Positive Connotation In Sonnet 29

The ladder of love gave man the chance to elevate to heaven and leave behind the earthly worries. In many poems of the Renaissance, love oftentimes had a positive connotation, and was thought to be able to bring man from disgrace to grace. This idea can be found in Sonnet 29 by Shakespeare. The latter writes, “Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising, / Haply I think on thee, and then my state, / Like to the lark at break of day arising/ From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven 's gate;” (459). Indeed, Shakespeare reveals in the sonnet that when he is all alone, crying in despair, and cursing his fate, it is sufficient to think of his beloved to feel as if he were in a paradisiac dimension where he would not trade his position with kings. Unlike other

This pure meditation reflects the Renaissance’s idea that true nobility is the one you achieve with your own merits, and using your capacities. In fact, Shakespeare says that this sentiment elevates his social status to the point it becomes more important than a kingly one. Furthermore, the virtue that such a love possesses is also able to overcome the limits imposed by death. This can be seen in Sonnet 75 by Spenser, where the poet writes that, “Where whenas death shall all the world subdue, / Our love shall live, and later life renew.” (250). Spenser makes a very important point: the love he and his beloved share is so powerful that not even death can “subdue” it. Their love will live on even after death, and Spenser grants his wife eternity through his verses. Both Shakespeare and Spenser’s sonnets examined describe love according to the Renaissance tradition at its best. Love is not perceived as sensual, but as ethereal and with divine connotations, and this explains why the two poets make an abundant use of words referring to the celestial sphere, such as “the heavens” (Spenser in line 12), and “heaven’s gate” (Shakespeare in line