There is a certain confusion representative of the senile attributes of old age throughout the sonnet and particular the style and technique. Towards the beginning of the sonnet, the words “yellow leaves or none, or few” seem to set the tone for the rest of the piece. The argument already seems unclear; the negativity followed by assurance of remaining leaves, if only some promotes this confusion within numbers. It is almost a confused reassurance that there is still some life present. The presence of enjambement within the first two lines clearly reinforces this and contributes to the jerky, less certain movements of old age within the rhythm of the poem.
The words seem to weave in and out, and syllables are cluttered, as is the punctuation. There is a rhythm, although it is gentle and somewhat reminiscent of the sounds of leaves, crackling in the wind, cascading through the air, and gently reaching their earthy deathbed, before being absorbed into another life. The rhythm gently breezes though the sonnet, almost taking the reader on a literal journey through to the ground with some uncertainty of where one shall land.
There is a certain stark beauty evident within the imagery, the parallels with the beauty of nature throughout the ages. Age is often considered unattractive, and abrupt reminders of mortality. Despite the desperation and sadness of this poem, there it highlights a certain beauty of age, paralleling it with nature. It has to be, and could it be any better way than represented through the raw honesty and patterns of nature. It is a gentle kind of sorrow, accepting its’ fate. One could consider the great irony of the sonnet lying in the fact that nature is possibly the only tangible, timeless part of this earth. There maybe death and there maybe tragedy, however, the cycle is never-ending.
The certain soft resignation within 73 is contrasted within line 12; which seems to comply with another of Shakespeare’s sonnets –116. Passionate feelings and almost anger are present within the words; line 12 of sonnet 73 begins to question this, noting the consumption of “that which it was nourished by.” The personification of love is a regular theme, although not so consistent with 73. The almost unjust consumption of this love by time is similar to the personification of feelings within 116, proposing to almost oppose feelings in order to resolve them.
The opening lines of 116 echo marriage vows, yet also open with clearly noted enjambement and a celestial pause. One may already presume that things are not as concrete as at first glance. This is reinforced by the negative elements which follow,
proposing to define love through what it is not;
“Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds”
Love is quite clearly personified, portrayed as something quite tangible –yet this air of almost detachment is clear within the wording and references to “it”. There is a tongue in cheek exclamation mid-line, and the reinforcement of the personification, which is then almost belittled through the ceasing of a capital letter following the exclamation mark. It could be perceived that this material, tongue in cheek exclamation is deliberately and provocatively unromantic, the language used to attract attention in the persistently defiant manner. This assertive, almost combative sense, deeply contrasts sonnet 73, yet the use of negatives build up the impression of great confusion, similarly to the deliberately uncertain technique of the first. Even through the dialectic, 116 is a clearly informative and confident piece. It conveys the importance of love in our lives, simplified by the potent use of negative images.
It speaks of love as not being “Time’s fool”, yet seemingly asserting all else above love, through this use of capitals in regard to emotions.
A compass is spoken of, the play on words referring to the grim reaper as a symbol of death and ever-present, ever passing time. Youth is killed and cut away.
The sonnet is so focused on this mood and the style portrayed through language that the peak seems to be lost, and the climax falters at the end. It is concluded by
“I never writ, nor no man ever loved.” Effectively implying the if no one has ever loved, then William Shakespeare –the most famous poet not only of his time, but perhaps one of the most renowned of all time- is not a writer. It is an obvious assertion that love exists, but seemingly cheap after witnessing the great use of language and tone within the sonnet. One is almost left to question whether the subject matter was merely a device to explore language –again, heavily contrasting the technique of 73; using the subject matter as a basis for tone, language and technique. Words weave around the themes of nature and setting sun, whilst 116 portrays a sonnet with beauty among the language, yet no imagery which proposes to slide it into place. Whilst the words may roll from the tongue into the eagerly anticipating audience, it may serve as a disappointed if one expects subject matter to be portrayed in the same technique again.
Michael Drayton’s sonnet, “Since There’s No Help” appears to take a very traditional angle of love. He informs his love that they should “kiss and part” claiming to be finished with her, yet then proposes to speak of possible times in the future through “Love’s latest breath.”
This primarily simplistic piece is in fact highly complex. The angle of time is very different to that which has been previously examined. He refrains from noting such things as the ravages of age and time, yet looks to it through potentiality. The recurrent theme of love personified is clear. Love and the attributes such as passion, faith and innocence are portrayed through personification. Capital letters stamp their new-found identity and they are spoken of as nouns, in action. Death is spoken of, yet no capital letter marks the word. The themes of death and loss are in context with the emotions spoken of. It is almost the literal death of love which is carefully layered through impossible imagery; “Faith is kneeling by his bed of death”. The subject is clearly similar to the previous sonnets, yet the technique is greatly varying through this unfamiliar representation of emotions.
One may note the repetitive references to the feelings as masculine; “Innocence is closing up his eyes.”
It would appear the all the good things are taking their final breaths, despite emotions being immortal and timeless. Contrasting 116, time will take care of all things mortal; “rosy lips and cheeks” yet such things as love are everlasting. However, Drayton proposes to contradict this, deciding to involve his lover, “Now if thou wouldst though have given him over” and effectively implicating her as responsible for the future recovery of the relationship. He repetitively speaks of the passion she should recover, yet personified as a man, clearly Drayton’s own interpretation of love. He is dismissive that his relationship has to sides and this clear ignorance sheds light on a another angle of the sonnet.
The technique is fluid with the rhyming of the poem, and is fairly consistent. Words weave in, rhyming in alternate lines, almost parallel with the notion of the style of the poem, stepping back to rhyme, reminding the reader of the lines a little further back. There is a certain element of a cycle present, Drayton dismisses all that is not masculine and it was in fact he who primarily stated, “let us kiss and part.” He may indeed blame other attributes, however, it is he whom kneels down and kills his love.
The portrayal of love, time, death and loss within the sonnets is clearly varied to extremes through technical variety and interpretation of subject matter. One must note the styles which often play on the subject as much as the subject may inspire the technique. Writings of love will always be diverse, and an extremely large subject matter, yet when faced with time, death and loss it still cannot be narrowed. Through careful observation of two of Shakespeare’s works, one may note that the technique of one poet may vary within a single subject matter, and that it is this style which emphasises mood, tone and highlights subject matter which could be potentially flawed if written by anyone else. And as some poems even suggest, context may not even be important, if the technique is strong enough to support the latter, however various.
