“Love, time, death and loss have all been the inspiration for sonnets.” Discuss how this applies to the sonnets you have studied and comment on their technical variety.
"Love, time, death and loss have all been the inspiration for sonnets." Discuss how this applies to the sonnets you have studied and comment on their technical variety. The themes of love, time, death and loss are often and easily linked for obvious reasons. As far back as poetry and writing date, these themes will be clear within them. Often the inspiration for tragic or despairing poetry, one should perhaps observe the sonnets which are particularly linked to such subject matter. William Shakespeare's Sonnet 73 is about time bringing forth potential loss of love and the unavoidable consequences of age. The sonnet opens with a revelation of the time of year, imagery of autumn, the end of the year and the autumn of his own life. It is reflective almost to the point of wallowing; the sun is fading, the yellow leaves "do hang" and there is a poetic link to singing birds, highlighting the ever-present bitter sweet melancholy within the piece. The first quatrain begins to set the tune of the sonnet, using the concept of time within the seasons with an almost literal landscape foundation; the descriptions of nature are at their oldest, ravaged by time and nearing their ending. Shakespeare uses various parallels, drawing one in as the almost literal portrayal being in the 'autumn' of his own life. The second quatrain is also a careful parallel within these concepts of time,
Analyse Shakespeares attitude to love
Write 600 words on Shakespeare's attitude to love Sonnet 18 presents an idealistic, romanticised view of love. The true essence of the poem serves to depict the poets' love for the subject through an almost eternal/everlasting love, "but thy eternal summer shall not fade", and even states, "as long as men can breathe...this gives life to thee". Focusing on the stability of love, the subject of the poem is presented to the reader as a somewhat, glorified, perfect human being in that firstly, he is compared to summer, "shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" and secondly, the subject is summer, "thy eternal summer shall not fade." Sonnet 130, on the other hand, presents a more realistic perception of love than the previous. Unusually, Shakespeare, goes against the usual traditional, romanticised, love poetry, to present the reader with a negative comparison that, pokes fun at the typical exaggerated love poetry. "But no such roses see I in her cheeks." In conventional love poetry, we would expect the subject to be elevated and glorified, as in Sonnet 18; yet, this is not the case. The subject of the poem is compared in a negative manner as seen through the poets' senses. He sees her eyes as "nothing like the sun". He compares her smell to that of perfume "and in some perfumes is there more delight", which shows that he is not overly excited by her. We would expect the
Shakespeare was much more than just a playwright. He was also an artist of words in the era of language known as sonnet poetry.
"To be or not to be that is the question." This line was from one of Shakespeare's more famous plays, Hamlet. Although many people don't know this, Shakespeare was much more than just a playwright. He was also an artist of words in the era of language known as sonnet poetry. Sonnet poetry divides into three quatrains (four-line groupings) and a final couplet, rhyming abab cdcd efef gg. The structure of the English sonnet usually follows the Petrarchan, or explores variations on a theme in the first three quatrains and concludes with an epigrammatic couplet. In sonnet sequences, or cycles, a series of sonnets are linked by a common theme. Within Shakespeare's Sonnet sixty, Shakespeare explains the importance of life and how precious time is to man by using imagery that relate to time. In the first four lines of the sonnet, Shakespeare is explaining how life is always changing and also how the life of man is short, just as the wave of the seas makes it's way toward the shore. In lines number two and three of the sonnet, Shakespeare is telling the reader that life goes from generation to generation; not necessarily as exactly as the last life but similar. Just as man produce offspring to carry their name from generation to generation and like the waves, "each changing place with which goes before," their offspring look similar but not identical to the "master mold" from which
How are the characters in The Miller(TM)s Tale(TM) punished for their actions and do they deserve this punishment?
