Compare and Contrast the Shall I compare thee to a summers day and Sonnet 130 Essay Example For Students

Compare and Contrast the Shall I compare thee to a summers day and Sonnet 130 Essay This essay is based on two sonnets, Shall I compare thee to a summers day and Sonnet 130, both of which are written by William Shakespeare. Although the poems are different to each other, they both come across as having the same meaning. Shall I compare thee to a summers day is a traditional, romantic love poem of the seventeenth century. The purpose behind the poem is to flatter women. In the poem, Shakespeare compares his love to a summers day. The way he does this is by highlighting all the negative points about summer and saying that she is much better. He beguiles her into thinking that in comparison to a day of summer she is much more extravagant. On the other hand Sonnet 130 contradicts this poem. In Sonnet 130 Shakespeare mentions all the bad points about his mistress in comparison with the small beauties in the world. This may sound as though he is unromantic towards his mistress, but he says that despite his mistress not being perfect, he still loves her as she is rare. In this poem he is very critical towards other sonnets, for being over exaggerated and unrealistic to flatter women, as he feels it doesnt do women any justice. The irony about this is that, Shall I compare thee is written by Shakespeare in a traditional form as well as Sonnet 130but this is written to exploit poets, who misguide women into believing they are love goddesses, but Shall I compare thee does exactly this, so in a way Shakespeare contradicts himself. The poem Shall I compare thee poses with the question, Shall I compare thee to a summers day? , this opening line gives the impression that the author is going to compare his love to all the beauties of summers day, but instead it follows on to say that she is more lovely and more temperate than a summery day, as a summery day has so many faults. He goes onto explain how at the start of summer the winds are rough and that they shake The darling buds of May and he complains about the short, allocated time for summer. He also argues about how at times, the eye of heaven shines with too much heat, and how often its gold complexion is dimmd. This metaphor and personification about the sun being the eye of heaven and having a gold complexion tries to represent, that although it is beautiful and has a big status, it is still not perfect. It may be fair, but sooner or later beauty fades and dies because of natures changing course. He says that his eternal summer will never fade by giving her an immortal life through making sure that she is remembered through this poem as the perfect beautiful summers day. She cannot lose possession of her beauty and that death cannot even bring, his wanderst in his shade, as she is immortal. He completes the sonnet by coming to a conclusion that so long lives this it gives life to thee. He says that so long as men can breath, or eyes can see which is forever, his love will be loving in this poem as the most beautiful and eternal lady. He can come to terms with all the things in life to end but he will not let his love be forgotten. As this poem was written in pre sixteenth century it would have been very romantic and flattering for a woman, at that time as traditional poetry like this was very common. Whereas now many women would find this poem to be rather dramatic and unreal, as he over exaggerates the negative sides to nature compared to his love. Throughout the poem it seems as though his love may be dead as he speaks about her a though she is a memory. On the other hand, Sonnet 130 criticises poems such as Shall I .. as it mentions right at the start that his, mistresss eyes are nothing like the sun, implying the fact that the sun is beautiful but the eyes of his love are not. The sun is usually used to represent beauty, light and radiance by most poets like in Shall I it is described as the eye of heaven, but in this poem Shakespeare says that his mistress eyes have none of these qualities. The sun can be used to be symbolic as all the world revolves around the sun but the world does not revolve around his mistress as she is an average normal person. He highlights the fairytale image of women that most people have such as red lips , black hair, a white complexion and uses them to describe his mistress to be the opposite of all these and look unattractive. He describes coral to be redder than her lips, her breasts to be dun (a muddy, grey colour) in comparison to white snow. Many other poets would use flowers like coral to describe their women to be precious or talk about their breast with great admiration, but Shakespeare criticises them. This shows that Shakespeare is not like most men who try to flatter women, or describe them to be beautiful. He talks about having seen Roses damasked red and white, this may have a connotation to it: as damasked is a type of rose