This Elizabethan sonnet by George Gascoigne is a tortured self-confession of one “He” who “looked not upon her.” Gascoigne effectively illustrates the speaker’s paradoxical feelings for a woman through a series of literary devices such as extended metaphors, imagery, and alliteration, developing an easily identifiable conflict between the speaker’s desire for his lover and fear of being hurt again. The first stanza introduces us to the central paradox of the poem: why does the speaker “take no delight” in ranging his eyes “about the gleams” on his lover’s beautiful face? To answer this question, the speaker employs two extended metaphors that vividly illustrate this conundrum.
It has been said that “beauty is pain” and in the case of this poem, it is quite literal. “For That He Looked Not Upon Her” written by George Gascoigne, a sixteenth century poet, is a poem in which the speaker cannot look upon the one he loves so that he will not be trapped by her enhanced beauty and looks. In the form of an English sonnet, the speaker uses miserable diction and visual imagery to tell the readers and his love why he cannot look upon her face. Containing three quatrains and a rhyming couplet at the end, this poem displays a perfect English sonnet using iambic pentameter to make it sound serious and conversational. This is significant because most sonnets are about love and each quatrain, in English sonnets, further the speaker’s
“Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart.-Kahlil Gibran.” Inner beauty is more important than any other characteristics or features of you, for it is everlasting. This theme can be seen repeatedly throughout history, and specifically in Edmond Rostand’s“ Cyrano De Bergerac” and world-renowned William Shakespeare’s“ Sonnet 18.” Both the selections use different techniques to emphasize inner beauty. The book has a constant use of poetry to establish romanticism, and the poem uses metaphors to bring out rare and loving characteristics.
Structurally “Dim Lady” has little to do with the firm guidelines of true sonnets, however this choice gives Mullens a greater degree of creative liberty when it comes to the rescripted Sonnet 130. The more contemporary style of free verse rather than structurally rigid helps to create the more modern feeling of the overall work and in turn allows Mullens to shape Shakespeare's work in a new
Women have been fighting for their rights for too long now. Even though this oppression has reduced over time, there is still a substantial number of breakthroughs women can achieve. In just two little, fourteen-line poems, one can learn about the patriarchy between men and women Gwen Harwood’s Petrarchan Sonnet, “In the Park,” forewarns the reader about the intense, genuine life of being a divorced, single mother in the 1960s. However, Elizabeth Browning’s Petrarchan Sonnet, “How Do I Love Thee?” displays the blind love that men would lure women into by implying this false act of love to be seen as flawless.
A direct comparison to this is during Act One, Scene One, of Romeo and Juliet. Romeo has found a lover that appears to be the prettiest and most perfect woman in the town of
“‘I am blind and I cannot judge of your countenance, but there is something in your words which persuades me that you are sincere…”At that instant the cottage door was opened and Felix, Safie, and Agatha entered. Who can describe their horror and consternation on beholding me?’ (Shelley 170).The hidden satire behind this, is the ridicule of lookism. Lookism is construction of a standard for beauty and attractiveness, and judgments made about people on the basis of how well or poorly they meet the standard, as defined by google.com. In the novel, every character couldn’t bare the sight of the creature, judging them based on looks rather than their brilliant personality.
Within the 3 quatrains, or three groups of four lines, of this sonnet, Shakespeare uses a critical tone to set apart his love from the rest of the other women. He says that his “mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun/ coral is far more red than her lips red” (line 1-2). He is saying with these lines that her beauty is not like anything else. Shakespeare is saying that because of these things, his mistress is set apart from all of the stereotypical women
On page 322. In sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare. On lines 2-4 William writes... ”Coral is far more red than her lips ‘red; If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; If hairs be wires; black wires grown on her head” he is comparing her to all beautiful things in the world, but her characteristics aren’t similar to these things.
In both cases the women seem to connect outer beauty with good morals and a kind person. In Jane Eyre, Miss Temple and Hellen Burns are praised by Jane just as much for their beauty as they are for their kindness and goodness. Bella can’t understand, in Twilight, how it is possible for people so beautiful and pleasing to the eyes to appear to be rejected by society, like there is some inherent goodness associated with their beauty. I believe it is this contrast that makes both their decisions to look past the superficial outer appearance more noteworthy. Jane says to Mr. Rochester’s face that she believes him to not be handsome and if we go off her past assertions towards “ugly” people we would be led to believe that he has a terrible moral
Further, she describes being “caught” in love, which is how the Petrarchan lover is characterized as operating upon the sonneteer in old love poetry (Wroth, “Love what art thou,” lines 1-5). Going onward, the trend continues; in lines 6-10, she describes love as “light,” and “fair,” which initially seem to be positive traits (still distinctly feminine), but describes love as capriciously flicking between hot and cold in a manner that is analogous to the inconstancy of the Petrarchan mistress, and common conceptualizations of femininity at the time. The next stanza continues the trend of love as inconstant while also making an oblique mention to Eve (Wroth, lines 16-20). The penultimate stanza seems to reflect the most blatant gendering (emphasis
For instance, the author says that Cinderella still looks really beautiful even if she wears ragged, sooty clothing in the beginning of the story. Although, she was mainly perceived as a helpless person because her fairy godmother was surprised that she couldn’t figure out anything for herself. On the other hand, the author describes Cinder Edna as an unattractive person in her looks, yet she has a strong, spunky personality and a sense of humor which makes her more admirable. Therefore, I believe the author contradicts their appearances and personalities to show that having a bright outlook and a strong, positive mindset is more valuable than having wealth and a beautiful appearance.
Sonnet 130: My Mistress’ Eyes Are Nothing Like The Sun (1609) by William Shakespeare is nothing like the average romantic poem. Instead of boasting about his mistress’s beauty and making unrealistic comparisons he Comically appreciates her natural beauty and appearance, without the use of flattering clichés. Some Argue that Shakespeare might have been misogynistic and insulting to women by body shaming is mistress. Is it thus apparent that people may have different interpretations and understanding of sonnets or poems regardless of the environment or period of the reading? Though I believe that this is truly a love poem, in this analysis both interpretations will be represented.
Love at first sight, a concept overused in every romantic comedy. It is the instant connection between two soulmates. It is the idealistic perfect love. This phenomenon of true love has been around since the Elizabethan Era, preserved in the writings by some of the greatest poets of all time. “Sonnet 116” written by Shakespeare and “A Valediction; Forbidding Mourning” by John Donne both strive to express their version of Neoplatonic love (an immaculate love).
Throughout William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 130,” the reader is constantly tricked into thinking he will compare his mistress to something beautiful and romantic, but instead the speaker lists beautiful things and declares that she is not like them. His language is unpredictable and humor is used for a majority of the poem. This captivating sonnet uses elements such as tone, parody, images, senses, form, and rhyme scheme to illustrate the contradicting comparisons of his mistress and the overarching theme of true love. Shakespeare uses parody language to mock the idea of a romantic poem by joking about romance, but ultimately writes a poem about it.
