William Shakespeare s Sonnet 18 - 1692 Words

â€Å"Sonnet 18† may be the most famous lyric poem in English. Among Shakespeare’s works, only lines such as â€Å"To be or not to be† and â€Å"Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?† are better-known. On the surface, this poem is a statement of praise about the beauty of the speaker’s love interest, but when you look closely you can see how the speaker is actually praising himself for his skills. This is also Shakespeare’s first poem in the sonnets that doesn’t explicitly encourage having children. The procreation sequence of the first seventeen sonnets ended with the speaker’s realization that the they might not need children to preserve beauty, but he could also live â€Å"in my rhyme† as he says in Sonnet 17. Sonnet 18 is the first poem in which the speaker first attempts to preserve the beauty for all time, and is also a perfect example of classic Shakespearean style of writing and usage of metaphors. This poem use s several different metaphors, personification, multiple themes, and follows a traditional form to get across the point to the reader that the speaker is a well skilled and masterful poet. Four strong themes in this poem are change, fate, love, and eternity. At first glance, the poem appears as if the speaker is praising and complimenting his lover, but through closer examination you can see that the speakers main focus is showing how good of a writer he is. Images and symbols of time, decay, and eternity are in this poem because whether or not we think the lover isShow MoreRelatedWilliam Shakespeare s Sonnet 182829 Words   |  12 Pagesrespective poems, the poets explore love in various forms. In Sonnet 116 we see love as pure, immeasurable and immortal; William Shakespeare continues this conceit in Sonnet 18 too. Within My Last Duchess, love explores the submissive and possessive side effects of being completely infatuated, which similarly links with La Belle, however instead of patriarchal power, domination is shown through a woman. First Love is comparable to both Sonnets, in which love is portrayed passionately, presenting realRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s Sonnet 181311 Words   |  6 Pages Shakespeare’s â€Å"Sonnet 18† is, on the surface, another one of Shakespeare’s poems that praises the endless and otherworldly beauty of a nameless woman, lamenting that Death will eventually take it, as he takes everything. However, there is more to this sonnet than it seems. While the aforementioned description is true, the rhyming couplet coupled with Shakespeare’s trademark mastery of language and wordplay create a completely different reading experience. It is its own self-fulfilling prophecyRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s Sonnet 181231 Words   |  5 PagesShakespearean sonnets are famous for conveying the most famous of love poems; they consist of three quatrains that are written in iambic pentameter. Shakespeare deviates from the regular iamb pattern of one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable to represent the effect of time and how it is limited by mortality. William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 illustrates the theme of immort alization and how Shakespeare eternally captures his love for poetry. It is in his ability to immortalize hisRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s Sonnet 18 And 130900 Words   |  4 Pages(Line 1). These are both two of the famous lines from William Shakespeare’s sonnet 18 and 130. William Shakespeare was an intelligent English playwright, poet, and dramatist during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. He is known as one of the greatest playwrights of all time. Sonnet 18 and 130 are two of Shakespeare’s most famous poems. Sonnet 18 is a love poem about how he compares the woman’s love to a summer’s day. Sonnet 130 has a different approach. It is still a comparisonRead MoreAnalysis Of William Shakespeare ´s Sonnet 18 And Percy Shelleys Ozymandias994 Words   |  4 Pagesbeen at the epicenter of many great works. Both William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 and Percy Shelley’s Ozymandias discuss love for one’s self. Although both poets utilize figurative language to describe how love can be represented, they do so in very different ways. Shakespeare employs nature to act as a symbol for the love of life. In contrast, Shelley implements metaphor and allusion to demonstrate how love is finite. William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 is a love note to a young man. It was common duringRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare and Edmund Spenser771 Words   |  4 Pagesworks of William Shakespeare and Edmund Spenser it is clear that some similarities are apparent, however the two poets encompass different writing styles, as well as different topics that relate to each other in their own unique ways. In Shakespeare’s â€Å"Sonnet 18† and Spenser’s â€Å"Sonnet 75†, both poets speak of love in terms of feelings and actions by using different expressive views, allowing the similar topics to contain clear distinctions. Although Edmund Spenser’s â€Å"Sonnet 75† and William Shakespeare’sRead MoreComparing And Contrasting Two Sonnets1141 Words   |  5 Pages Comparing and Contrasting Two Sonnets ‘Sonnet 116’ by William Shakespeare and ‘What Lips My Lips Have Kissed, And Where, And Why† by Edna St. Vincent Millay are both sonnets that discuss companionship and a glimpse of each poet’s experiences. In ‘Sonnet 116’, Shakespeare illustrates how capability is weakened by its metaphysical stereotype and ideals such as, love, while on the contrary, in ‘What Lips My Lips Have Kissed, And Where, And Why† Millay feeds on the chaos between the idealRead MoreDifferent Versions Of Shall I Compare Thee And A Summer s Day?967 Words   |  4 PagesTwo Versions of Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day? William Shakespeare was the original author of the famous sonnet â€Å"Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?†. Shakespeare’s intentions for writing this poem was to compare his beloved to a Summer’s Day. Shakespeare wrote and published this original version of Sonnet 18 in 1609, but was rewritten in the early 1900’s by Howard Moss. Shakespeare s sonnets were published only once in his lifetime. For nearly two centuries after their first appearanceRead MoreLove in Shakespeares Sonnets 18 and 130 Essay703 Words   |  3 PagesAlmost four hundred years after his death, William Shakespeares work continues to live on through his readers. He provides them with vivid images of what love was like during the 1600s. Shakespeare put virtually indescribable feelings into beautiful words that fit the specific form of the sonnet. He wrote 154 sonnets; all of which discuss some stage or feature of love. Love was the common theme during the time Shakespeare was writing. However, Shakespeare wrote about it in such a way that captivatedRead MoreThe Sonnet By Sir Thomas Wyatt1167 Words   |  5 Pagesthere are many different types of groups within poetry. There are various types of poetry -- which include the sonnet. The sonnet was introduced by an Italian poet named Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374) who introduced the creation in the 13th century (Applebee 295). He wrote over 300 love sonnets, a great number of them were dedicated to a woman named Laura. Centuries passed in which sonnets were not as popular; his work was later rediscovered by two lovelorn poets. Their names were Sir Thomas Wyatt