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QQ264 Assignment 1 Student Ref. No: 201604094
Select three sonnets from Shakespeare’s Sonnets (at least two of which must be from the list below), and analyse these using your close reading skills, paying particular attention to the relationship between form and meaning and conceits (extended metaphors) or patterns of imagery(around 600 words on each sonnet). Conclude by identifying similarities or contrasts between these sonnets which your close reading has revealed (around 200 words).
Sonnets Analysed: 18, 130, and 144.
From Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets, most analysts and critics have divided them into two sets; those addressed to a fair young man (1-126), and those to the woman known as the dark lady, (127-154). These two characters in Shakespeare’s sonnets are described as his ‘Two loves’ in Sonnet 144, however looking closer, it is clear to see that the most complimentary and loving of the sonnets are those addressed to the young man, while those dedicated to the dark lady are greatly contrasted with much darker and complicated contents in terms of Shakespeare’s love for her.
Arguably one of his most quoted works, next to the likes of Romeo & Juliet, Sonnet 18 is the first sonnet addressed to the young male which does not ask him to preserve his beauty through procreation. Shakespeare attempts to defy time and declares that he will immortalise his muse through his rhymes for future generations to see and appreciate his beauty and immediately we are introduced to the main conceit throughout the sonnet:
“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate”
(Sonnet 18.1-2)
The sonnet’s opening question is bold and bluntly stated, almost coming across like a dare or a challenge to typical love sonnets such as Petrarch’s sequence, addressed to the idealised and idolised Laura. This daring tone given from the speaker highlights that Renaissance poetry and sonnets were very rarely addressed to men, however, whether this sonnet is homosexual in its context is uncertain. It can simply be argued that the speaker has a passionate friendship and great admiration for the fair young man, as homosociality and strong bonds between men were common during that period.
Similar to the first 17 sonnets within Shakespeare’s sequence, the speaker addresses the inevitable passing of time, recognising that just as summer is often short-lived, man’s life is also at the mercy of time:
“And summer’s lease hath all to short a date:”
(Sonnet 18.4)
Shakespeare’s use of the word ‘lease’ implies that summer is only a limited period of time and is soon to run out, and that all the beauty of nature that is typically in full bloom during the summer will now wither and decay. The speaker tries to establish a contrast between his beloved and a summer’s day therefore it can be considered that by comparing the fair youth with the extended metaphor of a summer’s day, Shakespeare acknowledges that one day the young man’s beauty will also wither away when summer’s end, i.e. old age or death, comes around. However the writer promises the fair youth an ‘eternal summer’ as his beauty will be saved by the permanence of Shakespeare’s sonnet:
“Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.”
(Sonnet 18.11-14)
Just as we are unable to prevent summer from ending, we cannot prevent death, yet Shakespeare argues this to an extent as he will keep the fair young man alive in the years long after his eventual death. Shakespeare’s sonnet will be the soil that allows this young man’s memory to survive and grow over the centuries which will give him the ‘eternal summer’ promised to him. Though a summer’s day might end, the beauty of the speaker’s beloved will go on forever.
Unfortunately, the intent and conceit of sonnet 18 has failed to an extent. While it is one of Shakespeare’s most renowned works and has lasted throughout the centuries, we remember the sonnet and know nothing of the fair young man or who he really is, our only knowledge is Shakespeare’s writing of him. It is only the sonnet that is eternal, and not Shakespeare’s fair young man. Furthermore, if we look at the Volta of the sonnet, lines 13-14, Shakespeare’s rhyming couplet could stand alone as a poem of their own, which brings forth the argument that Shakespeare’s poetic skill was the subject of the sonnet the entire time.
In the second set of sonnets, Shakespeare addresses them to his other love, the unidentified dark lady, which are greatly contrasted against the writings addressed to the young man. The structure of the sonnet itself is effective in portraying Shakespeare’s central idea throughout the poem. Shakespeare devotes the first 12 lines to the main purpose of the poem, ultimately consisting of 8 comparisons, all of which are unimpressive, unflattering and in no way are in the favour of the mistress:
“My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;”
(Sonnet 130.1-2)
Shakespeare’s negative and insulting tone immediately conveys his message and purpose for this sonnet; the addressee of this sonnet is not beautiful in the typical Petrarchan standards of beauty and should not be compared to highly idealising and romanticised aspects or elements of nature as they would be false.
“I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.”
(Sonnet 130.5-8)
From the speaker’s criticism of his mistress, comparing her to many other natural beauties suggests that her appearance is greatly unattractive and unpleasant. It could be implied that Shakespeare is tormented or ashamed of his attraction towards this woman as she is not understood to be of great beauty by any stereotypical standard however it is the sonnets rhetorical structure which brings us to the true message of the poem.
Within the first quatrain, each line compares the speaker’s mistress to a natural beauty, while the second and third quatrains comparisons each occupy two lines so that each pair consist of unrhymed lines. This structure expands and develops the speaker’s argument, leading the reader the final two lines that reveal the sonnet’s central meaning.
“And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.”
