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Which of the sonnets read this week was your favorite? In a post of at least 150 words, explain why you liked this poem best. Be very specific in your response, touching on both theme and particular phrasing that struck you.
Please be sure to include your section number at the end of your response. There are 3 sections of students in our big discussion group!
Also, address comments to others by name so we can all follow along.
Some students have expressed interest in reading other students’ research essays. I think this is a wonderful idea for so many reasons. If you are willing to share your work, please let me know. I will create a link to it and make a place where others can go to access the work.
130 thoughts on “Week 10 Discussion”
My favorite poem that I read is How Do I Love Thee” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning because it is a poem expressing her intense love for someone. My part or phrases in the poem is:
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
This is my favorite because she describes love as something that is eternal, that love is something that even exists after death. To me it also means that all her ‘smiles’, ‘tears’ and ‘life’ is meant for her lover and she devoted to her lover. I think the poem itself is her listing all the ways that she loves someone which makes it a very meaningful, romantic and even expressing how powerful love is. Even though Browning dedicated this poem to her husband, this poem could apply to anyone that is in love. Browning also compares love with faith and spirit because of the words she also includes in the poem: soul, faith, saints and God
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Angela, yes, this is a wonderful poem. What I like about it how the speaker tries to think of how many methods of measurement she can possibly evoke to describe a love that goes beyond language. It always makes me think of when a child tells you how much she loves you, stretching her arms to their limit because she does not have the vocabulary to express the emotion.
Hello Angela Tan. In relation to the poem, you chose as your favorite “How Do I Love Thee” it is definitely a very beautiful poem and with a lot of emotional strength. I consider that love is the force that moves the world. Ultimately, the poet wants me to leave well marked all the ways that she loves the other person. You can feel that strength with Elizabeth Barrett loves her husband. In conclusion, it is a very sweet poem and with a lot of energy.
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Hello Angela,
I like the lines that you chose to highlight in the poem, “How Do I Love Thee.” I believe these words are very powerful and thought-provoking. It really makes you hope for a love like this. I read one of our other classmates posts referencing this poem and he made a good point. The word love is used far too often and has kind of lost its meaning. Although this is not the poem I chose after all the posts of this poem, I’ve grown to appreciate it and have gone back and read it again. It get better the more you read it.
It goes without saying that love is arguably the deepest of all emotions in the human condition. To lose the memories of those we have loved and lost would then seem to be among the most egregious losses a person can possibly endure. Reflecting on this loss painfully, the imagery of dread cast upon the speaker in Edna St. Vincent Millay’s “What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why” is the reason why this was my favorite poem for the week. Specifically: “…the rain is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh…a quiet pain for unremembered lads that not again will turn to me at midnight with a cry” is for me, the most chilling line I have read thus far in all of our readings. It bears to note that Millay opts for a non-traditional approach to the Italian sonnet, using it to question the value of love, since it can be forgotten, as opposed to a full idolization of love (as exemplified in Browning or Shakespeare’s sonnets this week). Thus, Millay essentially challenges Alfred Lord Tennyson’s age-old assertion that “tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all,” invoking a satisfying catharsis that left me feeling as “the lonely tree,” wallowing in my own fading memories of lost and forgotten “summer[s]”.
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David, I’m struck by your identification with “the lonely tree” at your young age. I too find this one of the most poignant works in the course. However, I’m a much more likely candidate to empathize with the speaker than a young man is, so I find your response very unusual and thoughtful. I like your evocation of the Tennyson quote here, as well. It’s also interesting that we return to the idea of nostalgia though I certainly do not see this poem as “the rust of memory.” For me, it is one of the most moving literary works about aging and its losses. Often young students don’t see the seasonal imagery in the poem. Many think it’s a poem about a woman who perhaps has been promiscuous, rather than a poem about an older woman, looking back on her life on a rainy night.
For better or worse, I’m one who feels deeply. And though I’m young, I have had some experience with life – perhaps more than many in the class given my slight older age. In saying that, I suppose I felt more akin to the speaker herself than someone just merely approaching these themes from an outside perspective. I’ve heard those ghosts, I’ve seen the birdless tree, and there are summers that even I have sadly forgotten.
David, the poetry segment promises to be a rewarding one for you, in that case.
Hi David,
I agree that love is the deepest of all emotions. In this poem I can hear the speaker looking back at her love life. Some of which she forgotten. I think theres also a sound of regret in her words that she didn’t stay or love any of her past lovers so I can imagine her laying in bed thinking about the past :
Under my head till morning; but the rain
Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh
I think the ghosts. represent her lovers, that are no longer there
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I enjoyed the poem “My Mistress’s Eyes Are Nothing like the Sun.” The poem uses verbal irony to make fun of how ridiculous, and unrealistic love poems can be. He uses imagery and color to dramatize the lack of qualities of his mistress, “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 damasked, red and white, But no such roses see I in her cheeks.” In the poem we also see rhythm, every other line rhymes. The last two being couplets.
Shakespeare uses the last couple lines to give us a sense of closure, “And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare As any she belied with false compare.” He loves his mistress exactly the way she is. Shakespeare does not want her to change or to believe unrealistic beauty standards. Her imperfections are what make her special.
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Kevin, I agree that “My Mistress’s Eyes . . .” is quite hilarious. I remember reading it for the first time, suddenly realizing that the whole thing is a spoof. At that time, I didn’t expect humor from the famous William Shakespeare though I know better now.
Hi Kevin, I couldn’t agree more. I choose the exact poem and the entire poem was filled with irony and imagery from Shakespeare to express his love. It was beyond everything and anything and it made it very unrealistic and a edge of sarcasm was added also. Shakespeare is very tricky with writing his poem and this poem was one of them.
Hi Kevin,
I also picked the same poem as you, although for a different reason. I enjoyed reading it because it reminded me of certain memories that I do not often think of. The way Shakespeare twists the story in the end to show that he loves her despite her imperfections was not what I expected at all when reading the first half. One thing about the text that sort of confuses me though, is when he compares hairs to wires because I’m not sure what that is implying.
Hello Kevin,
I liked that this was not the traditional poem. While reading it, I thought that I wouldn’t want such a sonnet written of me even if in the end he implies he loves her despite her flaws. This is the first time I’ve read this poem and had no idea Shakespeare wrote with such humor. I’m inspired to read more of his work and read more sonnets in general. I enjoyed the imagery he used to describe his mistress because it gave you a clear picture of what she was not. I debated between this poem and the one I eventually chose, “What lips my eyes have kissed, and where and why?”
Hey Kevin,
I can definitely agree with you on the verbal irony in “My Mistress’s Eyes are Nothing like the Sun.” I chose this poem as well and I loved the irony and the imagery that Shakespeare uses to show how much he loves his mistress. In this poem Shakespeare is trying to find a more realistic and genuine way to express his love, it’s funny though because he goes about it by comparing her to beautiful things while also implying she is less beautiful and still loves her nonetheless. What I can take from this is that beauty and love shouldn’t be recognized through comparison, but should be judged for having flaws and being real.
