immense power it isn’t essential to survival.