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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 include direct quotes from the poem.
Also, address comments to others by name so we can all follow along.
70 thoughts on “Week 11 Discussion”
The sonnet that was my personal favorite was Sonnet 18 and it was my favorite because I personally loved how Shakespeare compared his beloved beauty to a summer day. It is as if he praised the beauty and how much it was so powerful to him. For example when he stated “Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;” (Shakespeare 5-6). Shakespeare personifies the “eye of heaven” and the “gold complexion” of the sun but gives a imagery of how his lover will never truly die. The poem is memorable and what makes it even better was that it was his intentions to make it memorable. The theme that comes from this poem is the powerful stability of love and the power it contains of immortalizing a person that is truly special to you. With being able to compare the love you have for someone to a beauty of nature makes it very special to me because it’s pure and authentic.
Hi Samijah, I really like your interpretation of Sonnet 18 by Shakespeare. Personally, it was always difficult for me to like Shakespeare because I could never piece together what he was trying to say but your explanation helps a lot. In a sense Shakespeare is right, the people we love never truly die and they never truly leave us. Even the ones that have hurt us the most, we remember the pain and the love we felt in hearts and that serves as a remainder of what love can give and take away. In a way loving is certainly a blessing and a curse. It’s always feels good to be in love but losing that feeling of love makes us miserable and hateful. It makes us vulnerable to lose a part of us that matters, and that vulnerability is dangerous to have in a world where people love taking advantage.
Hello Samijahrodriguez,
I am truly impressed by your comment- your analysis is on point! You understood the poet’s use of imagery of the sun to speak of the beauty of his love. I really loved his metaphor ‘ the eye of heaven’- it is so authentic. You also identify a theme. The theme of the ability of love to ‘immortalize’ someone that is special to you. Wow! Truly love is that powerful. The memory of a passed loved one of mine truly keeps him alive to me. Also, I agree that the comparison of love to nature is rather beautiful.
Hi Samijah,
Sonnet 18 was also my favorite. Shakespeare writes of intense feelings and the power of love. The love and energy he has for someone transforms to a summer’s day. His connection to the friend is as beautiful and special as the month of May. He is surrounded by the love. And to him, it is unforgettable. Death will not stop the admiration. It will live on for eternity. “So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.”
My favorite sonnet this week was “What my lips have kissed, and where, and why”. I liked the poem best because it invoked feelings of love, loneliness, and uncertainty. Whether I like to admit it or not I am attracted to poems that dive deep into the essence of where being heartbroken leaves you. The truth is it leaves you broken, not just mentally but emotionally and spiritually. It leaves you laying in a puddle of tears littered with the stench of regret, thinking how did we ever end up here? The theme of the poem is heartbreak of course, the author is reminiscing about an old unforgettable love. She has had many lovers but the love she talks about specifically seems more extraordinary than the others, losing this love makes her tearful, losing this love makes her feel lonely. One phrase that really struck me was “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 extraordinary love sang an unforgettable tone in her heart, the kind of melodic tone that you remember from that catchy song that you keep humming. This love was her catchy melody and when she lost it, she lost the sound for that melody too.
Giovanni, I love this poem too. It is very poignant. You quote a line from the poem, “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.” I’d like you to think about that line a bit more, as well as the other references to nature in the poem. What season of life is being remembered? What season of life do you sense the speaker is in? Talking about poems is often the road into them, as mentioned in the Hirsch article. I wonder if others can join in this discourse about the sonnet.
Hi Giovanni, I really like this poem as well. As I read it, I felt the longing for love that the poet was describing. Specifically, when they wrote, “I have forgotten, and what arms have lain / Under my head till morning” (Millay), I felt I could feel that the poet was missing the connection of having someone next to her. The tone of this poem was lonely and reminiscent of better days.
Hey Giovanni, I also like this poem very much. When I read it, I feel the same way. It is full of feelings of loneliness and wanting to love. The author is reminiscing about the lost love, she said when all the love has left her, leaves the sense of loneliness alone. “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.” What makes her lonely is not the situation of the current person, but that she has never found what she wants in the fierce emotions and people who come and go in the past. Even if someone had surrounded her, it didn’t seem to make much sense to her.
Giovanni
I agree with you, I also loved this poem for its depth and I think The author is tormented by the loss of her memories of love and regrets having loved at all. the author goes on to compare herself to a solitary tree during the winter and I also agree with you 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”. All she knows is that she experienced pleasurable and summery feelings of love in the past, though only for a brief time; now, the author is filled only with a sense of loss.
Hi Giovanni,
I am truly impressed by your comment on the poem “what my lips have kissed, and where, and why” Because it is a very sadistic poem. You narrated very well about the situation of the speaker. He is in a very desolate and lonely situation. The speaker is memorizing his past when his beloved was near to him. You exactly describe that she has many lovers but despite this speaker is very sad and did not want to leave her. But one thing that is very important for the poem is comparison and contrast. The speaker extends the comparison by recounting how she used to know summer, connecting herself to a tree in the winter. Summer is associated with sentiments of camaraderie, as well as enjoyment and fulfillment. While last lines are sad since they offer no hope for the speaker’s situation to change, no hope that she would be able to experience summer once more.