My favorite poem out of all the ones I read is “What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why?” by Edna St. Vincent Millay. This was my favorite poem because from what I understood she was kind of all over the place. She expresses how she woke up without knowing what she did or who she have kissed. I also liked it because she said some things have happened to real people in real life.She also kind of describes love in some way. When she says “I cannot say what loves have come and gone,I only know that summer sang in me. A little while, that in me sings no more.” this were my favorite lines of the poem because as we can see she was a little confused. She did not know what happened to her in that time. She was also confused because all she knew was that she had somebody coming to her. She did not know if it was love or no but she knew something happened. Sec 0503
Hello, Jeidy Diaz
My favorite poem out of all the ones I read is “What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why?” by Edna St. Vincent Millay also. I like this better because as you said “she was kind of all over the place.” There are a lot of themes involved. From time, love, life, nature, it a beautiful poem that can make us discuss many things in deep.
It looks likes the author was confused but also unhappy at the same time during her lifetime, but learn to leave with it with bravery.
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Souadou, I hope you and Jeidy will revisit the poem “What My Lips Have Kissed . . .” This poem is not really about so many things, and I do not think the speaker is confused. The nature images are intended as metaphors for the seasons of life. The poem is not “all over the place.” The speaker is looking back on a gloomy night filled with the “ghosts” of memory. Sometimes we have to read a poem a couple of times to fully understand it.
Hi Jeidy, I’ve chosen to respond to you since we have both chose the same poem as our favorite of this week’s readings. I must admit, many of your assessments on what is taking place in the poem range from confusing to, for lack of a better word, false. In your post you write, “from what I understood she was kind of all over the place” – how so?, “she said some things have happened to real people in real life” – like what?, “She also kind of describes love in some way” – what way?, “as we can see she was a little confused” – what was she confused about? There’s much already that could be clarified. Continuing with your post, “she knew was that she had somebody coming to her” – actually, nobody was in fact coming to her, the poem is more about a reflection on losing the memory of love. “She did not know if it was love or no but she knew something happened.” What happened was that she was experiencing a loss of recounting her past loves. I’d love to see what your thoughts are on all of this – has your reading on this changed since your post?
Jeidy, I think maybe she is recalling her past loves, or lovers, and reliving or pondering what could have been. Maybe I am interpreting incorrectly. I think I liked how real she sounded when you were explaining her as confused. That is just so real when it comes to things like love and past people in your life you’ve been with. Good response!!
My favorite poem is “My Mistress’s Eyes Are Nothing like the Sun.” It is a poem that I enjoyed a lot and I laughed a lot. In this case, the protagonist of the sonnet is the beloved woman (and no longer the young friend) and, instead of praising the perfection of the beloved, Shakespeare begins by describing all the defects of his sweet half. The objective is to contrast the romantic ideal of the Angel Woman: the woman described by the poet is not “like the sun”, she does not have colored lips coral, her breasts are gray and not snow-white, as well as her hair. They are ravens and her cheeks are not like two roses. Her voice is not beautiful and she is not a goddess. However, despite these shortcomings, the poet says he really loves her, much more than any other author can do towards an imaginary woman. A real woman is better, if not perfect, Shakespeare seems to tell us that the ideal woman does not exist. He criticizes the representation of women alone like an angel woman.
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Hello Raquel,
I also picked this poem to write about. I choose this poem because it was funny and yet beautiful. It was filled with honesty. I agree with you that the ideal woman does not exist.
I enjoyed the imagery Shakespeare used to compare his mistress. I loved the ending because Shakespeare flips the script. In a way saying my imperfect woman is more beautiful than yours could ever be. She is imperfect but real. Real is what we truly want, not someone fake. We can create scenarios in our head, and imagine the perfect woman. Shakespeare understood how humans can easily be manipulated by a fake façade. Sometimes the imperfections of someone we love can be our favorite thing.
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Hi Raquel, I definitely agree. Shakespeare have a very tricky way in writing all his poem and although I was able to read and understand it I definitely want to thank you for making me also realizing that Shakespeare was also trying to tell us that the “ ideal women doesn’t exist” that definitely went over my head. But other than that I definitely agree, his expression of love for her was very beyond anything and he used a lot of irony to express it .
“How Do I Love Thee” by Elizabeth Barret Browning is a sonnet that I really like from this collection.
The poem is themed with love and by love it describes the length the soul is willing to go to express this powerful force. I enjoyed how the author uses dialogue style of writing in order for readers to answer the title of the poem by actually reading the lines. The title of the poem goes “How Do I Love Thee” and the you have lines starting with “…I Love Thee…” is something that really caught my attention.
I find this poem very beautiful because it deeply talks about love and how one could fall so deeply in it. “…I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach” (lines 2&3), really stand out to me because it gives some kind of blueprint to how an individual show actually be loved.
I was really intrigued by this poem because I believe the word “love” is one of the most misused and misunderstood in our present day and time. This poem talks about the purity, strength, limitless and unconditional nature of love. It also ended by giving me the vibe that If you are not ready to love an individual even after death, just tell them you like them instead :).
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Ebube, I really smiled at your last comment. I think it’s so true. “How Do I Love Thee” expresses the myriad of ways the speaker attempts to measure what is really beyond measure for her. And as you write, this is a profound, genuine love, which treats the word with utmost respect.
Hello Ebube,
Truly agree with your response. Love is such a word used so loosely. When I read this poem, it was of no interest to me but after reading your response and comparison it made the poem much better. I do believe it true, that real love is far deeper than what we have made love to be. Love is not just emotions, in fact, I believe it is more in action. Feelings undulate and sometimes vanish, that is why initially this poem didn’t seem of much interest to me.
Arlene, I love when I read that one student’s comments have caused another student to rethink, re-read and reformulate opinions!
Hey Edube, We chose the same sonnet! I definitely agree with your post. The word love is indeed misused and misunderstood these days. It gets thrown around so freely it’s scary. I’m guilty of doing it too. For example, I’d say, “I love your shoes,” knowing I just think they are cute. The poem by Elizabeth Barret Browning is charming. She truly displays what it’s like to love someone with your entire being! Which is rare. All the people in the world covering up their “deep like” for each other with the word “love” should read the last line of your post. It would help if you made t-shirts to let the world know.
Hey Ebube,
“How Do I Love Thee” by Elizabeth Barret Browning was also my choice. I really enjoyed reading your take on the title of the poem and how it is subconsciously, perhaps a 15th line? The line you chose stood out to me as well although I wrote about a different one. I do agree the the blue print expressed gives a sense of quantifiability to a feeling that is so difficult to describe. Your comment about love after death is truly amusing, I wonder if Elizabeth Barret Browning was indenting on leaving that message 🙂 Thank you for your post !
Hi Ebube! I really enjoyed how you interpreted this poem. I agree that the poem talks about being deeply in love with someone. I also think its interesting you called love misused and misunderstood, because it definitely is! I applaud you for being the one to speak up and say that, haha. When in doubt, tell them you like them for sure!