How are the characters in 'The Miller's Tale' punished for their actions and do they deserve this punishment? Of all of the major character in 'The Miller's Tale', only Alison is physically unpunished. Each of the other characters - John, Nicholas and Absolon - receives some kind of physical punishment for a flaw in their personalities or a mistake that they make. John receives punishment in the form of a broken arm which he obtains "with the fal". In the middle ages, medicine was nowhere near as developed as today, and broken bones would take a long time to heal. For John, a carpenter, use of his arms is vital to his livelihood, and so this physical punishment is a lot more damaging to him than one might expect. If his arm did heal, he would be out of work for a considerable amount of time. Not only this, but he has to suffer humiliation, as all of the neighbours "turned al his harm unto a jape", believing him to be mad. The reason that John is punished is that he has taken a wife much younger than him - "she was wilde and yong, and he was old". The Miller pokes fun at the carpenter because he does not know that "man sholde wedde his similitude". It is unnatural for a man as old as John to take such a young wife, and to keep her "narwe in cage" when she is lively and a creature of appetites that must be satisfied. The Miller suggests that John deserves to be cuckolded
In the poem, 'To His Mistress Going to Bed,' John Donne, in the form of first person dialogue, uses various themes and extended metaphors to illustrate the seductive, witty events occurring
English Commentary Elegy XX - To His Mistress Going to Bed by John Donne In the poem, 'To His Mistress Going to Bed,' John Donne, in the form of first person dialogue, uses various themes and extended metaphors to illustrate the seductive, witty events occurring between the speaker and his mistress. The metaphysical nature of the themes and imagery introduces a lot of complex ideas, parallelism, and concentrated language within the poem. Such themes are revolved around the events of the poem. The mistress is 'willingly' stripping nude for the speaker and is doing so in a submissive yet seductive manner, which is powered by a single force of sexual desire. The structure follows a chronological set of events. Each of these events holds a unique image which is linked with the other poem's images through some fundamental themes. Such themes include eroticism, excitement, adventure and pureness, which is illustrated through the many kinds of images used. The poem begins with a seemingly rather colloquial and arrogant tone from the speaker, saying to the woman, "Come, all rest my powers defy; until I labour, I in labour lie." Firstly the exclamation to the woman creates more demand for attention which compels the reader to continue. For the lines, they not only suggest that the woman is a prostitute with authoritative and colloquial language but it introduces the speaker's
My Last duchess - review.
My Last duchess Summary This poem is loosely based on historical events involving Alfonso, the Duke of Ferrara, who lived in the 16th century. The Duke is the speaker of the poem, and tells us he is entertaining an emissary who has come to negotiate the Duke's marriage (he has recently been widowed) to the daughter of another powerful family. As he shows the visitor through his palace, he stops before a portrait of the late Duchess, apparently a young and lovely girl. The Duke begins reminiscing about the portrait sessions, then about the Duchess herself. His musings give way to a diatribe on her disgraceful behaviour: he claims she flirted with everyone and did not appreciate his "gift of a nine-hundred-years- old name." As his monologue continues, the reader realizes with ever-more chilling certainty that the Duke in fact caused the Duchess's early demise: when her behaviour escalated, "[he] gave commands; / Then all smiles stopped together." Having made this disclosure, the Duke returns to the business at hand: arranging for another marriage, with another young girl. As the Duke and the emissary walk leave the painting behind, the Duke points out other notable artworks in his collection. Form "My Last Duchess" comprises rhyming pentameter lines. The lines do not employ end-stops; rather, they use enjambment--that is, sentences and other grammatical units do not
Robert Browning - 'The Last Duchess' - 'Write a letter to the count whether or not he should let his daughter marry the Duke'.
RASHID ZAMIR RESPONSE TO LITERATURE- POETRY (PRE-1900) ROBERT BROWNING- 'THE LAST DUCHESS' 'Write a letter to the count whether or not he should let his daughter marry the Duke' Dear Count I have visited the duke at his home and have come to a conclusion. I don't think you should give your daughter to him. When I visited him he sounded happy and joyful. I thought he was a nice guy and a perfect match for your daughter. But all things changed. Whilst touring around his home, he took me downstairs to a dark room. When he turned the lights on, all I saw was loads of amazing pictures surrounding the room. Whilst looking at the pictures one specific picture caught my eye. It was covered in a red distinctive curtain. I wondered what was behind it and before I knew it the duke dragged me across the room towards the painting. He then took off the red curtain and revealed to me a portrait of a beautiful woman. He said 'That's my last duchess painted on the wall, looking as if she was were alive.' When I heard this quote I was quite surprised, because he said that she was looking, as she was alive, which makes me assume that she is dead. I then started to compliment the portrait because the woman was amazing in it, I couldn't get my eyes off it. When the duke saw me staring at the picture he quickly dropped the curtain and started to talk about the artist who painted it. He
A critical appreciation of 'to my mother' by George Baker.