My favorite sonnet I read this week was Sonnet 130, “My Mistress’ Eyes are Nothing Like the Sun” by William Shakespeare. Unlike some of the other poems from this week, I had never read this Sonnet, so I liked how it was new. Not only that, but it was a little surprising to me, as the first line was the opposite of most love poems, insulting the mistress, rather than complimenting her. I as continued to read the poem, I was surprised by the amount of insults mentioned about the mistress, such as: “I love to hear her speak, yet well I know / That music hath a far more pleasing sound” (Shakespeare). At the end, when the poet concluded by saying despite all his mistress’ “flaws,” he still felt that she was rare, I was surprised. I liked how this poem caught me off guard from beginning to end.
Anna, yes, I know the feeling when you start to read Sonnet 130, and you suddenly realize it’s a big spoof. I remember the first time I read it and how the floor suddenly seemed to slip out. It’s pretty hilarious, isn’t it? And yes, that’s putting it well when you say that it catches us off guard. Shakespeare had a wicked sense of humor.
Hello Anna, I agree with you. I actually like this sonnet as it stands out from others and is realistic. It somehow tells us that one doesn’t have to be perfect, and there will be people who love and admire them. I think this sonnet tells us this unlike other ones that focus a lot on the perfection of a woman which sometimes sounds surreal. I also like the mention of the uniqueness despite the flaws at the ending.
Hello Anna, I completely agree with you and think what you are saying is true, I found it just a little odd that instead of drooling over his mistress because he had to like her enough to want to make her his mistress that he was insulting her rather than complimenting her. That he has a bittersweet moment because we know in order to have a mister you have to have an affair so it was something outstanding to him that caught his eye to make him like her but for the insulting to play a role makes it kind of bittersweet. Yet she was so rare to him that even with the mistakes he made he made them because she was the one that caught his eye.
Hey Anna,
I also chose this same sonnet to write about because it is a great topic to write about. I agree with your point where the poem had a very unusual starting line for a generic love poem. Most love poems seem to start off with a compliment about their loved one but not this one.
Hey, Anna
I wanted to add onto your analysis of Sonnet 130 since it says al it for Shakespeare character and wit.
A lot of this has to do with tone. What is the tone of this poem? Is it sarcastic? Is it tongue-in-cheek? Is it trying to be honest at the end? I wouldn’t be too reverent towards Shakespeare. I know a lot of students who have encountered Shakespeare in high school and they kind of go, “well, I have to admire this guy apparently. He’s such a genius. He must be romantic, he must be serious.” But no. really take Shakespeare as somebody who is trying to be clever, he’s trying to show off and he’s not doing that just for his beloved. He’s also doing it to have this kind of poetic competition with other people. And that gets at this question of audience. So, who is the intended audience for this poem? Is this really addressed to his beloved? I don’t think so, because if you address a poem to your beloved you don’t say “my mistress.” You write “your eyes.” So, this is in the third person. These other women have been lied to, and what does that imply? That they aren’t beautiful? How far again is this pendulum swinging? I think that’s sort of the bigger question behind it. So, we have a question of honesty then. We have a question of audience, and what we’re starting to see here is that Shakespeare is actually much less interested in the woman than he is in his own fame. So, this question of fame that’s important. He’s basically using her for fairly selfish purposes — to make fun of other sonneteers. And so, she is there not so much to be remembered herself, but to be kind of used and abused in some ways so that Shakespeare can say, “look at me. I’s witty. I’m so clever. I can turn it all around at the end and salvage something out of all of these insults.”
My favorite Sonnet is Sonnet 43 “How do I love thee? ” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. This is a poem about love, it perfect expression of unswerving love. “I love thee with a love I seemed to lose; With my lost saints; I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.” It’s not enough to express the love of a lifetime, even more love after death. After reading this poem, I was deeply interested in Elizabeth Barrett Browning. What can make her write such a soulful verse? What impressive things happened to her and her husband to create such a beautiful poem. It’s hard to imagine the intense love of the author. It’s rare to have such a love now. Today’s society has such a mind, but reality always breaks the laws of life. Although the previous era is not too good, it is a rare achievement to fight for your love. A perfect love is endless.
Hello Shihao Chen, Nice choice of the poem ” How do I love thee” this is also an interesting poem. I have read this multiple times. Because in this poem the poet “Elizabeth” is trying to show how the meaning of love. And the expression of love and the way to show love which only can found in this kinds of poem. This poem actually indicates the meaning of real love and the value of real love.
Hello Shihao,
The sonnet that you chose to write about was my second choice. I agree with you when you said it is rare to find such a intense love as shown in this poem. I like how you compare love in society in different generations and eras because there are many things that change over time. For instance you said fighting for your love is something not seen a lot these days which I agree with.
ShiHao, it’s wonderful that you became interested in Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s life after reading her sonnet. I’m sure you were impressed by the drama of her deep romance and elopement with her husband against her father’s wishes. Next week we’ll be reading a poem by her husband, Robert.
