Shakespeare - still relevant today

What relevance do these sonnets have for Australians reading them today four centuries after they were written? Even though Shakespeare's sonnets were written over four-hundred years ago, they are still relevant today because all of the ideas and issues that Shakespeare addresses in his sonnets are still relevant to people today. Shakespeare had a very good understanding of the many subtle characteristics human nature and emotions. His sonnets have stood the test of time and have remained popular because the issues they raise and the ideas they state, are about humans and human nature, which are both unchanging over time. Some of the ideas that the sonnets convey include the fear of death, the love for others and our understanding of time and mutability. Humans have these same emotions and experiences today. People still feel jealousy, love, hatred, etc the same as they did in Shakespeare's time. This is why they are still relevant to Australians reading them today, and it is why so many people can relate to the messages of the sonnets. For example, Shakespeare uses metaphorical comparison to show the guiding, stable and everlasting nature of love. This is evident in Sonnet 116, where Shakespeare talks of love: "It is the star to every wandering bark". Shakespeare is suggesting that Love is like a guiding star in the sky, because a "bark" is a ship. In Shakespeare's time

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Compare Shakespeare's Sonnet 12 with Shelley's Ozymandias

Task: Compare Shakespeare's Sonnet 12 with Shelley's Ozymandias Both of these Sonnets have been written to show the effect that time has on everything in this world. Though each of these sonnets have been written about completely unrelated subjects, they still both portray the message that everything changes with time. On writing about mutability, Shakespeare has used nature and human life as the basis for his sonnet and the reader is told of how the passage of time changes everything beautiful to destruction. Shakespeare begins his sonnet by giving an obvious example of mutability, describing the daily process of when day turns into night, taking away the brightness and joyfulness of the day, and leaving the world in the brutal darkness of night: "And see the brave day sunk in hideous night." He also gives the example of youths losing their beauty and appeal as they age; "And sable curls, all silver'd o'er with white." This line describes a young man or woman growing up, and how their black curls have turned silvery with age. The first eight lines of the sonnet, describe and give many examples of the destruction that time has on the beauty of nature. In the next quatrain, Shakespeare has come to the conclusion that everything in the world eventually loses its splendour and beauty and will die. "Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake, And die as fast

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  • Word count: 1154
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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