Sonnets | Language and Imagery
In the first excerpt, Winifred M. T. Nowottny examines the relation between diction, syntax, and imagery in the first six sonnets of Shakespeare's sequence. In the second excerpt, Anne Ferry analyzes Sonnet 15 in the context of the speaker's claim that through the medium of language he can defeat time and immortalize his beloved in verse.
There is widespread agreement that in Shakespeare's sonnets both verbal and stylistic patterns are closely linked to themes and topics. Philip Martin, for instance, argued that these poems characteristically display an intimate connection between themes and linguistic modes. Calling attention to the pattern of repetition and extension that occurs throughout Sonnets 1-17, Martin suggested that in addition to iterating the idea that the youth must marry and have children, this group of verses opens the way for all the central themes of Sonnets 1-126. Jane Hedley emphasized the regular...
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