Gezelle, please make sure your comments enlarge the conversation and are not just compliment or agreements with others.
My favorite poem is “What My Lips Have Kissed and Why and When” by Edna Saint Vincent Millay.
This beautiful poem he wrote in modern language and imagery such as, “arms”, “lips”, “head”, “heart”. I think the author is talking about a disconnected body or multiple bodies that are not uniform in the text like the little, many questions to ask, and to understand. My favorite line in the poem is “but the rains full of ghosts tonight”. He uses sound imagery to perfectly express what he felt, But I also think that is what a rainy day looks like for many of us. Then he talked about the tree, I think he mentioned trees since they change in each season. The theme could be time and love, even though it looks like the poem is about the end of life of someone or something but it is not satisfied with their past of the things they came across. It seems the author lost a part of himself at a certain point. However He can feel a sense of bravery in the story, a story that is not necessarily happy but still releasing but lives with it until it fades. Some people describe life as a series of seasons.
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Souadou, your post here reflects a number of impressions you received while reading “What My Lips Have Kissed . . .” and some of these impressions get very close to what the poem is about. Let me give you a couple of hints before you go back and re-read the poem. The speaker is a woman. The seasonal imagery is meant to represent the seasons of life. Please do go back and read the poem. Pay attention to the title too.
My favorite sonnet from this week is Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “How Do I Love Thee.” It made me question if I would ever experience a love so rich with so many layers in this lifetime (fingers crossed lol).
Giving off the impression, without love, she wouldn’t exist. I noticed early on the love that she writes about is no ordinary love. Measuring the amount with units we wouldn’t usually use to measure feelings, “I love thee to the depth and breadth and height.” Goes to show the typical “I love you… a lot” would be minuscule. I enjoy how powerful the words she uses to describe her love. It is passion, dedication, and forever. “I shall love thee better after death.” The amount of love heightened by death. Endlessly indebted to her husband even when she has no life left? Wow, deep. This poem would make some great wedding vows!
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Faith, thank you for this deeply felt response. (I hope you find that kind of love too!) Your appreciation of the depth of love that is expressed in the sonnet leads me to think that you will—that you can imagine an all-consuming experience of love and distinguish it from other forms of “love.” Check out Ebube’s post. He makes some great observations and has a wonderful line at the end!
Hey Faith!
I also chose this poem. I loved the way she expressed her love and also showed the genuine feelings that come with true love. The sentence you chose is a very interesting one, as it is gives loves a sense of size. It is hard to quantify such a feeling, yet in this poem, the reader can truly understand her love. I also pictured a couple reading this to each other during their wedding, so it is interesting to see how we both saw that. I am sure you will find and experience of love of this kind! Thank you for your post, I enjoyed reading it.
Hello Faith, we choose the same sonnet. I really like your views on this poem that’s why I chose to respond to you. Your line “I enjoy how powerful the words she uses to describe her love are” really stuck out to me. Elizabeth Browning’s poem feels like a tutor explaining to readers how to love and be loved. The same way you learn how love from the poem should be your expectations on how should be loved to. As you have stated, her powerful words and explanations of love, ridicules the context in which we make us of it in modern times.
chose*
Faith,
Yes, I felt the same way, the love she describes is unfathomable. I like how you point out how she measures the love she feels in a way we wouldn’t normally. I thought by comparing her love to ordinary things such as the line where she says ” I love thee to the level of every day’s / Most quiet need, by sun and by candlelight”. She describes it as similar to something we can all understand and have experienced instead of something more unique and profound that is hard for anyone to understand. No doubt it’s a very intense love poem and I agree this would definitely make a great wedding vow!
My favorite poem this week is, “What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,” by Edna St. Vincent Millay. This poem was the most relatable to me. From what I gather she had no lover who truly irradicated whatever void or pain it is that she felt. She doesn’t remember them nor does it seem like they were worth remembering. Love was not, what the other poems referred to as this great thing. Millay expresses that love not fulfilling. In the line, “Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one, yet knows its boughs more silent than before,” love seems to have left her emptier. I would think that as Millay looked back at her youth realized the love she most needed was her own.
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After reading all the poems and understanding them in depth, I have chosen “How do I love thee?” Sonnet 48, by Elizabeth Barrett Browning – 1850. I have also noticed that this poem has been chosen by many of the class. It was interesting to see how sonnets (14 lines) were usually love letters in the past. This is a remarkable way of expressing ones love. The line that struck me most was “I love thee freely, as men strive for right” (7th line). This has so much meaning in one sentence. As the reader we can understand that the love expressed is a genuine kind. It is genuine because the real feeling of love is when it feels right. When one is in love, they feel as if they are doing something correctly and their body and mind feel at ease. She adds on by saying that loves “thee freely” which indicates freedom in a time where relationships and marriage were mostly arranged and likely between similar family classes.
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Hello David. I agree that it is interesting that sonnets were used primarily during the time period for expressing one’s love to another. It is truly a creative way to do so and one in which we do not see a lot of in this day and age. I did enjoy this sonnet as well for similar reasons that you have stated. The fact that Browning wrote about the feelings surrounding love and when one knows if it is genuine or not is an identification that the other sonnets did not include, but it makes this one more distinct for doing so.
Richard, it’s very hard to write a sonnet. You’ve seen all the rules, right? It’s no wonder not many people attempt to do it.
David, thanks for the good comments. I think people like this poem (thanks to Ebube, I don’t want to use the word “love” anymore unless I really mean it!) because they respond to it so personally and emotionally. It expresses a kind of love that most people cannot begin to describe. That’s why we have Hallmark cards (because people don’t know how to describe their love—not that Hallmark does either). I like the line you mention about “loving freely,” as well. I think the next part is something like, “as men strive for right.” To me, this means that she loves in the most natural way with the same impulse humans feel for doing what is right and good. I’d like (not love) to hear how others interpret the line you quote.
My favorite poem this week is “ my mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” the poem shows a humorous irony of the expression of his love for his mistress. It also elaborated on his endless love for his mistress. He created a imaginary setting for the readers by choosing a lot of describing and colorful words to make the reader imagine the beauty for his love for his mistress. My favorite line from this poem is definitely “ I have seen roses damasked, red and white, but no such roses see in her cheeks.” That tropical line was very metaphoric and beautiful. It kinda was like the cherry on top off the cake in this poem. Overall the poem flowed very well, it expressed a higher feeling of love for his mistress. It was beyond anything in the world because it was compared to the most beautiful and stronger things in the world. He expressed his love with the value of something special.
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Taheed, you’re right that the speaker, in the end, gets a little more serious and points to a kind of love that transcends the physical. It’s wonderful how the poet uses humor to arrive at that reversal in tone.
Hi Taheed,
I chose to respond to your comment because we both picked the same poet as our favorite.
