Sonnets. One of Shakespeares most famous sonnets is his Sonnet No. 18 Shall I compare thee to a summers day?

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Sonnets

The sonnet was originally from Italy in the 16th century. The name "sonnet" comes from the Italian "sonneto" meaning little song. English travellers heard it and liked it so brought it to England. Since then, it has become one of the most widely used forms of poetry. The sonnet consists of 14 lines that use an iambic pentameter. There are two main types of sonnet, the Petrachan and the Shakespearean. The Petrarchan sonnet is in the original form that came out of Italy. It consists of an Octave and a sestet. That use a rhyme scheme abba abba then cdecde, though the sestet maybe cdcdcd. Usually an idea is developed in the Octave and then rounded off in the Sestet. The other form is the Shakespearean sonnet, developed by William Shakespeare. It has three quatrains and then ends in a rhyming couplet with a rhyme scheme: abab cdcd efef gg. Often an idea is looked at in three different ways in the quatrains and then concluded in the rhyming couplet at the end.

The most challenging thing for writers of sonnets is the strict format they must conform to. I have shown the format and it is a very tight and concise frame to write a poem in. It makes writing very constrictive but still appeals to a number of poets, perhaps because its rigid structure gives an extremely satisfying finished result.

One of Shakespeare's most famous sonnets is his Sonnet No. 18 "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" It is flattering poem to a lover and so the language used is very bold. To begin with he asks if he can compare his lover to a summers day, a great compliment on its own. But then he goes beyond that and says how much greater his lover his is. Shakespeare is saying that many things may spoil a summer's day but nothing will spoil his lover.
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Shakespeare's use of language and imagery is fitting to the boast that he is making about his lover. "Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May," is a very striking line and gives a great image in the mind.

Another grand image in the context is "thy eternal summer". Shakespeare has just been saying how a summer day will end, so to continue by describing his lover is a fine and very effective compliment.

"Too hot the eye of heaven shines" is fine imagery and use of personification helps compare the sun to another person. ...

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