Hello everyone. My favorite sonnet from this week is “How Do I Love Thee” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. I have read this poem somewhere before. The title captured my attention. It is a sonnet expressing the poet’s love for her husband I presume. It is a very romantic sonnet written in the form of Italian Sonnet. Line 1 and line 4 rhymes and the two lines in between rhymes. This pattern repeats for the Octave. And the rest of the poem which is called the Sestet rhymes every three lines. The whole sonnet has a total of fourteen lines.
This is probably the easiest poem for me to understand as it is simple and relatable. For someone who always have a hard time expressing myself, this sonnet speaks for me. The writer loves her husband deeply in so many different ways. “I love thee to the depth and breadth and height” (Line 2) is a very expressive one for me. All the nouns show the measureable quantities that people often use to measure their affection for someone. I believe the writer use these words to express that her love is very deep, very wide, and very high, is every growing, expanding as just these measurements that can keep growing.
Another part I like is the use of “… with my childhood’s faith” (Line 10). I like this line because it shows the innocence a child has and how a child would put faith into something and keep on believing without the knowledge of getting betrayed or hurt. It is very meaningful and somehow sad as love can hurt us but we still do believe and keep on loving.
Thin, thank you for this wonderful breakdown of the various lines in “How Do I Love Thee?” I think this one of the most beloved poems of the English language, and you have touched on so many reasons for why this is so. I especially like your clear interpretation about the phrasing “with my childhood’s faith.” The poem uses every kind of measurement to try and express what is inexpressible.
From the readings of the week, my favorite was Shakespeare’s sonnet “My Mistress Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun.” I particularly enjoy this reading for its unexpected subject
Shakespeare lived during the Elizabethan time, which was during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. During that time, I perceive that literature most retracts beauty, purity and sweetness. When I first read the title, it made me think about Charles Baudelaire, who wrote The Flowers of Evil, two centuries after Shakespeare. Baudelaire is known for writing about controversial topics such as homelessness, human and urban decay, sex, and alcoholism. And yet, I believe this particular sonnet brought the two aspects from these two poets that I like the most. From Baudelaire, see that this on it contains raw reality. He is writing about a mistress, not the love of his life, and yet, she was not the heavenly creature as we read, “never saw a goddess go; My mistress when she walks treads on the ground” (Shakespeare 10-11). At the same time, I perceive a sweetness from him as I was expecting. He did not describe her as immoral or deceived (as Baudelaire more often did). Wich makes the Couplet my favorite part of the sonnet. “And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare” (Shakespeare 13-14).
Deanne, yes the surprising nature of Sonnet 130 is a pleasure. You are so right that love poetry of the time tended to be gushy, sentimental, and overly romantic. Shakespeare’s poem not only expresses love and humor but comments on the silliness of those overly romanticized poems.
My favorite sonnet is “What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why (Sonnet 43)”. The first thing that stands out to me is the title- it stirs curiosity within me. The use of synecdoche by referring to people as ‘lips’ specifies the focus of the poet’s longings. Repetition of ‘lips’ emphasizes the earnestness of the poet. More so, the use of alliteration: ‘what’, ‘where’ and ‘why’ is a very effective tool to get me interested. She counts it as sorrow that she no longer remembers her past romances. At this point, I gain an interest in her emotional state and desire to read more.
The poet is lonely because she no longer has loving memories to comfort her. I have people in my life that I love. If I were to forget my memories of them, I would also be devastated just as the poet. The poet suffers from a ‘quiet pain’. This phrase illustrates silent suffering – pain that troubles one silently from within. I believe this emotional state is a very common human experience which makes the poet quite relatable. More so, describing her emotions stirs sympathy within me and helps me engage with her personally.
The poet uses the imagery of the natural environment by using the words: ‘tree’, ‘winter’, ‘birds’.By comparing herself to a tree in the wintertime, I am stimulated intellectually to relate her emotional state to that of a lone tree in the harsh winter. After which, I can conclude that she feels lifeless, depressed, and alone. Furthermore, the poet beautifully ends the sestet with a metaphor about summertime. She claims the summer ‘sang’ in her for a moment but ‘sings’ no more. Summer connotes heat and light which directly contrasts the cold and dullness of summer. I understand that she was once merry and full of life, but now the merriness has passed and is now gone. Personally, I find the poet’s emotional state intriguing.
Olere, thanks for these good comments and for your personal reflection on the feeling of loss and nostalgia expressed in the poem. I hope you’ll go one step further and take another look at the nature imagery in the poem. You mention that speaker likens herself to a tree in wintertime and that summer once “sang” in her. How might these images relate to the seasons of life? And what season of life might this speaker be in as she wakes alone on a rainy night?
Hi Olere,
I am truly impressed by your comment on the poem “what my lips have kissed, and where, and why” Because it is a very sadistic poem. You narrated very well about the situation of the speaker. He is in a very desolate and lonely situation. The speaker is memorizing his past when his beloved was near to him. You exactly describe that she has many lovers but despite this speaker is very sad and did not want to leave her. But one thing that is very important for the poem is comparison and contrast. The speaker extends the comparison by recounting how she used to know summer, connecting herself to a tree in the winter. Summer is associated with sentiments of camaraderie, as well as enjoyment and fulfillment. While last lines are sad since they offer no hope for the speaker’s situation to change, no hope that she would be able to experience summer once more.