I also believe “ my mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” was an outstanding poet and I really enjoyed reading it. I admired Shakespeare’s aim to tell the “harsh truth” in this poem. Going beyond the typical lines like “the brightness of the sun” and the “ocean in their eyes” and the ” soft lips like a rose paddles” was very interesting and appealing to me. This is a realistic and beautiful definition of love. This is what real love is. It is beyond beauty and appearance and it is magical for Shakespeare.
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My favorite piece from this week was “What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why” by Edna St. Vincent Millay. When I first read the title, I admit that I had the impression I would not like it, thinking it was going to be a flowery poem about romantic love. However, I was surprised to find a thoughtful, soulful, reflective piece with which I could identify. I was struck by the sense of remembrance in the poem, and how while there is sadness, it is a sadness of quiet introspection rather than self pity.
There were two lines that really stood out to me. The first:
“But the rain
Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh”
I like the haunting imagery of ghosts on a rainy night bringing memories of her past lives, past lives here meaning moments in time. In my mind I imagine a woman lying in bed late at night in the dark, silent and still. Who hasn’t had a dark night of the soul, where things come back to us and we reflect on the past and what we believe we have lost, what decisions we may have made differently?
The second:
“I only know that summer sang in me
A little while, that in me sings no more”
I like this because I think we all experience and grieve little deaths in our everyday lives. It is okay to reflect on the past even as we move forward. I think that we sometimes forget that it is okay to be sad and also to step outside of it and learn and adapt to what happens next.
I also like that the author compares herself to a tree. Even though it is a lonely one, I remember that trees are strong with deep roots. She has not disappeared, and she is still as strong as ever, it is only the season that has changed. It doesn’t erase that she had beautiful summers, and she may be surprised, there are many lonely winter trees, and spring may come again.
Ashley
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Ashley, this is one of my favorite poems too. There is a wistful sadness to it. I’m not sure I feel the same sense of strength in the woman that you express; to me, it seems that there is an acceptance and knowledge about the seasons of life and the profound losses that with come with aging. There is nothing she can do about these facts. It’s true that she is still there, as you write, but there is no way she can recapture her youth or the past. The seasonal imagery point to the idea that the speaker is old now and in the wintertime of her life, looking back on those bright metaphorical summers that can never come again.
Hi Professor Conway, I agree that the seasonal imagery points to the idea that the speaker is old and in the winter time of her life, but what I meant was there may always hope for the future, no matter her age, even if she doesn’t see it in the moment. Perhaps even though she is older and in the winter of her life, although she will never regain her summer season of youth or lovers past, she may meet someone else who is also in the winter of theirs, another lonely winter tree, and together a metaphorical new spring could occur. Perhaps I am reading into it too hopeful and optimistic an air! I think because my grandfather found the love of his life in his mid 80s I really hold out hope for love, even in the winter!
Lauren, I appreciate your optimism!
Hi Ashely,
First, I would like to thank you for sharing with us such a wonderful and optimistic thread. I enjoyed reading it a lot.
I have to admit that when I read this sonnet I felt different from what you pointed out here. This sonnet felt very dark and pessimistic, and I felt like the woman is surrender to the situation accrue in her life and she wishes it would be different.
After reading your post, I decided to read this poem again, and I tried to feel the same as you did. It was hard and different but I have to admit that I enjoyed it very much, your optimistic point of view inspired me and although I felt differently I can totally admire your perspective.
Thank you,
Shai
Hello Ashley,
I also chose this poem. I like how you’ve broken your points down here, and I find a lot of similarities in choices of lines quoted. I like how you touched on the ghosts and the “tap and sigh.” I like this choice of ward particularly because of its eerie and faint invocation, these ghosts are always distant shadows on the soul. I also find it interesting you compared the tree to strength, which makes total sense, for some reason I compared it to unwavering time.
Out of all the sonnet readings in which the class has read this week, William Shakespeare’s work “Sonnet 18” had the biggest impact on me as a reader. This reading having such an impact is due to the fact that the wording in which Shakespeare uses provides me, and I am sure others as well, with vivid imagery of what he is describing. Lines such as, “Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May” and “And often is his gold complexion dimm’d” provide beautiful imagery of nature being personified to the audience as it is done so artfully. The sonnet in and of itself explores through metaphors the beauty and the love one has for another. Shakespeare does this creatively as he personifies characteristics of the summer to someone’s beauty and the love they have for them. The way in which the sonnet ends with the voice of the sonnet stating how as long as he lives, the one in which he is writing about will give him life is the perfect way to wrap up the amount of love he has for the other.
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Richard, you’re the first one to comment on Sonnet 18. I’m glad you mention the last lines because they represent a kind homage by the poet to himself. As long as people continue to read the poem (as we are five hundred years later) the beauty of the subject lives on.
Hi Richard, I agree with you about William Shakespeare using figurative language and imagery to express how his beloved possesses an eternal beauty that far surpasses the brightness of that all too fleeting summer day. I felt like I was in his poem because it made me feel real. Besides that, Shakespeare primarily uses the imagery of nature throughout the poem to proclaim his feelings about the beauty of his beloved. It is the best poem that I’ve ever read and it is easy to understand.
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Richard,
This really is a great poem because of its descriptiveness. His comparisons of his lover being better than a summer day is so detailed. That is a great line you include, personally, I really liked the line, “But thy eternal summer shall not fade/ Nor lose possession of that fair thou lowest”, and I think here he is saying that her beauty is eternal and will be forever unlike summer that comes to an end. I also like how this poem as well as the one I wrote about “How do I love thee – Sonnet 43), begin with a rhetorical question, “Shall I compare thee to a summers day?”, which helps introduce and pretty much summarize the poem. For both poems it has helped me get a sense of how confident both authors are in their love and lover, and that this poem is just to explain it to everyone else.
Sonnet 13 is my favorite because Summer is one of my favorite seasons because I enjoy sunny days and blue skies. I, like Shakespeare, do not like the extreme heat that summer brings, but when the temperature is not over 90 degrees, it is one of the best things. Unrelated to Summer, Sonnets were my favorite thing to study while I was in high school, and for a while they inspired me so much, I considered becoming a writer/poet. Shakespeare is on my list of favorite writers because I enjoy his writing tone, and I enjoy how he was so out of the box he was constantly making stuff up because there weren’t things to describe the feelings or things he would write about. And obviously, because of his skills when it came to writing about romance. because I love reading things about love, and he is one of the best examples to look through because he is one of the masters of it–in my humble opinion.
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My favorite sonnet out of the three is Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Barett Browning. The theme is strong unconditional love and she begins to compare it to spiritual love later in the poem. The love she describes is unfathomable and limitless. The way she lists the reasons she loves her significant other is set up like arguments. I like some of the personifications she uses, “I love thee to the depth and breadth and height / My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight”. She even says that her love will extend until the afterlife in which she hopes to see her lover. I think including the line “and, if God chooses,/I shall but love thee better after death”, and specifically including the need for God’s will makes the love she is describing seem very relatable and understandable. I also really like that the comparisons she makes are not so grandiose but instead like she says “to the level of every day’s/Most quiet need”. In general, I found this poem to be very powerful but also different from a typical love poem. Most love poems I have read just use beautiful similes and metaphors to praise their lover but this poem was much more grounded.
