One of the best and successful writers of the 17th century, William Shakespeare who won the hearts of many through his plays, sonnets, poems, etc. Modified English literature and added new words to the English language.
Shakespeare was born in the English Renaissance era which was between 1558 to 1603. An era which was culturally and artistically active. Married Anne Hathaway in 1582 at the age of 18 and had to leave for London for the establishment of his own company. The time period in which Shakespeare wrote was called the Elizabethan Age which was named after Queen Elizabeth I. Additionally, it was said to be the golden age in English history (“ Daily life in Elizabethan Era”).
England’s capital, London, underwent remarkable changes growing to about two hundred thousand people (“ Daily life in Elizabethan Era”). Moreover, the population increase created issues for the civic administration, as they had to take care of the citizens. For new migrants like Shakespeare, had a hard time finding a place to live as the cities were overcrowded and crime rates were high (Kay, Dennis). Additionally, most people lived in the countryside and only about five percent of the population was part of urban society. The middle class was considered to be wealthy, powerful and educated who had control over the economic and political systems. Whereas individuals of the lower class were mainly uneducated and poor who used to work at a very young age and had neither the time to receive education nor afford it (“Daily life in the Elizabethan Era”).
Shakespeare’s plays were much popular among the Londoners and were one among the source of recreation and amusement (Kay, Dennis). Major developments in England happened during Elizabeth’s reign in terms of education, businesses, and industries, the rise in social status, etc (“ Daily life in Elizabethan Era”).
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is considered one of the greatest writer, playwright, actor and poet in English history. His masterpieces are his plays, which communicated the vast complexity of human experience through characters that were more real than literature had ever known (“Shakespeare, William”). Born into a middle-class family in Stratford-upon-Avon England on 23 April 1564. His father, John Shakespeare, was a local businessman and his mother Mary Arden Shakespeare, the daughter of a wealthy landowner.
Shakespeare went to a local grammar school in Stratford, where he studied Latin, logic, and rhetoric (“Shakespeare, William”, p.198). They led a happy and prosperous life, but unfortunately, Shakespeare had to discontinue his education at the age of 13 to help his father financially. In 1582 he married Anne Hathaway at the age of 18 who was actually older than him and had three children.
He left Stratford and went to London all by himself to establish his own theatre. He joined the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, a well known acting company, which enhanced him financially and gave him popularity. (“ Shakespeare, William” p.1408). His first play was Henry VI Part II in 1590. Although he wrote many poems he became most famous for his plays which included romance, history, tragedy or comedy. Some of his most famous plays are Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Macbeth, Julius Caesar and many more. His works have also been translated into more than a hundred languages, and in virtually every country on earth copies of his plays can be found (Kastan).
However, his career made him a wealthy man. Due to the plague in 1593 and the shutdown of theatre, Shakespeare focused more on non-dramatic poetry. Infact, his narrative poems were mainly focused on mythological themes which were a huge success. However, around 1610 Shakespeare appeared to have slowed his pace and, and with the writing of The Tempest in 1611, he semi-retired and appeared to write no more after 1611. William Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616 and was buried in Holy Trinity Church, the same church in which he was baptized (Christenbury).
In 1609, Shakespeare published his one hundred and fifty four sonnets which were successful like his plays. His sonnets included fourteen lines and the theme of each were in depth and related to human experiences.The subtle analysis of human feelings are together viewed as the work of a unique poetic genius (“Shakespeare, William”).
The sonnets are designed after an abstract model which resembled Shakespeare’s era (“Shakespeare, William”).
In Shakespeare’s sonnet 18 the major theme is beauty. The first line “Shall I compare thee to a Summer’s day?” is personification as the poet compares his love to a summer day. The literary device used in line 4 is a metaphor, as the speaker says summer does not last forever so as beauty, age, and other possessions. “And Summer’s lease hath all too short a date”. In lines 6-7 the repetition device used is anaphora “And often is his gold complexion dimmed; / And every fair from fair sometime declines,” and is repeated the beginning of both the sentences (“Sonnet 18”).
William Shakespeare was considered to be one of the best writers in England to write comedy and tragedy plays. According to John Dryden, Shakespeare lacked appropriateness, largely because of the era in which he wrote. The era in which most audiences were ignorant and uneducated (David and Brown). According to Joanne Woolway, a freelance writer, In Sonnet 18 Shakespeare questions the limits of poetry and validity of poetic metaphors or simile. The descriptions and comparisons mentioned are inadequate to describe what exactly the poet means in terms of the women’s beauty (“Sonnet 18”).
LIT relevance
The main theme of sonnet 29 is wealth. Line 3 “And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries” is personification as the speaker describes heaven as deaf. Additionally, it is an apostrophe as the speaker is speaking to the heavens, who is not able to hear his sorrows and pain. “Like to the lark at break of day arising” Line 11 is a simile as the speaker compares himself to someone who is more unfortunate than him. Line 12 “From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate” is personification as the earth is described as sad, which is a human characteristic. Sings, hymns and the heavens are consonances as they have gotten repeated sounds (“Sonnet 29”).
David Weiser thinks Sonnet 29 is a proclamation of love’s redeeming quality, but with a twist, a contrast between love and self- love. Looking at the first line of the sonnet “When in disgrace with Fortune and men’s eyes.” David said that those lines were closely related to Shakespeare’s life and he was going through something tragic when he wrote them, or the past experiences that made him helpless and rely on fate. The entire sonnet comprises an individual who complained about all the unfortunate events that happened in his life, but lived life with a glimpse of hope (“Sonnet 29”). Alice Van Wart mentioned in her essay that the Petrarchan and Shakespearean sonnets were comparable as the idea of both were similar in terms of conflicts and resolutions, just that the path towards it was different (“Sonnet 29”).
Lit releva
The main theme of sonnet 130 is love. “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” is alliteration because of the repetition of the same sound .“I have seen roses damasked, red and white, / But no such roses see I in her cheeks;” is visual imagery where the speaker claims that he is not able to see such roses on his lover’s cheeks. “Coral is far more red than her lips’ red” is diacope as red is repeated twice with an interruption. “If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; / If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head;” is anaphora because ‘if’ is repeated at the beginning of both the sentences (“Sonnet 130”).
Freelance writer Joanne Woolway says that sonnet 130 is a poem that, instead of praising the importance and beauty of women compares and insults them to other valuable items and concluded that there are other beautiful and precious things that exist ( “Sonnet 130”).
2019-5-1-1556681150