Hello Samijahrodriguez,
I am truly impressed by your comment- your analysis is on point! You understood the poet’s use of imagery of the sun to speak of the beauty of his love. I really loved his metaphor ‘ the eye of heaven’- it is so authentic. You also identify a theme. The theme of the ability of love to ‘immortalize’ someone that is special to you. Wow! Truly love is that powerful. The memory of a passed loved one of mine truly keeps him alive to me. Also, I agree that the comparison of love to nature is rather beautiful.
My favorite sonnet was, “What My Lips Have Kissed and Why and When” because I personally love the way this woman compares her love life to winter trees. Compare how she has forgotten the people who have been with her as well as a Arborl does not even see the places that are on him, “I have forgotten, and what arms have been Under my head until morning (2-3)” “Thus in the winter stands the lonely tree,
Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one, (10-11) “. This has a deep conviction since, as she says, the tree does not know what places are in it or which birds have died in it and she does not remember who have these, when and why? and summery feelings of love in the past, though only for a brief time; now, She is filled only with a sense of loss. “I only know that summer sang in me
A little while, that in me sings no more “. (14-15)
Hello, Ivanna
I was really intrigued with your explanation of the the poem and it made me realize that all if not most of the poems this week involve love.You talk about how she compares her love to winter trees, but don’t explain why her love was similar to winter trees. The quotes you used seemed to give me an understanding of how her love would be in comparison to the winter trees. Good job but I wish you would of explained a little more so your readers understand the poem better.
Ivanna, I love “What My Lips Have Kissed . . .” too! I will say to you what I have to others who have mentioned this poem. That is, that I hope you will look more closely at the nature imagery and what it might tell readers about the season life in which the speaker is. Summer sings in her no more, and she compares herself to a lonely winter tree. Maybe because students are still young they sometimes miss the full meaning of these images that evoke such feelings of loss.
My favorite sonnet of this week is “Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee too a summer’s day” This was such an exciting sonnet by Willam Shakespeare. He was a great poet who can exactly create images from the word and make a poem. In this sonnet, the poet is comparing summer days with his loved one, and he is also confused about comparing in the first rhyme, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate”. He is describing summer days are lovely and hot like he finds his loved one is. In the poem poet also says that his love cannot die like summer days he wants to give his love so long life and make immortal like summer days “So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.” from this poem poet is expressing his love to the infinite and saying that man can die, but his love will never die and will live forever which will give the example of the love forever through the time.
Hello Saroj, I want to start off by saying what a good choice to pick, I also picked that same poem. I think the confusing at the first line is interesting. That he was more so not confused but as you can see while continuing to read that his love was so strong and outstanding for her could he compare her to more than just a summer day. But the comparison is such a good piece that it allows you to create a sense of imagery in your head. I also like how you mentioned how the love will never die because love that is true in fact never dies for anything. No matter if it fades or becomes dull true love will allow you to find the beauty in it always so that it continues to stay strong. Good work.
Saroj, thanks for the good comments. Yes, the poet is saying that his lover is like the beauty of summer but that summer dims and fades while she/he will not. And what is it that give immortality to the lover? Shakespeare is also giving a bit of praise to himself here, isn’t he?
Hey saroj, I really like you choice of sonnet same as mine.The way Shakespeare wrote the sonnet itself is a warm feeling.I really like how you conveyed Shakespeares poem and explained it.Hats off to you for writing it in such manner.
Hi, Saroj. I actually like this sonnet as well because Shakespeare describes the summer in England is very beautiful. I agree most of your comments. However, I think Shakespeare compares the youth to a summer. It is not his loved one. This sonnet tells us teenagers age is very short, just like the summer is too short in England.
Hi, Saroj. I just browsed the professor’s comments above. You are right. It is about his love one.
Sonnet 18 was also my favorite. Shakespeare writes about intense emotions and the power of love. The love and energy he has for someone changes on a summer day. The relationship with his friends is as beautiful and special as in May. He is surrounded by love. And for him it is unforgettable. Death does not stop praise. It will live forever. “This will live long, and this will give you life.”
Out of all the sonnets I have read this week, Sonnet 130 is my favorite and I enjoyed it the most. I liked this poem because it talks about real love and how stereotypes should not be a standard that you hold your loved one to. I like that the narrator speaks about the flaws of his mistress because it shows that he knows them and still has love for her. In the poem it says” 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 reek.” This stanza shows some of the flaws that the narrator is talking about around his girls physicals features. One of the many themes of this sonnet is stereotypes should not be interfered with true love.