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My favorite sonnet this week was “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun”. The saying ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’ came to mind as I was reading this. Shakespeare talks about various qualities that his mistress has and compares things like eye and lips to the sun and corals, which I thought were weird things to compare them to (especially considering that the sun is blinding when looked at directly).
Another thing that comes to mind was a line off of a track by J. Cole called “Love Yourz” where he says:
“But you ain’t never gon’ be happy till you love yours.”
Often times, people focus too much on what they want that they lose sight of what they already have. The longer I think about this sonnet, the more I’m reminded of how I miss hearing the voices of family members who’ve passed. One line from the text that really resonated with me was “I love to hear her speak, yet well I know That music hath a far more pleasing sound”. Objectively, music usually sounds more pleasing to the ears than someone talking. But when you really want to hear someone’s voice, there is no music that can fill that desire.
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I believe my favorite sonnet from this week’s reading is “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun.” (Sonnet 130)
In this Shakespearian sonnet, a rhyming couplet concludes an unaccepted result from what Shakespeare is discussing in the poem.
I found his poem realistic and honest. He is not exaggerating what love should look like to be deserved to be love. He is saying his true desire that comes from a deeper source than looks and commonly accepted beauty standards. “If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;”
I think the rhyming couple arguably is the best line of this poem because it points out that he wanted to talk about love with honesty not as others did with “false compare[ison].”
“And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any, she belied with false compare.”
We have a similar poem in Farsi. As many people might know Persian is a very poetic language. There is a book named “Layla and Majnun” that as Lord Byron called it is “the Romeo and Juliet of the East.” In this book “Nizami Ganjavi” the famous Persian poet talks about a love between two people and the way he describes this love is similar to Sonnet 130 by Shakespeare. Ganjavi says that other people saw flaws in Leyla and told Majnun to find a “better” love” but Majnun knew that his love is beyond beauty and appearance. His love was coming from a magical place that is beyond what others could see.
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My apologies because I put the wrong section number in my previous post.
my section number is: 0534
Hello Afsaneh,
I also selected this as my favorite poem! It’s really unique to me in that way that Shakespeare utilizes metaphorical language in a contrasting way, and how he employs a bit of cynicism in his piece. I agree that this poem is honest and raw, and addresses the theme that physical beauty can’t compare to the power and realness of true, authentic love. I also love that you referenced “Layla and Majnun” as having very similar characteristics and themes as this poem– I’m so intruiged and I’ll definitely have to check it out!
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Afsaneh, thank you for the cultural reference some of us might want to check out!
hey Afsaneh,
Your comment caught my attention the most. Reason is that your right about William Shakespeare, he talks about the mistress true looks. In today’s society women often get criticized if they do not look a certain way. Instead William Shakespeare spoke about the reality of beauty standards. The reality of beauty standards is love, respect, honesty, and loyalty.
How do i love this sonnet? Let me count the ways! For this week’s reading i chose Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. I like this poem mostly because of how corny it is, pardon the phrase. I feel like a teenager again almost reading this, she is emoting a pure love, that nothing can come between. The passion within the love she describes is passionate but also naive and I find a sense of warmth, nostalgia and comfort in that. It’s something I’d imagine you’d read at a wedding while reciting your vows. This poem also touches on just how much we need love in our lives, i think this is hinted at in the line “I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints.” though she has perhaps lost her faith in something intangible like religion, she has found faith in love which can almost be a religious feeling. Mostly though I just love how mushy it is; Im a big sap.
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“My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” or “Sonnet 130” is written byWilliam Shakespeare and it was one of the poems I most enjoyed reading this week. To me it seems as if this almost is a tribute in a way to say, to his mistress. I found this poem to be Shakespeare just speaking from the heart and talking about a real life experience. When he says “I grant I never saw a goddess go.” I feel that he almost regrets leaving his mistress to go back to whomever he was with at the time. The purpose of this poem in my opinion was to let go of something that he had been maybe hiding and could not anymore. Towards the end of the sonnet I think that he realized that he had made her out to be more than what she was and ultimately she was just a human being.
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My favorite poem from this week’s readings is Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Barret Browning. Browning is clearly expressing her love for someone and how deeply she loves that person. The last three lines of the poem stuck with me.
I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
Her devotion to her lover is very apparent, especially since she used the phrase “ of all my life”, she illustrates that love is a very powerful emotion that grows stronger over time. Browning describes a love that will continue for what seems like eternity. Her lover obviously meant the world to her and her love for him was intense that it might have elevated to a spiritual level. I think this was my favorite from this week because it is rare in today’s world to see a love like that, a love so pure that it transcends everything.
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Hi Karl, wow that line you quoted “I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.” was a very powerful quote. I too believe that the love was so intense that it grew on a spiritual level and it is rare to find that in this day and age. My generation especially does not know what tender love is anymore
The sonnet that struck me the most from this week’s readings was “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun (Sonnet 130)” by William Shakespeare. I knew as soon as I read it that I would be selecting it for this week’s discussion board topic. At first, I had to ensure that I was reading it correctly: could Shakespeare really be referring to his love in such a negative way? Once I recognized that the sonnet is intended to be a little cynical and humorous, I fell in love with it even more. He uses metaphorical language to contrast his lover’s qualities from those that are traditionally considered “beautiful”– something that would be found in a romantic sonnet of his time. I really appreciate the imagery he uses in the process:
“I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;”
This is groundbreaking to me because, in my experience, there is a heavy lack of humor associated with Elizabethian poetry. In the rhyming couplet at the end, however, Shakespeare basically reveals that these earthly, arguably unattractive characteristics have no significance to him, as he still finds her as precious and rare as any other subject of a romantic sonnet:
“And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.”
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Emily, I agree that Sonnet 130 is groundbreaking. Shakespeare seems to have shared your disdain for overly flowery and humorless Elizabethan poetry!
Hello Emily!
I also chose “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” or “Sonnet 130″ by William Shakespeare. I believe I was a little confused after reading it and mistook him for looking at her as such as goddess, when in reality like professor Conway said, he has never met one. After reading your post I can understand that he is “referring to his love in a negative way.” like you said. I also agree on how there is not much humor in these types of readings and for some people especially like myself, I need a there to be something pulling me In whether its exiting or humorous.
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David, I’m so glad you revisited the poem. It’s a funny one, isn’t it?
The sonnet I chose to discuss this week’s discussion board is “How Do I Love Thee” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
This sonnet theme is love, but not just ordinary love. It is about a great, fearless, and unconditionally kind of love, the kind of love we all wish to have in our lives. We can read in this sonnet about many ways to love, and different metaphors that give us the feeling of the greatest love of all.
While reading this sonnet, I first thought it is about the kind of love two partners can feel towards each other, but after reading it a few more times, I felt like this sonnet is about a greater love than this- it is about the love of a parent to their kids.
