Shakespeare's Sonnets

Both the Petrarchan and Shakespearean sonnets consist of fourteen lines and are written in iambic pentameter. This means that each line, generally speaking, will have five (penta-) feet, with each...

You are right in saying that these two sonnets are extremely similar. Shakespeare's sonnets are believed to have been written in the order in which they are now numbered, and this is often evident...

Shakespeare's Sonnet 130 is indeed, like his other sonnets, written in iambic pentameter: a regular metrical form in which there are five "feet" (a pair of syllables in which the first is...

In addition to his formidable output as a playwright, William Shakespeare wrote a particular form of poem called a sonnet. He is credited with 154 sonnets, almost all of which follow the same...

The speaker in both sonnets is a man (presumably) who does not care about what a woman looks like, only how beautiful she is inside. He is mature enough to overlook physicality and focus on the...

Shakespeare utilizes a number of literary devices in this poem, which is concerned with the inevitable passage of time. He makes particular use of metaphor and personification in order to convey...

By far the most common literary devices used in Shakespeare's sonnets are metaphors and similes. Another common literary device is poetic conceits, but it is Shakespeare's metaphors and similes...

The tone in Petrarch's Sonnet 292 undergoes several shifts. The first is between Stanzas 1 and 2 where the poet switches from awed reminiscence of the special distinction his love for the woman...

The main theme of the sonnet is love or longing for the presence of one physically absent. The sonnet begins with a description of the hard physical labor of travelling during the day. It describes...

Shakespeare uses his sonnets to explore love from as many perspectives as possible. For example, in Sonnet 130, he actually mocks typical love sonnet conventions in order to provide a more...

Both sonnets XVIII and CXVI explore the enduring nature of love, though they do so in different ways and with an emphasis on different aspects of love. Sonnet XVIII is ostensibly concerned with the...

In Sonnet 29, love has the power to comfort the speaker despite his "disgrace" with other men, his "outcast state," his cursed fate, and his envy of others. He feels as though he is brought to...

There is certainly symbolism in this sonnet. Remember that metaphors are a form of symbolism — this poem contains two key metaphors to help convey the poet's meaning. The first is the idea of the...

There are two comparisons between Shakespeare's Sonnet 116 and 130. The first is that both speak of rosy cheeks. The second is that they echo in very styles the same theme: "marriage of true...

This is a good question. From a broad perspective, the whole sonnet is figurative. From the surface it is hard to understand what is happening, but under closer examination, there are three main...

Shakespeare certainly does have several sonnets that concern the theme of friendship. One of the best examples can be seen in Sonnet 29. This sonnet opens with the speaker feeling in a state of...

Figurative language is language beyond the dry and literal words we might find in a tax summary or a scientific report that only recorded facts. Figurative language, in contrast, adds a layer of...

Shakespeare shows the passage of time by referring to "count[ing] the clock" (line 1) and addressing the "brave day sunk in hideous night" (line 2). Thus, he lets us know that time is passing, and...

Time,the temporal state of life, is often treated by Shakespeare as the invidious tyrant or as a fickle force in contrast to the everlasting condition of the spiritual. Certainly, time, the...

The sonnets of William Shakespeare were his final non-dramatic works to receive publication (in 1609, although several had received prior publication). Most historians agree that the sonnets were...

All of Shakespeare's sonnets follow the set "English form." In each sonnet, there are fourteen lines total, divided into three groups of four lines (each proposing a different topic) and then a...

These two sonnets examine love at opposite points on a life's spectrum, so they are more different than alike. In "Sonnet 18," the speaker considers how even the most beautiful aspects of nature...

Both of these sonnets seem not only to recognize the humanity of the speaker's beloved but also to revel in that humanity rather than attempting to deny or beautify it. The poems recognize that...

The speaker in this sonnet is weary of the world; he feels that justice in the lives around him and that nothing ever seems to change. Thus, he pelts the reader with alliteration to further this...

Shakespeare asserts that his friend will be immortalized through Shakespeare's verse. The words in his poems will insure that his friend's beauty will remain undying. As Shakespeare writes in...

One needs to be wary of the tendency to look at the Elizabethan sonnet as a monolithic genre. There are significant differences in the treatment of the form by Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser, and,...

The themes of this sonnet, and of the two that follow, are both love and infidelity. The thematic question posed by the poet is "How should I react when I am betrayed by my friend?" The...

Subjective applies to things that are based upon an opinion. Subjective is defined as... ...existing in the mind; belonging to the thinking subject rather than to the object of thought. In other...

The theme of evil is also present as relates to illness/love. The final couplet gives the source of the "patient"'s sickness: For I have sworn thee fair and thought thee bright Who art as black...

In the intricately wrought Sonnet 12, Shakespeare weaves an underlying comparison, through metaphor, between the natural elements of time and the aging of humanity and decay of human beauty. A...

In Shakespeare's Sonnet 14, some of the literary devices are as follows. In line one, a metaphor is used whereby the speaker is like a farmer, plucking fruit (judgment) from an orchard (the stars)....

Shakespeare's sonnets reflect an idea that life was fragile and uncertain. From disease to poverty to warfare and crime, people simply did not live to be very old. Many of the sonnets that...

The overriding idea in this poem is that all beautiful things, and all things we love, will eventually fall into decay. The poet suggests that awareness of this fact is in itself "like a death" to...

There is more than one form of the sonnet. Shakespeare popularized the English sonnet. It has three quatrains (four-line stanzas) and a rhymed couplet (two-line stanza) at the end. The rhyme scheme...

In Sonnet 18, the speaker describes how the person he addresses is more sweet, temperate and fair than the beauty he sees in nature. He even notes how the sun is sometimes dim and how nature’s...

The chief device--which is an element of plot mechanism--employed in Shakespeare's Sonnet 20 is conflict. The poet loves the 'master-mistress' of his passion, but because, as the poem develops, we...

The theme of Shakespeare's sonnet 9 is impatient love. The first two lines ask a question: " Is it for fear to wet a widow's eye,That thou consum'st thy self in single life?"The narrator is asking...

The poem deals mainly with dishonesty and loyalty. Throughout the sonnet, Shakespeare focuses the reader's attention on the dishonest relationship the speaker shares with his lover. Both lie to...

I believe that the main theme of this particular sonnet is that, sometimes, it is best to lie. The speaker's lover lies to him and says that she believes him to be young, and though he knows she is...

The first half of Shakespeare’s sonnets were written for a young man with whom Shakespeare had a powerful relationship. Some of these first seventeen sonnets try to convince the young man to marry...

In William Shakespeare's Sonnet 138, the poet portrays the complex relationship between truth and love by admitting that he knows his mistress lies to him. Specifically, he knows that when his...

William Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets. Shakespeare dedicated “Sonnet I to 109 to a fair young lord with whom he had an intense relationship. “Sonnet 109” presents the deep feelings and emotions...

[This is my interpretation of the sonnet.] The theme of Shakespeare's Sonnet 61 seems to be that of love's disruption to an otherwise normal life. In other words, the speaker notes that being in...

At the beginning of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Helena is in love with Demetrius, who is in love with Hermia. A key aspect of Helena and Demetrius’s relationship is, of course, unrequited love. A...

Shakespeare's sonnets are poems about love and beauty. In "Sonnet 116," he writes that "Love is not love / Which alters when it alteration finds." In other words, true love endures regardless of...

In William Shakespeare's Sonnet 144, the author's intent seems to be describing two sides of his nature: that which is good and that which is dark, a common topic. One is reminded of Marlowe's...