Hello, Alexsander
I loved your post and it made me want to take a read the sonnet myself. You mention that the theme of the poem was that stereotypes should not interfere with a chance at true love. The poet in a way is appreciating his girl because he is able to acknowledge that she has flaws and she’s not perfect but he still loves her. Good job
The sonnet that captivated me the most is sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Barrett browning because I loved how meaningful the poem was and how the speaker wanted to express her love for her husband. She was able to become vulnerable enough to say the different ways she loved her husband and how much she loved him. In the poem, she says” love thee freely, as men strive for right. I love thee purely, as they turn from praise. I love thee with the passion put to use ” (Browning 7-9). This quote shows the extent of how much she wanted readers to know about her love. The poet used figurative language like similes to make the readers grasp the feeling of how unconditionally she loved her husband. At the end of the poem, Browning says “ if God chooses, I shall but love thee better after death” (Browning 13-14) showing that she will love him even after she dies and that it wasn’t just an emotional or physical love but rather a spiritual love.
My favorite poem this week has to be “My mistress’s Eyes Are Nothing like the Sun” by William Shakespeare. I found this poem amusing and odd at the same time, they were talking so badly about the mistress almost degrading her. For example “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” ( Shakespeare 1-4). This quotation shows how Shakespeare is describing the mistress as almost if she isn’t beautiful at all. It continues like this for most of the poem pointing out all the negatives about her and not giving this lady any compliments at all. At the end of the poem is states ” And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare As any she belied with false compare.” (Shakespeare 13-14). Here Shakespeare is saying that even through all the things he dislikes about his mistress that she is still rare to him. This to me is so ironic because this whole poem the author is showing every flaw this woman has just for him to say at the end that she is still rare to him and special.
Hi Antonio Osorio,
I had chosen the same poem has been my favorite. I understand why “you found the poem to be amusing and odd at the same time.” However, I had a different perspective. You said that you felt that Shakespeare “was almost degrading her (the mistress). And that you thought it was ironic that the poet was highlighting her flaws. I believe you had that perspective because we are used to hearing and talking about poems From the Elizabethan era and think they are all overly romantic. So, when we are exposed to a different material rather than what we are used to, we find it hard to understand whether or not there was irony in the lines because it is different. I honestly believe he was not being ironic. Actually, he was sincere to his core and so honest that he could see all the woman’s flaws and yet find her special. That too is a demonstration of romantic love, is it not? To like someone so much that you can recognize and still accept the flaws of your loved ones.
The Sonnet that caught my attention was Sonnet 43 “How do I love thee? ” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. This is a sonnet grasps the concept of admiration. “I love thee with a love I seemed to lose; With my lost saints; I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.” It’s insufficient to communicate the affection for a lifetime, significantly more love in the afterlife. In the wake of perusing this sonnet. It’s difficult to envision the exceptional love of the creator. It’s uncommon to have such an affection now. The present society has such a psyche, yet reality consistently oversteps the laws of life. Albeit the past period isn’t excessively acceptable, it is an uncommon accomplishment to battle for your affection.
My favorite sonnet was Sonnet 130, “My Mistress’ Eyes are nothing like the sun”, by William Shakespeare. I enjoyed this one mainly because of the descriptions and the continuous metaphors. The metaphors are also good for me personally because it helps me to understand the context of the poem more clearly. It also adds exaggeration, which makes it more obvious what he’s pinpointing in his writing. In this poem, he strongly talks about his mistresses flaws, in a way where he’s convinced me (and probably most readers) that she’s very unattractive. “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips’ red; If snow be white, they then her breasts are dun;” (Shakespeare). These 3 lines from the poem is the first part his description of his lady, and it stood out to me the most because of the figurative language in each line thus far. However, he had a very unexpected change in mood at the end. He moves to a positive tone, and claims that his mistress-aside from her flaws-is rare and special.
Out of all the sonnets read this week my favorite one was Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare. When growing up watching many comedy shows and cartoons the lines “ Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate.” ( Shakespeare) when it would have something regarding theater. It is also one his my recited sonnet or the one people very familiar with. Including how it is fairly short and it’s straight to the point with no confusion of what he is conveying through the sonnet. It’s him the whole time praising someone that he finds beautiful that is comparable to summer itself and that a big different between the two is summer fades but they never will.
How many people do not remember a glorious summer day that perfectly matched their inner mood? I like Sonnet 18 recalls this memory to people. This sonnet is a love poem, like so many of Shakespeare’s sonnets. In this one, the person to whom it is addressed is described in terms as beautiful as a summer’s day. She is lovelier, actually, since the wind of summer’s days rough the darling buds of May and the sun is too hot sometimes. Her beauty will not ever fade…not even in death…since as long as the lines Shakespeare is read she will live also.
I definitely agree that this sonnet hold so much value regarding just growing up and time to time coming across those beginning lines. It brings back nostalgia it is one of those quick tiggers of childhood memories. Then just the word play of describing love itself and it’s comparison to another just adds more worth to the sonnet. Once you hear a person say “ 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,“ (William Shakespeare Sonnet 18) you have a great clue on who the writer is without giving away too much.
The sonnet that I personally found overwhelming is sonnet 18 “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day”. I like this better because of how Shakespeare compared his beloved with summer because of the warm homely feeling and the way he put it out in his poem. “Shall I compare you to a summers day?Thou art more love and more temperate” (Shakespeare 1-2).Here the writer compares his beloved with summer weather saying she is a loved and milder like summer.Summer is the most loved weather and as summer starts to go away the beautiful does not stay beautiful.He says no matter what the eternal beauty always stays. “ And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimmed.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,”. (Shakespeare).