My favorite part from this sonnet is:
“I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach when feeling out of sight.”
I find this quote to be inspiring, and I wish I will experience this type of love in my life, that my soul could reach even when the feelings are not always visible from the outside.
From my point of view, this blindless and total love is the type of love a mother or a father can feel for their child. I think that while parents are looking at their child, knowing this is something they created, can feel this deep love, and I believe parents will do anything they can to protect their child.
The author ends this sonnet saying: “I shall but love thee better after death.” Which makes me wonder, do we appreciate the one who loves us the most only after they have gone? If so, I find it kind of sad and I wish we can learn how to appreciate the love we currently receive and give.
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Shai, I do agree that the unconditional nature of the love expressed in “How Do I Love Thee” seems far beyond romantic love and is usually the kind of love reserved for children or close blood relatives, such as parents.
Hello Shai,
Your points on love here are well taken. I think there is so much to flesh out about this poem too. Most of your effort is spent daydreaming after a poem like this, thinking; how do you obtain this love, or receive it. It’s easy to understand when you describe it as parents loving their child, but can you replicate that and learn how to love unconditionally. That would be a interesting life pursuit.
My favorite poem is “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” by William Shakespeare. This poem caught my attention because the author uses a lot of imagery to make his point. He uses many types of imagery to show how he feels about his mistress. When he said “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” this shows that
Shakespeare is trying to express how he feels about his mistress. The reason why I chose this poem is because Shakespeare is one of my favorite authors but after reading this poem I found out it was very funny Shakespeare would write this kind of poem. I think this poem is very interesting the way he expresses his feelings through the poem. It shows the reader how he feels about his mistress and how much she means to him. My favorite part of this poem is when he says “ 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”. This line also shows how much he loves her. The way Shakespeare describes her beauty and how much he loved her the way she is.
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The poem that I found the most favorable , not by choice but by something i can relate to is “The Eyes of My Mistress Are Nothing Like the Sun.” It’s a poem I admired really a lot and I also took joy and laughter in a lot about it. In this case, the protagonist of the sonnet is the beloved woman – and due to the fact sonnet is not the beloved woman at all ; and Shakespeare begins by explaining all the faults of his sweet half, instead of praising the beauty of the beloved. The intention is to contrast the pure women ( Angelic ) Woman’s romantic ideal. The woman portrayed by the poet is not “like the sun”; she does not have co-colored lips. She has a different interpretation of everything , that might just not be accepted by anybody or everybody. This shows a similarity to my life when i was in highschool. It shows that i was in an friendship where all my friends were beautiful and i was neglected. Then after i was approached by a modeling agency and they wanted me and not my friends because they wanted my look instead of my friends, which shows that they accepted me.
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Osamende, yes, I think Shakespear is drawing contrast between ideas of the angel woman versus a real-life woman. I’m not sure I quite understand the connection to the modeling agency and how your friends accepted you after that.
The poem “My Mistress’s Eyes Are Nothing like the Sun,” is definitely one of my top 3 poems. I love how the speaker expresses the way he doesn’t see his mistress in comparison to the things he was comparing her to. The speaker views love through a realistic view, by not making false comparisons between his mistress like others would do for her to acknowledge that he genuinely loves her. The theme of this poem is Real beauty v. Cliché beauty, contrasting a woman that is idealized with an authentic woman. Shakespeare describes his mistresses flaws and her imperfections and comes to the conclusion by basically saying even though she has these imperfections and flaws that his mistress is still as special as those who are given fake comparisons. The irony throughout the lines in this poem really made me laugh, in this poem the speaker seems like he is dispraising his mistress, but he is actually praising her instead. My favorite line was, “I think my love as rare as any she belied with false compare” (Shakespeare lines 14-15) this shows that he actually thinks she’s wonderful and alluring.
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Hi Zakiyah,
I really agree with your analysis of Sonnet 130. This poem is really unique in how Shakespeare deconstructs the person he speaks about rather then build them up as other poems would. I often find that poems relating to a significant other often put this person on a pedestal that is untouchable and almost angelic. But Shakespeare ultimately builds this person up to be the complete opposite, disappointingly and almost frustratingly plain. Nothing profoundly remarkable about her in any way shape or form. All done in a way that’s very tongue in cheek which makes it stand out from other poems.
Hi Zakiyah,
I agree with you that “ the speaker expresses the way he doesn’t see his mistress in comparison to the things he was comparing her to” because he uses imagery to show how beautiful and innocent his mistress is. He also uses personification to show how beautiful her eyes are to him. This poem shows that Shakespeare was trying to make a point about love, but it’s not just about love. It’s also how people view their own beauty. When we look at our own beauty, we tend to think of it as something that should be admired. This way Shakespeare creates this image of beauty is through the use of personification.
All of the poems were beautifully composed, but I must say my favorite has to be “My Mistress’ Eyes are Nothing like the Sun.” I found this poem quite funny; I wasn’t expecting the poem to be how it was. Throughout the poem, Shakespeare was expressing all of his mistress’ flaws, which is the complete opposite of the types of poems and other works of literature written during this time. Which were mainly about love and women and their great beauty. Shakespeare uses a vast amount of imagery when comparing certain things to his mistress such as, “Coral is far more red than her lips‘red.” This line is explaining that her lips have little to no color in them. My favorite line in the poem has to be, “And in some perfumes is there more delight than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.” Shakespeare is pretty much saying that his mistress’ breath smells and gets more joy out of most perfumes. Another line I found funny is, “I love to hear her speak, yet well I know that music hath a far more pleasing sound.” He is stating that he finds the sound of music to be more satisfying than the sound of his mistress voice. I find this funny because I can compare it to how couples compare their significant other. Especially how men say annoying and unpleasant women when they “nag.” At the end of the poem, Shakespeare then begins to say that his love is rare and everything he said was out of honesty.
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Hello Senia, I also found this poem very funny when I read the title. As we can see this poem has some imagery in its verses. You chose good verses from the poem to explain what you like the most. I also find these verses very interesting in the poem. I like your ideas and thought at the end of your post. You are right all couples compare their significant other. I know that sometimes we (men) exaggerate saying annoying and unpleasant things about women and you get offended.
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Out of the four sonnets I read, the one that struck me the most was Sonnet 130, my mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun. Many poems I’ve read over the years dabble in romance in a very sentimental and aching fashion, as do some of the other poems we read. So what immediately caught my attention about this sonnet was the fact that it was so subversive in the way it views relationships. What better way to do that than describing a relationship with an unattractive mistress? I love the way it swaps pleasing and sooting imagery with that of disgust and odor: “I have seen roses damasked, 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 the very passive aggressive lines that minimize the mistress’s attributes: “I love to hear her speak, yet well I know that music hath a far more pleasing sound”. The sonnet is almost a breath of fresh air from the vast amount of poetry that portray longing and desire.
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Caleb, “a breath of fresh air” is a good way to describe Shakespeare’s departure from the typical love poems of his day—and of today, even.
