‘The Garden of Beauty’ is written by Edmund Spenser, in which he compares his lovers beauty to nature, and says that she is far greater than anything he has ever seen. Spenser has compared his lover to flowers like roses and lilies “Her ruddy cheeks like unto roses red” his telling us that his lovers cheeks are as red as roses, he also goes on to say “Her breasts like lilies ere their leaves be shed” her breasts are as white as lilies and “Her lips did smell like unto gilliflowers” that her lips are sweeter than flowers. Spencer then ends his statement that she is more beautiful than nature itself, that she is perfect.
However in sonnet ‘Sonnet130’ one of Shakespeare’s is the complete opposite to ‘The Garden of Beauty’ because Shakespeare does not exaggerate the truth of his lovers beauty, but instead is more honest about her looks but says that he still loves her. “Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks…If hair be wires, black wires grow on her head” he says her breath is not as sweet as any perfume, and her hair is not smooth but is like wire but then he concludes his sonnet to say “And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare As she belied with false compare” he is saying he loves her for who she is and that his love is true that he is not blinded by false compare.
‘Surprised by Joy’ was inspired by the death of William Wordsworth’s daughters death, he is grieving her death and trying to come to terms with it “Knowing my heart’s best treasure was no more” he calls her his heart, she was his most treasured joy and now she is gone, he is finding it hard to accept, he is finding it impossible to be happy when the thing that makes him happiest most is gone. He feels guilt because he was being happy for once, and he had forgotten his heart, but then he remembers and punishes himself for doing so, in a twisted sort of way he gets pleasure for feeling guilty, a guilty pleasure as if punishing himself is the right thing to do, as if it would be what his daughter would want him to be doing for him to never experience happiness again.
In ‘Remember’ Rossetti says that she would rather people forget and be happy and to enjoy them selves rather than to remember and have a frown upon their face “Better by far you should forget and smile Than that you should remember and be sad” she just wants everyone to be happy and move on with their lives and not stay in one place and be miserable with sad memories.
The sonnet I prefer is ‘Remember’ for the simple fact that it is true to forget once in a while and have a good time than to punish your self.
Unrequited love is when you love someone and they do not love you back. The red and white roses in ‘Red and White Roses’ by Thomas Carew represent, the passion and the coldness, the red rose for the passion he feels for his love and the white rose represents to coldness his love interest has towards him. The fire and ice in ‘My Love is Like Fire to Ice’ also represents the passion and coldness, the fire is the passion like the ‘red rose’ and the coldness is the ice like the ‘white rose’. The fire and ice expression is more effective than the red rose and white rose because the fire is not extinguished by the ice not is the ice melted by the fire, in fact it seems the more she rejects Spenser he the more he wants her his fire only grows with the ice. “Such is the power of love in gentle mind, That it can alter all the course of kind” he is saying his love for her is breaks the laws of nature and is stronger than any science.
My favourite sonnet overall is the ‘Sonnet 130’ by William Shakespeare because although it is honest, Shakespeare Is too honest in that it becomes kind of comedic in the way that he loves his lover even if she is not perfect in beauty but is perfect in mind.
Joanne Starke