Sonnet To My Mother Most near, most dear, most loved, and most far, Under the huge window where I often found her Sitting as huge as Asia, seismic with laughter, Gin and chicken helpless in her Irish hand, Irresistible as Rabelais but most tender for The lame dogs and hurt birds that surround her,- She is a procession no one can follow after But be like a little dog following a brass band. She will not glance up at the bomber or condescend To drop her gin and scuttle to a cellar, But lean on the mahogany table like a mountain Whom only faith can move, and so I send O all her faith and all my love to tell her That she will move from mourning into morning. George Barker A critical appreciation of 'to my mother' by George Baker This sonnet by George Baker is, as the title suggests, a tribute to his mother, evidently, at the time of the aerial bombardment of Britain by the Luftwaffe in the Blitz during the Second World War. The poet was then, apparently, living in a far distant part of the world, as he refers to his mother being 'most far'. This was probably some time between 1942 and 1943 when Baker was living in the U.S.A and Canada. The poet's intension is not only to pay tribute to his mother but, more specifically, as the poem is addressed 'to' her, to send her his love and expression of his firm belief that she will 'move' from 'mourning to morning', in
Discuss one of Robert Browning's better known poems, "My Last Duchess."
In this essay, I would like to discuss one of Robert Browning's better known poems, "My Last Duchess." While some readers may be put off by Browning's language which now seems archaic, his poem is every bit as relevant today as when he wrote it almost two hundred years ago. It is as relevant in the twenty first century as it was in the sixteenth century which serves as the setting for the poet's history lesson. The poem focuses on a sixteenth century Italian duke who is regaling his guest with tales of his deceased wife from which the poem's title is derived. The Duke's guest is the envoy of a count whose daughter the Duke intends to make his next duchess. The poem takes the form of a dramatic monologue. Browning was one of the pioneers of the dramatic monologue in which a speaker's character is revealed to an implied audience through his words alone. Through his speech, the Duke is revealed to be a villain lacking remorse who ordered the murder of his former wife because she did not live up to his expectations. That he can allude to his wife's murder with impunity is testimony to the power held by such despots. Of course, he would not be beyond the reach of the law should he confess to the Count's envoy, which explains why the Duke speaks in ambiguities. As the poem begins, the Duke is discussing a portrait of the deceased Duchess with the Count's envoy who is invited to
Paradise Lost. The epic features of the writing get in the way of Milton's story. Discuss.
Sofia Thuru The epic features of the writing get in the way of Milton's vivid and dramatic story. Milton wrote his epic poem "Paradise Lost" taking deliberately inspiration from the epic poems of Virgyl and Homer. As such, it has distingushable features of the epic genre, such as epic similes, an encyclopaedic scope and the characteristic use of blank verse as opposed to rhyming. These may lead critics to consider Milton's work as having too many digressions from the main plot (a common fault of its Greek counterparts) and as being not very innovative. On the contrary, this essay will argue that Milton's decision to approach such an old literary tradition by renewing it according to his contemporary religious and political ideas was extremely bold and, indeed, innovative. Milton's subject-matter and poetic style are also extremely universal, and yet, they take nothing away from the dramatic story within the poem. As any respectable epic poem, 'Paradise Lost' follows certain conventions, such as having a wealthy amount of information about subjects as varied as religion, politics, astronomy and human psychology. The way this is usually done is through extensive lists and catalogs. Another, much more creative and engaging, way of doing it is through the use of epic similes. For instance, Milton compares the surface of hell to a volcanic landscape, with "liquid fire" and