Hello Caleb, I also chose this sonnet. As you say it dabbles in romance. I like the way the author describes the mistress by comparing some of her characteristics. The author is not talking about a beautiful woman, he is describing a simple woman that he is in love with. In this poem, we can find a lot of imagery when the author is comparing his mistress. I like it when you say “The sonnet is almost a breath of fresh air” it really has good content in all its verses.
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Of all the sonnets I have read this week, Sonnet 18 stands out as my poem of choice. As one reads this sonnet, not only does it make for a greater appreciation of the art of poetry, but it highlights the beauty of nature. Even more interesting is the comparison the poet makes to the loveliness of nature particularly the season of summer, and the beauty of the one he has great admiration for. In the process however, Shakespeare gives more credit to the splendor of his admirer as being “more lovely and temperate,” than the summer which he describes harshly as being shaken by winds that are rough and excessive heat as “sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines.” Another great contrast that is made by this poet is that of the fading of nature as is evident by the change of season from summer to fall. Additionally, he points to what death does to man, but the poet assures his admirer and the reader that his beauty is one that will last and withstand the test of time as it is written in poetry and will be read throughout the ages as is being done now.
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Hi Kendra, while the sonnet does highlight the beauty of nature, I really agree with the idea that it makes for a greater appreciation of the art of poetry. I personally don’t read or write poetry in my free time, yet reading the poem did make me look at summer from a different perspective for the time being. It’s a different type of art compared to a lot of modern art emerging. I would never think to compare someone I love to the season of summer but it’s fascinating to see people like Shakespeare do so.
The poem I liked the best was William Shakespeare’s sonnet 130 due to its honesty regarding his mistress. The poem fits for its time, comparing one’s love to aspects of nature or the environment. However, the fact that this poem wasn’t about his mistress’ beauty really spoke to me as it was kind of a paradox. Writing about love but at the same time writing how his woman wasn’t traditionally beautiful is interesting to me. His lines “I grant I never saw a goddess go; My mistress when she walks treads on the ground” emphasizes the lack of beauty or mediocrity that this woman possesses. This stuck out to me because it seems as though sonnets were characterized to describe the most beautiful people, feelings, and sights, yet Shakespear is finding the beauty in the ordinary. Looking at it from this lens and then reading the couplets “And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare As any she belied with false compare” it seems as though Shakespear is moved by his love for his mistress because she’s mediocre or doesn’t stand out, which then becomes the beauty of the poem.
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Hi Chad, I love this sonnet for the same reason as you. It feels to me like an early version of body positivity that seems to be so rare even today. There is a big difference between being blind to your partner’s faults and idolizing a false, “perfect” version of the person you claim to love, and recognizing their imperfections and loving them just as much as you love their attractive features. I like your description of that form of love as honest, and I think that it is not only an honest love, but a deeper and realer one than the blind adoration described in other sonnets. And as you say, just as Shakespeare’s mistress is beautiful because of her imperfections, so is the poem beautiful because of its real, honest love.
Hey Chad,
I enjoyed this sonnet as well, I found it to beautiful. I love how he he is in love with a women that is out of the norm. He doesn’t regard the traditional standards of beauty and I love that. It’s kinda also humorous that he speaking of his Mistress in such a way, but I understand his enjoyment of the simple things.
I enjoyed each of the sonnets we read this week. I found them evocative and lovely to read. My favorite by far, however, was Edna St. Vincent Millay’s “What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why”. When I think of a sonnet, I picture a rather soppy love poem filled with sweet nothings and grand promises. Millay’s poem, however, turned those expectations on their head. She writes not about her deep feelings for a lover, but rather her lack of a partner, and her fading memories of those she once knew. The poem, while beautiful, is both lonely and familiar. I was especially struck by the final lines of the poem, where she remarks “I only know that summer sang in me/A little while, that in me sings no more”. It is one thing to crave the feeling of being in love when you’ve never experienced it before–but a wholly different sensation when you’ve been in love and are no longer. When you know what it feels like to have a summer sing in you, your chest may feel all the more hollow and empty when you have to go without. For me, this sonnet was the most compelling to read because of those complex themes of loneliness and yearning, especially because they served to transform my understanding of what a sonnet is and how it can be used.
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For this week the sonnet I liked was My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun (sonnet 130) by William Shakespeare. I like this one first for the title. As the author goes through the poem he is comparing his mistress with other things and as we can see she is not the best beautiful woman. But he is feeling happy with that simple mistress and she is very important to him. I also like this one because it is related to love feelings. we can see that he is not describing a perfect woman or describing how she looks. He has a special feeling for her. The best sentence or line that I like most is “I love to hear her speak” everybody has that special person that loves hearing her/his speak. Because talking with someone special makes a special Feeling. Communication and interaction with others are essential for human beings.
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My favorite sonnet was “My Mistress’ Eyes Are Nothing like the Sun”. I find this sonnet to be fascinating with its humor. In this sonnet Shakespeare compares his mistress’ features to a number of things. In the first two lines he states “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips’ red”. These comparisons are rather unique because they are not necessarily in admiration of the lover. In saying her eyes aren’t as bright as the sun and her lips aren’t as red as coral, Shakespeare seems to poke fun at the woman’s beauty. My favorite lines are “I love to hear her speak, yet well I know That music hath a far more pleasing sound”. These lines follow the same theme of the ones before seemingly poking fun at the qualities of the woman. In this sonnet Shakespeare uses metaphors to subvert the theme of the usual sonnet where a woman’s beauty is praised.
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“My Mistress’s Eyes Are Nothing like the Sun.” is my favorite poem from this week. I enjoyed Shakespeare’s use of irony and his obvious distaste for love poems. The twist at the end of the poem, ““And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare As any she belied with false compare.” showed that he loved his mistress despite her imperfections. This was very unexpected and interesting. I was surprised that Shakespeare used humor because he is more known for tragedies.
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Marisa, please see “Information about Discussion Boards” in COURSE INFORMATION for length requirements.
Out of the four poems assigned, the Italian Sonnet “What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why” by Edna St. Vincent Millay, is my choice. I don’t feel any particular way about this poem, rather I don’t really have much interest in Shakespeare.
From my point of view the Octave in this poem outlines the readers slight struggle to come to terms with something. It would seem that “something” is the passing of a promiscuous life, “I have forgotten, and what arms have lain”; or perhaps it’s the passing of youth. I think line four, “Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh”, is easy to relate too. Memories of past encounters always spring up in odd places at odd times, and are hazy, like ghosts.
The Sestet seems structured to provide a realization, or eventual acceptance of this fate of passing of time. I didn’t do any external research on this poem so all I have to go on are my weak interpretations. It seems to me by the last three lines that the writer is providing herself the resolution to the immediate internal problem , but is also alluding to a bigger picture about life. We often don’t see or choose to make the right choices in life, or neglect the opportunities as they pass by; only to realize later that the time frame for those experiences have passed, “Thus in the winter stands the lonely tree.”