The sonnet that I chose for this week was “What My Lips Have Kissed, and Where, and Why” by Edna St. Vincent Millay. I enjoyed this poem due to its very clever imagery and connection to one’s true feelings. Poems that allow the reader to create a mental picture in their heads, I feel have a better connection with them. After a close analysis of the poem, the speaker seems to reminiscence about her past relationships, in which she describes, relationships she has forgotten. The speaker tries to reflect on these memoires but there is nothing, she knows deep down that those lovers will never come back to her. “And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain, for unremembered lads that not again, will turn to me at midnight with a cry.” The speaker is heartbroken, stuck with no memory of her true love.
The most impressive sonnet from this week was “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” by Shakespeare. At first, I thought that I misread the title but as I went on, I realized that this was something we do not usually read. When we read stories or poems, where author admires one’s beauty, we see a lot of adjectives that describe the unspeakable charm. This sonnet is totally different. Even in the title, author tells us that the “mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun”. The woman does not have red lips or white breasts. She has black hairs that look like wires. Her cheeks are not red and she doesn’t smell like perfume. With such description, readers start to think that the mistress is worthless, she is nothing like idealistic version of what woman should look like. However, in the end Shakespeare tells readers that this woman is just as unique as every other women who are describes as goddesses: “ And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare As any she belied with false compare.” I was impressed by the sonnet because it shows how we can see uniqueness in ordinary and how not everything can be idealized. Woman’s eyes may not look like the sun or her voice may not be pleasing but this does not mean that there is no charm nor that they are worthless, mistress is not goddess but she is just as special. To me, the sonnet is impressive because it “laughs” at the poems that show off their characters as if they can be compared to the sun when in reality those people might be just as ordinary as the mistress. On the other hand, sonnet shows us that beauty can be ordinary too.
Hello Mariam,
This was also my favorite poem, and found it speaks to the hyper romanticized version created for women by men. This poem was quite a funny commentary on how ridiculous the comparisons have become to capture a women’s only noted characteristic, her beauty. Women are human just like the rest of them, not a goddess like figure. I really like your point on how “we can see uniqueness in ordinary”. There really is so much beauty in being human, as well as being ordinary. Beyond looks people have many other notable charms that capture them just like the mistress had captured Shakespeare and had created a pure love.
Hi Mariam, this was also the sonnet I chose as my favorite! I love how you described it as opposite of the usual poems that describes one’s “unspeakable charm” and beauty. This was an eye opener because I didn’t think of it like this. Poems are usually gentle and soft and dealt with emotion. It was unexpected to see that kind of emotion from a husband to his wife. Though, he switches the mood by showing his appreciation for her being different, which you explained well in your discussion.
My favorite sonnet to read this week was sonnet 18, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day.” By William Shakespeare. I chose this as my favorite poem because I enjoyed reading the metaphors and use of imagery Shakespeare uses throughout the poem. Shakespeare begins his play by asking if he should compare this person to a summers day since he believes they are too good to be compared to summer. “Thou art more lovely and more temperate.”(Shakespeare 2) While summer fades away the person will continue to live on through the writing in this poem. This goes on to the theme of the poem being how unlike summer, love and poetry are constant and everlasting. The speaker uses metaphors throughout the poem to compare his beloved to the summer, and criticizes the summer for being too short and ever-changing. “And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.” (Shakespeare 4) “And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed;”(Shakespeare 7-8) Shakespeare claims that his lover will live on forever through his poetry and not fade away like the short, hot and fading summer. “But thy eternal summer shall not fade”(Shakespeare 9)
The poem that was my favorite was Sonnet 130 (My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun). I found this poem to be really refreshing compared to the stories and poems we have read thus far. Often, women in literature are reduced to figures or those with one or two defining traits. They are romanticized and diminished to just their outward appearance. This poem to me, is a commentary on the romancing of women, especially prevalent in love stories/poetry. Women are often compared to beautiful objects or nature rather than what a women is like as a human being. Shakespeare flips the surface level love poetry and says her mistress is nothing like these beautiful things of nature. An example is when he says, “I have seen roses damasked, red and white, But no such roses see I in her cheeks;”. At first the poem might see blunt and rude to compare her mistress to these beautiful things only to say she is nothing like them, but to me the true message comes full circle at the end when Shakespeare says, “And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare As any she belied with false compare.” Despite her mistress not being angel like or near perfect, his love for her is deeper than appearance and such things are not important.
Hi Caroline, I love your interpretation of this sonnet. You’re right he’s saying that she is not like any of these things and she is not in a literal sense. The last two lines ties all of these themes together as he describes her as “rare.” This was a very entertain read as in it’s brevity displayed tremendous imagery, humor, and wit.
Hello Caroline, thank you for your post. I also chose this sonnet for my discussion board and I wanted to say that your viewpoint is different than mine. When I read the story, I never assumed that author was seeing beauty underneath the appearance. To me, this poem was about seeing beauty in ordinary. Your perspective is really interesting, I should have thought about that too.
