In these poems, the attitudes of the poets to their relationships and partners are extremely different. When Browning says, “I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach”, she implies that she cannot live without her lover, so of course this is why she stays with him. However, in Shakespeare’s case, he stays with his mistress because he knows he is past his prime and no longer a handsome, young virile man. Her lies of being faithful and her reassuring him that he is young in her mind flatter his ego, despite his knowledge of her untruthfulness. Perhaps by saying “thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young”, he is trying to make himself believe this, because he says, “Simply I credit her false-speaking tongue”, so he actually respects her for considering his feelings. He cannot be angry with her for lying to him because he reciprocates in the matter. He is happy in the situation, and believes that his lover thinks he is naïve and “unlearned in the world’s false subtleties”. He seems to fear being alone and not being able to obtain another mistress. This is in sharp contrast to Browning’s sense of security with her lover, and feeling of openness and honesty. There is a quality of immortality to her love that is suggested in the phrase, “I shall but love thee better after death”.
The nature of the two relationships differ a great deal ; we sense that , while Browning conveys a love that is very spiritual and uncomplicated, Shakespeare’s relationship is more sexual without much actual love.Religious words and imagery, such as “Grace”, “Praise”, “Faith”, “Candlelight” and “God” are used to reinforce the feeling of purity in “Sonnet”. Meanwhile, in “Sonnet 138”, Shakespeare says, “Therefore I lie with her, and her with me”, using the double entendre of sex as well as untruthfulness and suggests that he has purely sexual motives for being in the relationship. He poses the idea that they are kept together by the fact that they lie to each other, because he creates the situation of them in bed together as they have not broken up as a result of being truthful.
The language used in both poems gives more reinforcement the conflict between the two sonnets. In “Sonnet”, many of the lines begin simply with the words, “I love thee”. This simplistic, repetitive style gives Browning’s piece a childlike quality and supports the message of innocence that is interweaved into the poem. She says she loves him with her “childhood’s Faith”, showing that she loves him wholeheartedly and has no doubts, like a child loves it’s parent because they know no better. She could therefore see her husband as a father figure as he protects her and gives her stability. On the other hand, language is used to the opposite effect in Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 138”. The childhood aspect of this poem is related to gullibility. He makes use of negative words such as “lies”, “unjust”, “untutor’d” and “false” to show that he does not believe in love. Using these words in rhyming couplets – “lies” and “subtleties” – even more pronounces the negative imagery.
The sonnet out of the two that I prefer is “Sonnet 138” by Shakespeare. This is because he has made a break from the traditional style of sonnets, which usually exhault the ideal of love and describe it in all it’s beauty. He takes the idea of love and almost mocks it, satirising the orthodox style of other sonnets. More complex language is used within the sonnet, unlike Browning’s simple prose.
The impact of both of the poems is that they make us think about love in very different ways.
