“Sonnet II” is full of very overwhelming and powerful meaning of love. Edna St Vincent Millay has used highly descriptive language to convey her feeling of her lost love. The language sounds almost desperate, which indicates the longing she feels for her lost love. To start off with she uses a very blunt comment; “ time does not bring relief,” This not only gives you a sense of anger but it also makes you feel sorry for Millay. Throughout the first verse we cam see her depressed emotions; “I miss him in the weeping of the rain” and “I want him…” these also shows how deprived she fees about not having any one to love, who is close to her. Millay uses lines six and seven to describe two seasons: spring and autumn. These seasons are ones of decay and darkness, symbolizing her own feelings. She says that in autumn people burn piles of leaves and in spring; “Old snows melt” “Leaves and smoke in every lane.” This represents the destruction of the colorful and bright summer and winter. We see that she feels the loss of love is like destruction, it creates pain for the person who has lost there love and it also shows the loss of color and happiness which are present when one is in love. She explains that even though nearly a year has passed since she experienced this loss, she still can not forget about how much she loved this person; “Last years bitter love must remain”. Millay has presented love to be a emotion which can not be forgotten, no matter ho much time passes because love is not only skin deep but it is deep in your heart.
The poem by William Shakespeare “Shall I compare thee to a summers day?”, is full of his own feelings and emotions from the love he feels. This poem is directed at a mysterious woman usually referred to as the “Dark lady”. From studding this poem we can see that Shakespeare truly loved this woman. He mainly focuses on her beauty, he tries to explain how he feels about the way she looks; “Shall I compare thee to a summers day?” He thinks this woman’s beauty is so unique that even death will not be able to take away her looks; “Nor shall death brag thou wonders in his shade”. I feel that this poem shows how powerful the love for another person and the love of beauty can be. It is presented in the form of love for another, and the love for ones beauty. Shakespeare has created a sentimental and deep understanding of the “Dark ladies” beauty and the love he feels for her.
Both these poems are sonnets; they show different types of love poems. But you can see that even though one is the down fall of love and the other is the everlasting love which is felt by both poets, that it still creates deep emotional feelings for both poets. The emotions do not necessarily need to be about the positive emotions you can experience while in love, but can also show how devastated one can feel after the loss of love. Both of these poems are about the love felt for a person, but we see that Shakespeare’s poem “Shall I compare thee to a summers day?” also represents love of beauty. Most of his poem tells the reader how beautiful the “Dark lady” is, in his eyes. I feel that “Sonnet II”
is a much more effective poem to read, I felt very emotional the first time I heard this poem. I can relate to the feeling of the loss of a loved one, therefore I found that “Sonnet II” was a much more serious subject. Where as “Shall I compare thee to a summers day?” was an emotional poem, to think Shakespeare loved this woman so much, but it seemed to me that he loved her looks more than her personality.