(Sonnet 130.13-14)
The sonnet relies on this rhyming couplet in order to convince readers of the speaker’s argument. From this we can understand that the sonnet is ultimately a parody of conventional love poetry, effectively mocking other poets’ use of metaphors and hyperbole praising their lovers’ beauty and perfection by stating that his mistress is simplistic in her beauty. The sonnet is a declaration that Shakespeare rejects the clichés and unrealistic comparisons that is often found in love poetry and that Shakespeare does not need to use such techniques or conceits in order for his love to be true. There is a sense that the speaker’s love for the mistress is more sincere; while she may not be a ‘goddess’, he still loves her and believes she is more beautiful than those who are described with these exaggerated metaphors.
This sonnet seems to show Shakespeare’s attempt to invalidate Petrarchan conceits considering feminine beauty and this is mostly achieved through his poetic structure, creating a satirical view on these Petrarchan beliefs. While the majority of the text comes across as derogatory and insulting towards his mistress, the importance of the final couplet redeems the reader’s faith as the speaker declares that he does indeed love his dark lady.
In Shakespeare’s sonnet 144, we see the speaker compare his two loves from sonnet 18 and 130:
“Two loves I have, of comfort and despair,
…
The better angel is a man right fair,
The worser spirit a woman coloured ill.”
(Sonnet 144.1-4)
From this quatrain alone, it is clear to see that Shakespeare’s language still favours and compliments the fair young man. The speaker’s use of the word ‘angel’ suggests the young man is a living embodiment of perfection while his use of ‘worser spirit’ implies an unpleasant and evil presence, contradicting the fairness of the ‘better angel’. The immediate feeling of stress is evident within the first line as ‘two loves I have’ is inverted in its word order and the psychological extremes of ‘comfort and despair’ highlights the very complicated relationship the speaker has with his ‘two loves’, and is essentially caught in the middle of this situation.
The imagery given from the ‘two loves’ can be likened to that of when a character is depicted as having an inner conflict, an angel and devil appear on their shoulder. This idea is solidified when the speaker declares that the two loves ‘suggest me still’, suggesting that they point the speaker in very opposing directions, further conveying the speaker’s psychological struggle.
The idea is continued in the form of religious imagery:
“To win me soon to hell my female evil
Tempteth my better angel from my side,
And could corrupt my saint to be a devil,”
(Sonnet 144.5-7)
The speaker labels the evil woman as a temptress, taking the fair young man away from him by using her feminine charm, which would lead the young man to his downfall. By saying that the evil woman is a temptress and devilish in her intentions, it reflects the ideas from the Book of Genesis in which Eve tempted Adam to eat from the forbidden tree which led to their fall from Grace. We are given connotations that the evil woman will corrupt Shakespeare’s fair young man and tarnish the purity and perfection that gives him his angel-like description.
A shift in the speaker’s attention puts aside his inner conflict and presents a battle between good and evil as the woman tries to seduce and tempt the young man from his purity:
“And whether that my angel be turn’d fiend
Suspect I may, but not directly tell;”
(Sonnet 144.9-10)
The speaker will not learn the truth as he is out of the company of both the ‘better angel’ and ‘worser spirit’, having been abandoned and left alone by both, yet he still highly suspects that the woman has tempted his ‘angel’. From this, we can see the speaker’s uncertainty and doubt as he does not know for definite whether his angel’s pureness has been tainted. The speakers doubt introduces an element of jealousy, similar to that of Othello, as he has not seen the ‘ocular proof’ (Othello, 3.3, 360).
However, unlike Othello, the sonnet does not end tragically. The speaker will ‘live in doubt’:
“Till my bad angel fire my good one out.”
(Sonnet 144.14)
This for the poet, means that he will not know the truth until the sexual affair between the ‘fair youth’ and the ‘dark lady’ has ended so that he may see any signs of any venereal disease that has corrupted his angel. The sonnets final line conveys a painful vision of the ‘ocular proof’ that the speaker needs to confirm his suspicions that a sexual relationship has taken place, while the cynical and mocking mood of the final line shows that while he tries to remove himself from the situation he is still greatly tormented by the uncertainty of the relationship.
In these sonnets, Shakespeare’s use of different literary techniques help to develop the wider meaning of his poetry in a number of different ways in order to create a specific mood in each sonnet. For instance, the loving, romantic language and imagery used within sonnet 18 closely mirrors the typical love sequences of the time while this is greatly contrasted with the language and imagery used in sonnets 130 and 144. In sonnet 130, Shakespeare uses this romantic language against itself to emphasise that they have become tired and cliché as they have been over used while in 144, Shakespeare employs the imagery of good and bad conveying the speaker’s inner turmoil as he suspects his two lovers are being intimate with one another. While structure plays an important part in many sonnets, the use of structure in 130 is the most interesting as it heavily relies on the Volta to display the speaker’s message as it contradicts and essentially makes redundant the rest of the poem. Despite Shakespeare having used many similar literary devices in his sonnets, they are used in completely different and contrasting ways, no two uses are the same and thus Shakespeare has demonstrated his literary genius.