How Do the Two Sonnets Convey Shakespeare's Ideas About Love? - Shall I Compare Thee and Let Me Not.

Navigational imagery is used often in Let Me Not. For example, “O no, it is an ever fixed marke, that lookes on tempests and is never shaken; it is the star to every wandring barke.” Shakespeare is saying here that love guides a person, like a star to a lost ship, and without love we are lost. True love will weather all storms and will be constant. In the third quatrain Shakespeare writes about how love lasts till time ends and the word “sickles” could be used in the sense that he is gathering youth because “…rosie lips and cheeks…” do not last forever.

 Although he says “Love alters not with his breefe houres and weekes, But beares it out even to the edge of doome,” meaning that love will last and not change even when they have gone grey and old. There is death imagery in the poem such as “edge of doome” meaning judgement day or the end of the universe. Also “bending sickles” can be interpreted as the grim reaper, symbolizing death. Other time imagery as well includes “brief houres and weekes”, “Times foole” and “ever fixed.” This time imagery help tell the reader how long true love should last for.

Shall I Compare Thee uses a lot of nature imagery. He uses the phrase “eye of heaven” meaning the sun. Without the sun, we people could not survive, plants would not be able to grow, and we would be in a forever of darkness. Yet, he finds fault in the sun by saying “Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,” meaning that she is even better than the sun which for us humans to survive is essential. He also describes the sun’s “golden complexion.” Gold is very precious and beautiful and also very valuable. By using the word “gold” he is stating how amazing and bright the colour of the sun is, but even she outdoes the brightness of the sun. He says that “And often is his gold complexion dim’d,” meaning that even the amazingly bright sun dims and fades at night, but her beauty is always brilliant and never changes. In the third line of the first quatrain he says that “Roughe winds do shake the darling buds of Maie.” “Darling buds” is a sign of hope and gives the impression that they are beautiful and delicate but “roughe winds” shake them. She however is “more temperate” meaning that unlike the winds of summer she is much more mild. Other nature imagery includes, “nature’s changing course” and “Sommer’s day.”

Shall I Compare Thee also contains death imagery. “Nor shall death brag thou wandr’st in his shade,” means that because he will immortalise her in his poem death will not be able to take her so she and her beauty will stay with him forever. He immortalises her mentally however, not physically thus aging will take the better of her, but he will always see her as beautiful. This is a personification of the Grim Reaper and the word “brag” expresses his delight in taking life. Also included in Shall I Compare Thee are many metaphors. The metaphors such as “death brag”, “eye of heaven” and “gold complexion” are central to the poem.

The emotion of Let Me Not seems to be serious and quite reflective, however, he is arrogant and smug when he says, “If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved.” It could be perhaps that he is writing from experience. The sonnet is reflective, and informative in suggesting what love should be like.

The tone of Shall I Compare Thee is idolatry, and romantic. He has everlasting love for a woman and he wants her to stay with him forever and nothing can ever part them, even death, because he loves her so much. He emphasises this by saying “Thy eternall Sommer shall not fade” and makes it more romantic. The beauty of summer reinforces her beauty in the poem, because she is so much more beautiful than a summer’s day and he is admiration of her beauty.

Both poems convey love in different ways. Shall I Compare Thee is more light hearted and romantic and is mainly about confessing how much love he has for a certain woman. Let Me Not however is more serious and philosophical but also romantic in the way that he is stating how love should be, what love is, and what love is not. I prefer Shall I Compare Thee to Let Me Not because Shall I Compare Thee is more cheerful and happy and the love that he claims to the person in the sonnet is passionate. Let Me Not is about love in general, Shall I Compare Thee is to a lover and is the ideal love poem.