but it could also mean that he has seen red and white roses be unveiled. In What Ways Does Philip Larkin EssayOne of the most significant comparisons between the two poems is the mentioning of the sun. Shall I compare thee highlights the bad points of the sun, such as; how it lets out intense heat. The poem does not refer to the Sun by its name; instead it is metaphorically described as the eye of heaven. It gives the sun an important position by giving this particular description. In Sonnet 130 it gives importance to the sun my mistress eyes are nothing like the sun indirectly implying that the sun is beautiful, radiant and full of life whereas his mistress eyes have none of these qualities. Both of the poems give a reference to the sun, showing its importance. The two poems use the significance of the sun in different ways, to compare or contrast it with the ladies they love. The poem Sonnet 130 gives a direct opinion that not all women are goddesses and that the mistress that the poem talks about is no goddess as when she walks, she treads on the ground. He is trying to be humorous about how other poets describe the ladies that they love to be goddesses, when in actual fact no one knows what goddesses look like or even if they exist. However, Shall I compare thee indirectly mentions all the qualities of a goddess to be in the lady he loves, assuming that he knows what a goddess is like. The lady appears to be a goddess as she appears to have supernatural qualities. This is perceived through the poets description of the lady being better, in equivalence to things like nature and also through the belief of the poet that his love is immortal and eternally living that even death cant affect her. The two poems can be compared in terms of their structure, concepts and the way they convey their message to the reader. The sonnets do differ quite a bit, through the approaches that are used by Shakespeare. The poems can be contrasted through the techniques that Shakespeare has used in each poem, for example, in Shall I compare thee Shakespeare uses literacy techniques, like personification and metaphorical speech when he describes the Sun, eye of heaven gold complexion. Whereas in Sonnet 130 Shakespeare prefers to use similes to compare his love to other luxuries and not once does he use metaphorical speech or personification. Shall I compare thee uses literacy techniques to beguile his love into believing his false promises. However, Sonnet 130 uses literacy devices, to destroy these false promises that other poets make. Shakespeare uses the technique of being pedantic and humorous to a great effect in Sonnet 130. The purposes of both poems are the same; to convince the ladies mentioned, that they are very special. The way they do this is very different though, Shakespeare has written Shall I compare thee to be seriously convincing and romantic. Whereas, he has written Sonnet 130 to be more humorous and critical rather than serious and romantic. Shall I compare thee is over exaggerated and quite unrealistic, due to the supernatural element of the women that is used. However, Sonnet 130 is much more realistic and convincing than Shall I compare thee as it eliminates all these false images of women from peoples mind and introduces the idea that you do not need to be beautiful to be loved. The two poems contain sentences that play on our senses. Shall I compare thee concentrates on the senses of seeing and touching, inds shake darling buds of May. However Sonnet 130 uses a wider range as it uses the senses; seeing, smelling and hearing, music hath a far more pleasing sound. Out of the two poems I most enjoyed Sonnet 130. This is because I found Shall I to be typically romantic and quite old fashioned, as I thought it was over exaggerated and too serious. However, I found Sonnet 130 to be extremely enjoyable. This is because it was very humorous and sarcastic and I though it was quite a unique love poem compared to others that I have studied. I think that it would really appeal to a young, modern female audience due to its criticism of poets stereotyped image of women. Along with being humorous it is also very romantic as it basically sends the message that no matter how a person looks on the outside it is what they are like on the inside that makes them special. It also shows that being unique does not mean that you have to be beautiful its just your inner qualities that make you beautiful; these sorts of messages that are sent through the poem are very romantic. Shall I is a poem that sort of indoctrinates women, into thinking that they are better than natural beauties, but it is well known that this is being quite untrue. It is being unfaithful to women by making all these false promises. Both of the poems are very effective in different ways due to the literal devices that are used by Shakespeare. These two sonnets are a perfect example of Shakespeares versatility in writing love poems but with totally different approaches.