How does the poet convey his admiration for the young man's beauty in sonnets 7 and 19? Collectively, the first section of Shakespeare's sonnets tends to primarily

Then, as seen in some of the previous sonnets, the Shakespeare argues that the only way for the young man to ensure that he is remembered after he dies is to have a child.

In Sonnet 19 however, the poet is addressing Time directly and, by using vivid imagery, comments on its powerful effects on nature. The sonnet's first seven lines address the damage to nature that "Devouring Time" causes. Then, in line 8, the poet says "But I forbid thee one most heinous crime". Shakespeare wants Time to leave the young man's beauty untouched.

However, nature's threatening the youth's beauty does not matter, for the poet confidently asserts that the youth will gain immortality as the subject of the sonnets. The physical side of the man will age and eventually die, but as the subject of the sonnets he will remain young and beautiful. Here we can see desperation coming from the poet, as he almost pleads time when he says "O carve not with thy hours my love's fair brow". This gives us an indication of how much the poet does admire the young man's beauty, as he is even challenging Time itself not to age, and therefore ruin, the young man's appearance. This ending to the sonnet, is relatively similar to Sonnet 7's, as they both provide solutions to the mortality of the young man's beauty; either having a son or preserving his "fair brow" within poetry.

Although the basic themes are of a similar nature, the two sonnets' language techniques are quite contrasting. Where Sonnet 7 has soft sounds throughout (up until the last line), particularly the religious words like "gracious" and "heavenly", Sonnet 19 has harsher, stressed sounds; particularly with the verbs in the sonnet, like "pluck" and "blunt". The religious undertones in Sonnet 7 emphasise the poet's admiration for the young man, as they suggest idolisation of the highest possible level.

Sonnet 7 also centres on the young man. The impression we are given of him is that he is narcissistic and selfish due to the references to looking, both himself and those around him. We can also see how he likes to be idolised by others, which is why Shakespeare uses the argument that "The eyes, 'fore duteous, now converted are from his low tract, and look another way". This is unlike Sonnet 19, which barely mentions the young man, focusing primarily on Time. Therefore the view we form of the young man from this sonnet, is much less derogatory than that which we form from Sonnet 7. The fact that Shakespeare describes the act of wrinkling his love as "heinous" portrays his admiration, as it is a natural act, yet upon this great beauty it would be something terrible. As well as Time being the predominant focus in this Sonnet, so is the poet himself. We can see that the poet has much inner anguish, and rebels against Time, calling it "old Time", suggesting an old enemy. There is also a deep sense of inevitability towards the end of this sonnet, shown where he says "despite thy wrong" which is echoed in Sonnet 7, regarding the end of the sun's journey.

Claire Jones

2LRD