The poems that I will be looking at are, Sonnet 71 by William Shakespeare, Remember by Christina Georgina Rossetti and I Am by John Clare.

Authors Avatar

Ayesha Mufti

10a

Sonnets

        The following essay will focus on three pre 1914 sonnets and I will explore the themes of love and loss within them. The poems that I will be looking at are, ‘Sonnet 71’ by William Shakespeare, ‘Remember’ by Christina Georgina Rossetti and ‘I Am’ by John Clare.  All three poems agree that love and loss are inevitably linked and that the easiest way to deal with the loss of someone that you love is to forget them rather than come to terms with the loss itself.

        Some say, that without loss, you will not be able to love, because loss makes you appreciate and be grateful for the love that you do have from all the people that love you. However, these poems look at loss from a slightly different perspective. They focus more on the fear of loss, rather than the idea of loss enhancing your appreciation for love.

        Shakespeare’s approach to love in his poem, ‘Sonnet 71’, is a very selfless one with subtle undertones of bitterness. From the first line we see that he wants his lover to be happy once he has passed, and doesn’t want her to ‘mourn’ over him when he is dead. This selflessness shows he has only his lover’s best interest at heart. Throughout the poem, it seems as though he is fighting between being selfless or bitter because he attempts to be selfless but can’t help but feel bitter at the same time, and this shows. Perhaps his bitterness is aimed at the ‘vile world’, or the society which maybe took away his freedom and time with his lover, which he is resentful for.

        He seems to sacrifice his memory of him with her, so that she remains happy. He knows that after a passing, people are normally sad and mournful, but he tells her that he doesn’t want to be remembered if it is to make her mournful, since he doesn’t want to cloud her ‘sweet thoughts’ with regret and mournfulness of him- he’d rather that her love for him ‘decays’, as he would when he dies. Although he is very selfless, we see he slips into feeling sorry for himself, when he tells her not to ‘rehearse’ his ‘poor’ name. Also, we see the bitterness in this poem reflected in some irony, when he speaks of the ‘wise world’. It is almost as though he is being sarcastic, and mocking the world back, because he has just described the world as being ‘vile’ and now suddenly, ‘wise’. He doesn’t want the ‘wise world’ to mock his lover’s ‘moan’. So, really, everything said is a suggestion of his personality, however, he never directs or speaks of the bitterness towards her; just everything that affected his relationship.

Join now!

        Unlike Shakespeare, Rossetti isn’t bitter at all. She sees loss as a natural part of being in love, whereas Shakespeare admits loss is inevitable, but resents it. She does express some sadness, but doesn’t have a bitter feeling towards anyone or anything and doesn’t blame anyone either, whereas Shakespeare blames the world and society. For example, in the second line of ‘Remember’, she talks of passing into the ‘silent land’. This gives an image to the reader of a peaceful place to come, maybe a silent graveyard or even heaven, or maybe it is ‘silent’ because she is unable to ...

This is a preview of the whole essay