Serena, Guzman
English
Sonnet 30
1.
Only a couple lines into the sonnet, Shakespeare uses a metaphor that stuck out to me, “I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought”. This is an example of figurative speech because instead of literally sighing air he is sighing “the lack of many a thing I sought”.
Personification is a literary device used wonderfully by Shakespeare in Sonnet 30. For example Shakespeare gives human attributes to an eye and compares the eye to a human by saying, ”Then can I drown an eye, unus’d to flow”. Eyes cannot literally drown and therefore is figurative. He continues with a metaphor for death and an example of personification when he says that his friends are dead, “For precious friends hid in death’s dateless nights”.
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Contrast the universal themes (ideas/experiences that relate to ALL people regardless of background) of Sonnet 55 and Sonnet 116. In your opinion: What is the big theme in Sonnet 55? What is the big theme in Sonnet 116? Do you agree with what Shakespeare is saying about both ideas? Why or why not? Cite/quote examples from each poem that demonstrate specifically the themes you’ve indicated. Then, explain whether they support or contradict your views about those themes. Use personal experiences to back your views.
Answer:
Sonnet 55 and Sonnet 116 are about eternity and love. In my opinion, eternity is the primary focus and love is secondary focus in both sonnets. Eternity and love are introduced through the speaker at different times in both Sonnets. In Sonnet 116 marriage and love are mentioned immediately. In Sonnet 55 the speaker freely expresses the eternity theme. Love is expressed by contrasting the material world and the immaterial world. By bouncing between real and not real, figurative and literal. For me, I personally experience love first and do not even think about eternity. If I had to pick a Sonnet that matches with what I agree with in these Shakespeare sonnets I would pick Sonnet 116 when marriage and love get mentioned right away. Love is seen as the ideal romantic thing, “it never fades and it outlasts death…” Other lines in Sonnet 116 that support this include: ”true love never goes away;” and, love… “is an ever fixed mark