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Hi Patrick,
I really like your choice. “What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why” is a great poem and I love the quotes you picked especially “I have forgotten, and what arms have lain” and how you compare them to the descriptions of passing life. I personally liked this poem because of the emotion you can feel when reading it and i can see why you chose it.
Michael, please be sure not to just agree with a colleague. We need expand the discussion with each post.
Patrick, please pay special attention to the seasonal imagery of the poem, which suggests that the speaker is in the wintertime of her life. It does not indicate that she was promiscuous. She is looking back on her youth and the boys she kissed when she was young in the summer of her life.
My favorite Sonnet is “Shall I compare thee to a summers’ day?” by Shakespeare. The reason why its my favorite sonnet is because of the romantic tone of the poem and how it describes the person who the poem is referring to as a “summers day”. I also like the rhythm of the poem and how it keeps up the constant comparative praise towards who the poem is comparing and i really loves that a lot. One part of the poem I liked was,
“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;”.
This was my favorite quote because its a prime example of what makes the poem. It perfectly describes its meaning and what it is made for in a way that gives a clean cut image of how the person is compared to a “summers day”.
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Hi Micheal Mannix, I enjoyed your post. I too really enjoyed the rhythm of this sonnet, and its very true that he almost relentlessly compares her to all the wonderful things he can possibly think of. This is a great quote and sums up the sonnet very well, i think you picked a great example from the sonnet to show this! i chose Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. I like this poem mostly because of how corny it is.
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My favorite sonnet is “My Mistress’s Eyes Are Not Like the Sun”. William Shakespeare describes this mistress as not being “beautiful”. He begins to describe the flaws she has and the describes her physically not saying anything else but exposing her for who she was physically. “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;” The mistress eyes are not bright and her lips are not as red. William Shakespeare writes down an ideal look of a beautiful women in peoples’ eyes. Bright colored eyes, red lips, beautiful skin, thick hair with pink rose cheeks. Towards the end of the sonnet William Shakespeare he writes that the mistress rare beauty was nothing to be compared to. William Shakespeare shows us that physical beauty is not important at all. There are other things you can fall in love with and the love you will have for that person will be unconditional love nothing to be compared. He loves her for who she was in the first place, with all her flaws.
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My favorite poetry from this week`s reading was “How do I love thee” by Elizabeth Barrett because of the simple yet philosophical language she uses to sing to her love. I think she was very direct in expressing her feelings as the first lines show “How do I love the? Let me count the ways” ,and she immediately starts mentioning the ways her love’s strength is comparable to her most important life’s moments and activities as : “I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach…”. Unlike some other writers’ poems, I didn’t even have to read “Why do I love thee” twice to understand what it is about or what is the speaker’s position. Barrett makes it all clear for us that her love is pure and she is striving for it with all her being.
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I much preferred William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 over the other poems because it was simplistic in its diction and its character. The other poems require a rereading in order to make heads or tails of each sentence but this sonnet is more clear in it’s messaging. It is simply about how the author loves this women despite her lack of beauty. He builds up her less than charming characteristics and only mentions the superficial details. He doesn’t mention anything about her personality or actions because no matter how many flaws she has, he will still love her. He doesn’t idolize her or call her perfect in any way other than she is perfect enough to love. Which is much more believable and relatable because in reality people are deeply flawed and everyone has moments where they aren’t great to look at. Poems like sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare set a high and unreachable expectation that someone can be more beautiful, more caring, and more eternal than summer.
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Christopher, just a note with respect to Sonnet 18, the poem is also a homage to poetry itself, not just a homage to a beautiful subject.
My favorite poem is “How Do I Love Thee” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning because Browning is expressing her limitless love for the person she loves the most. My favorite phase is “I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life”. She’s expressing how she loves him through the good and the bad with her entire being. “I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight” She could feel their love in the depths of her soul even when he’s not around. Their love is eternal and last lifetimes even after death, “I shall but love thee better after death.” With faith and God their love can stand the test if time. They will be together forever and their love for each other will only get stronger as they grow.
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My favorite poem was “How Do I Love Thee” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. My favorite stanzas in this poem was “I love thee freely, as men strive for right. I love thee purely, as they turn from praise”. I loved the way this poem was able to be read in a very rhythmic way for me, sometimes it is difficult to find the right way to phrase the poems. I could hear this poem being read in a couples vows. Being a hopeless romantic myself, I absolutely loved that part of it. She was giving a promise to her love, which she dedicated this to her husband, but I can see many couples reading and using this poem for many years. It is timeless, because love is timeless as well.
My favorite sonnet was “What lips have kissed, and where, and why.” The speaker is tormented by the loss of her memories of love and regrets having loved at all. Millay purposely uses the form of an Italian sonnet. These type of sonnets traditionally honors and showcases love, to question whether it is worth it to love at all. I enjoy this prom because relatable for a anybody is reflects on their love life. Such as myself it made me think of my old regrets in past relationship and how it gave me heart aches similar to the poets. Consequently, the speaker is haunted by the fact that she’s forgotten these memories and emotions. The rain outside her window sounds as though it is full of “ghosts … tap[ping] and sigh[ing]/ [u]pon the glass.” These may be the ghosts of her previous lovers themselves or the ghosts of the speaker’s memories of those lovers.
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Isis, please reread “What My Lips . . .” with special attention to the seasonal imagery, which suggests the seasons of a life.
My favorite poem was “How Do I Love Thee” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. The reason this poem was my favorite is because it had to do with loving someone with all of your heart and soul. What I liked most about this poem was the fact that the person that Elizabeth was expressing her love for is not specific or mentioned. So it leaves the reader wondering who is this person that she is expressing her love towards. For example, while I was reading the poem, I started to wonder if she was talking about her child instead of a lover or a parent/ family member. Also, as a reader I felt that I can connect to her words on how she loved this person so much because we’ve all been there at some point in life, whether for a lover, friend or a family member.
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My favorite poem is “How Do I Love Thee” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Throughout the poem, Browning expresses how deeply in love she is with her significant other and it made me wonder about the history between the two. What happened in their past that has fortified their love so passionately? When Browning says “I love thee with a love I seemed to lose” it gives me the idea that whoever this poem is about was once wounded emotionally in the past but this new breath of love has helped reestablished what it means to love. A love that not only last a lifetime but transcends our physical beings that gets “better after death”. For Browning there’s no conceivable way to truly account for all the love her character has for their partner but that doesn’t stop them from spilling their guts and leaving them vulnerable and susceptible to heartbreak. All that matters is that each second is a reminder of how in love they truly are.
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My favorite sonnet was sonnet 18 by Shakespeare, I found it interesting how he compares his beloved to a summer day, be he describes their love as “more lovely and more temperate.” It is a nice sonnet and it deep, I love Shakespeare metaphors and how he compared his love to the Summer. “But thy eternal summer shall not fade” I like this portion of the sonnet until the end. Its very romantic and beautiful. I felt like a connection to the sonnet because my name is Summer. This is the kind of sonnet I would want read at my wedding.
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