Sonnet 18 “My Mistress’ Eyes are Nothing like the Sun” was my favorite because of how unconventional and comedic it was. My personal favorite lines was when he made fun of her breath writing “And in some perfumes is there more delight, Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.” The majority of the poem is Shakespeares writing about how uneventful his mistress is and gets to the point where the comments are downright unflattering. This was so unexpected and I can see how some students interpreted it as a true love poem as there are small elements of traditional love themes, particularly the last two lines. Writing, “And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare, As any she belied with false compare.” This is more of traditional romantic gushy moment where despite all of Shakespeares’ unflattering remarks, he is essential saying that he loves her mistress for who she is. Overall this poem has it all. It’s very unique, entertaining, well written, and ends of a very strong note.
From this week reading, my favorite was Shakespeare’s sonnet “My Mistress Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun.” I personally found it interesting how the author describes how physically unattractive his mistress is and he using the writing technique metaphor to do so. He also goes on and states how he loves to hear her speak but he knows music has a more pleasant sound. lastly, in the last two lines the narrator goes on and states how he finds her rare and that makes her special. I just find this poem so interesting because while all the other women who beauty is exaggerated in other poem this poet went down a different route but still made his mistress sound special based on how different she is.
For this weeks reading, my favorite was “Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” To be honest, I liked this poem the best because is provoked the most thought from me. I personally do not like summer all that much however the poem does a great job conveying beauty still, even to me, through comparison to the aspects of summer. “Thou art more lovely and more temperate” mentions one of the things I dislike most about summer, the hot temperature, but does a good job portraying love. “And summer’s lease hath all too short a date” is another great line. For those who do like summer, many mention that they wished it lasted longer. Shakespeare wishes his love wasn’t so limited by time.
Hi Emily. Reading Shakespeare was always difficult for me to understand which is why I also really enjoyed reading sonnet 18 “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” The use of metaphors and imagery throughout was much easier for me to understand and wonderfully written. I think the poem itself is beautiful and I think he accomplished his goal of having their love live eternally in the words of his poem.
My favorite sonnet I read this week was Sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare since there is so much to get out if compared to Sonnet 18 and the others.
The first thing I think that’s important is simply your gut response to the poem. I’ve asked some friends what they would do if somebody recited his poem to them. The majority of them said, “well, I think I would slap that person in the face! I wouldn’t put up with this! It may sound kind of nice at the end but there are just too many insults and I can’t forgive that.” And then there are those kinds of innocent souls, those wonderful people who say, “Ah, but he means so well, and I’m sure he’s really kind, and maybe the ending makes up for everything that came before.” So that I think is interesting — the way people respond to this differently — and that really does raise this kind of fundamental question about this poem. The fundamental question has to do with honesty. Is Shakespeare being honest, and what this honesty mean? Is he being honest? Because he sort of sort of seems like it on the surface. He seems to be saying, all these other poets are telling lies, but I’m being honest. And I think one of the first things that comes out of that that you have to investigate is, what is honesty? Is he really telling the truth? And I think if we have sort of this continuum, if we think of the extremes, then on the one hand you have the blazon, which is over the top, and is all lavish praise all the time, and then on the other extreme you have insults. So where is this poem? Is it in the middle then? Is that honesty? Yeast’s not extremely beautiful, but she’s nice. Or does this tend more towards an insult? I would say it’s actually way more on the insult side. And is that honest? Or is it really the pendulum kind of swinging from one extreme to the other. So that’s one of the big questions that you have to consider.
Hello Gamby,
William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 was my second choice for this week’s discussion board assignment. This unusual love poem is definitely playing with our expectations. The opening line is a dead giveaway of the parodic intentions of the author: “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;” when we would be expecting something such as “My mistress’ eyes are glowing like the sun.” All the metaphors, similes, and imagery are used to paint the narrator’s mistress’s qualities in an exaggeratedly negative light. In a more traditional love poem, the poet would use these to emphasize the loved one boldly. I am convinced Shakespeare was subverting our expectations for comedic effect. I laughed out loud upon my first reading. As you said, the two rhyming lines shift our whole perception of the poem by the end. They explain why Shakespeare went so far in the opposite direction. He wanted to attract attention to the fact that the love bond is more profound than mere appearances or a sum of qualities. In a sense, it is masterfully, deeply romantic. Yet, indeed, I would not appreciate my partner reciting it to me!
My favorite sonnet that I read this week is Shakespeare’s sonnet 18. It is my favorite sonnet because this is short sonnet that I can understand. Most of Shakespeare works are difficult to understand. The theme of the sonnet is beauty. The sonnet compares to youth man to a summer day. From the opening line “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day, which it is beautiful. However, the second line reveals that the youth man is more lovely and more temperate. The line 3 to line 8 are focus on the weather ups and downs in England. In the line six Shakespeare states youth has a better complexion than the sun, which is dimmed away. He feels the summer date is too short.
Hello Deli Wu, I agree with you. It takes me a while before I’m able to understand some of Shakespeare’s works as well. It’s interesting how Shakespeare can describe ordinary things and make it mystical or romantic. But the first line sounds like it’s someone describe somebody else to a summer’s day. It’s still an interesting perspective on the sonnet.
