I know Poetry month has come to a close, but I still have so many great poems I think you may like. I saw William’s post, and would like to say that Shakespeare does have some diversity in his work, definitely not making it boring. Usually the women he talks about are ‘perfect’ but this post will show you some variety in his work. Take a look at William’s perspective on Shakespeare here. In this post, you can read two sonnets by Shakespeare, Sonnet 18 and Sonnet 130. Most sonnets are about a women’s beauty, romance, love, or even death. I think these two sonnets by Shakespeare contradict each other in a way. Read them below, comment and let me know what you think:
SONNET 18
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.
SONNET 130
My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;
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 grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask’d, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
Do you feel Sonnet 130 is insulting to the woman Shakespeare writes about? I feel that the last two lines show that though she is not perfect, she is all he would ever want. In comparison to Sonnet 18, where he talks of how perfect his love is, do you like Sonnet 130’s more ‘real’ look at women in the world better? Comment and let me know what you think!
the sonnets your've presented are quite impressive, and i can not call shakespeare a bad poet. but my post was actually about his plays, especially the one we have to read in high school and so i still stand by what i said. but i would be really happy if shakespear was included in the poety unit instead. but of course, thats just my opinnion 🙂
both sonnets shakepspeare write about actually aren't contrasting at all. They are about the women he loves. the first sonnet you post compares the women he loves to summer, because everyone believes that summer is great, but in actuality, it isn't. He is saying how "Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines"( the sun shines too brightly in the summer), but announces that her eternal beauty will never fade, that "Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade", because as long as people can read this poem, her beauty is eternalized by writing it in a poem that has endured centuries.
You have interpreted the second sonnet correctly though. Even though he notices the short comings his mistress has, he does not love her for her false beauty, not insulting, but as today's society shows, we somtimes are just too polite that we do not point out imperfections to each others, wondering if people simply are just putting up a polite front, and wondering if people truly likes us. But with Shakespeare admitting he does notice these short comings, his mistress will not believe that Shakepspeare loves for any false pretenses, and she knows that he really does love her for who she is.
Lovely poems that Shakespeare writes. =)