The other poem is one of Shakespeare’s sonnets. He wrote these sonnets in a series that are thought to have been written in 1599. Shakespeare was writing these as a change for his plays as he was not making any money out of them. The reason for this was the plague, because of the outbreak people did not want to meet in big crowds for fear of catching it so theatres were out of business.
Shakespeare’s sonnet also uses a conceit as he is comparing a person to a summer’s day. Shakespeare is writing about a young poet talking to a fair young man but the poet in the poem is not necessarily Shakespeare himself. The man in the poem is probably Shakespeare’s patron who he was writing for at the time. This is known as the poem is very complimentary to the fair young man, and Shakespeare would have wanted to compliment the patron as he is paying him. The sonnet is written in the first person so it seems to be more personal and it involves the reader more deeply. It is almost like eavesdropping on a conversation between the poet and the young man. The sonnet opens with a rhetorical question:
‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’
This is then followed by a compliment using the repetition of ‘more’ to show how much better he is than summer.
‘Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,’
The onomatopoeic words rough and shake are used to make the wind sound aggressive. Shakespeare used the word ‘darling’ as a loving word to describe the summer which, at the time the sonnet was written would have been in May. Shakespeare then starts to complain and list all the bad things about summer so as to compliment the patron even more.
He complains about the sun by saying sometimes it is too hot and sometimes it doesn’t shine enough or gets cloudy. It is written using personification, as in Donne’s poem, by speaking of the sun as if it is a real person.
‘Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d’
The alliteration and repetition used in the next line slows the reader down and so gives the impression of time passing which compliments what Shakespeare is saying that every thing fair will eventually change for the worse.
‘And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, of natures changing course, untrimm’d;’
The second verse of ‘The sunne rising’ starts with Donne still talking to the sun but rhetorically asking it why it thinks it is so powerful and impressive, because he can hide its light with a wink- Donne chose a wink as it is a simple and sometimes cheeky gesture to indicate something romantic – however then he says he wouldn’t want to do that because he would lose sight of his lover which he would not want to do even for a second. This verse of Donne’s poem is much more loving and complimentary to the woman he is with. Donne flatters her by comparing her to the ‘the India’s of spice and myne’ which meant India and the west Indies both of which were amazing and mysterious places in those days because they were so far away. Also they were famous for their expensive and exotic spices and fabrics which only the rich merchants returned with. This is paying a big compliment as he is saying that if the sun looks for those places it will find them here in the bed with him.
‘whether both the India’s spice and myne
be where thou leftst them, or lie hear with mee.’
Donne also asks the sun to ‘Aske for those Kings whom thou saw yesterday,’ but then tells the sun he will not find them because they are in bed with him. Donne also uses a pun in the last line the different spelling of the word heare (here).
‘And thou shalt heare, All here in one bed lay.’
The next four lines of Shakespeare’s sonnet lead on from the previous as he had just been insulting the summer and saying it does not last.
‘ but thy eternal summer will not fade,’
And then goes on to say that the young mans beauty will not wither because it belongs to him. Then Shakespeare’s use of personification is used to talk to death. Death will not be able to take him and boast about it because as long as there are people alive to read the poem then he will live eternally in its undying verses.
‘So long as men can breath, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.’
The use of repetition of the words ‘So long’ and ‘this’ are used to add emphasis of the length of time this man is going to be remembered. There is also an internal rhyme scheme used to create a rhythm and also make the poem more memorable. In the case of this poem this is the effect Shakespeare wanted as he wanted the poem (therefore the man) remembered. This last rhyming couplet of the sonnet sums up the whole poem.
The last verse of Donne’s poem is more gentle and romantic and it concentrates on flattering the woman rather than scolding the sun. The second line is a particularly short one to add impact and sum up the poem by saying that nothing is as perfect.
‘She is all states, and all princes, I
Nothing else is.’
He also says that even princes imitate them because they are perfect and money is worthless compared to them.
‘Princes do but play us; compared to this,
All honours mimique; All wealth alchimie.’
Next Donne turns his attention to the sun and shows sympathy for it. Donne appears to be worried that it is too old to still be rotating round the world every day (They still thought that the sun went round the earth)and the use of repetition of the letter ‘s’ makes the reader slow down to indicate the sun’s age.
‘Thine age asks ease, and since thy duties bee
To warm the world that’s done in warming us.’
Donne offers the sun an alternative of instead of going round the whole earth he only needs to shine on them because the whole world is in the bed. The poem ends by saying that the woman is everything to him and
‘This bed thy centre is, these walls thy sphere.’
The main themes of both these poems are love and flattery however this is displayed in different ways.
In Donne’s poem the flattery is obvious yet subtle at the same time and it is written from a man to a woman. Shakespeare’s flattery however, is more obvious and it is a poet writing about a young man. Donne’s poem is very heartfelt as, unlike Shakespeare, he did not have to write flatteringly, he really meant it.