“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” (Sonnet 18) by Willam Shakespeare is a story of affection and love for a friend.
“Thou art more lovely and more temperate. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May.” The friends beauty is hypnotizing and special – like a summer’s day in May. Shakespeare felt as though his friend is more than just “fair” he says “and every fair from fair sometime declines,” he later says “but thy eternal summer shall not fade.” This line explains that his friends beauty is timeless and shall not fade. An external and eternal beauty. The profound beauty, or “too hot the eye of heaven shines”, is to be cherished and honored forever. Not to be forgotten, “summer shall not fade.
The friend may be gone – but if remembered as a flower – will be back every summer “when in eternal lines to time thou grow’st” – and for eternity.
Of all the poems assigned this week, Edna Saint Vincent Millay’s Italian sonnet “What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why” resonated the most with me. The poem is in first person, and the narrator ponders how little she remembers of her former lovers. The overall theme of loneliness is conveyed in explicit, metaphorical, and formal ways. Millay employs bleak imagery to convey this feeling of dread. However, the feeling is represented as something mild, muted; therefore, the images aren’t particularly intense. “[T]he rain [i]s full of ghosts tonight,” but these ghosts aren’t scary visions, but rather pathetic images of unmemorable, unremarkable, “unremembered lads.” The rain isn’t a storm. They “tap […] upon the glass,” “sigh,” “listen for reply;” there is something unthreatening in their disembodied presence. The lovers are also just body parts. In the opening line, “[w]hat lips my lips have kissed,” there is a double distance: distance from her own body, as if her lips were detached from her being; and distance from the lovers, expressed here by metonymy as mere “lips.”
Similarly, they are “arms [that] have lain [u]nder [her] head till morning,” which show them as not even active body parts. “And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain” indicates that this pain isn’t intense, but brooding without effusion. In the sestet, the metaphor of the “lonely tree” standing alone in the winter is very powerful. She develops the idea of former lovers being undistinguishable, comparing them to birds coming and going on the tree branches. The last three lines are:
“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.”
In them, Millay echoes the winter/loneliness with its opposite, summer/love. The last two lines particularly make us feel the loss of hope and enthusiasm for love.
The octave is a long sentence, interrupted by punctuation and cesuras. It is much more loosely organized than a Shakespeare sonnet, with lines ending at awkward moments, such as:
“I have forgotten, and what arms have lain
Under my head till morning; but the rain
Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh.”
The sestet is much more classically written in that regard, even though the order of the rimes is breaking the rules of a classic Italian sonnet.
It is a very moving sonnet and has stuck with me for the week.
My favourite of this week was “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” (sonnet 130) written by Shakespeare. I liked this poem very much due to too much exalted and exaggerated appearance of his beloved. He used the simile of “My mistress eyes are nothing like the sun” He contrasted his mistress to ‘Sun’ and ‘Coral’. This line elaborates the idealism of love because he described his loved ones in a very conventional way. His loved one did not need to be as red as roses and as white as snow. He is contented with her greyish breast and brownish cheeks. In scratchy remarks ” if snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; if hairs be wire, black wires grow on her head”. He described his beloved in a quite different way instead of giving her supernatural traits of a goddess. His conventional way to use far-fetched analogies makes it most favourite. It is a thing that impressed me a lot. That he shattered away from the traditional way of praising. Here is my interpretation about the sonnet is that Shakespeare has great feelings for his beloved and love makes her superior beyond color differences. Secondly, Shakespeare’s way of narrating that he loved his beloved realistically and not romantically makes this work one of my favourite Sonnets.
This poem gives a very beautiful theme that humans should make preparations to accept others with all their imperfections and drawbacks. Love demands acceptance with all its weaknesses.
My favorite sonnet this week was Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 43, “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.” This is a love poem in which the perfect representation of everlasting love can be found. Sonnet 43 fills her love with a natural sense of emotion which makes it beautiful in many ways. She expresses her love for her husband by counting how much she adores him. To her, love is a tremendous force capable of conquering the entire world. I’ve read many poems, but Sonnet 43 is the most intense and emotional. When you’re in love, you feel inspired. It encourages you to accomplish things you’ve never done before. Your outlook is bright and always cheerful, which makes it the best thing in the world.
I like “How Do I love Thee?” By Elizabeth Barrett Browning, the most because of its message. The first line setting up the question and response that the rest of the poem sets out to answer. The first quatrain describes how his love is massive, loving every part of the poem’s recipcent but only when he thinks they’re not there to see him. His love far exceeds normal societal standards. Then the second quatrain further describes how far his love goes. The line “I love thee freely, as men strive for right” I enjoyed the most because of the imagery that it conjures. Where love is as natural as his everyday ethics. In the third quatrain, it reaches the end. Where the person writing the poem is reflecting on how much he loved. Where on his deathbed, he reflects. Even in his last breath, where his saints show up, he still loves with his heart. And in the couplet, he closes with his final message. Despite the bright times, despite the dark times, and throughout his life and if he’s able to in the afterlife. He’ll continue to love even more then before in death.