browning

CommentonShakespeare’ssonnet,Spenr’ssonnet,andE.

Browning’ssonnet.

Poetryisaformofliteraryartwhichustheaestheticqualitiesoflanguagetoevoke

meaningsinadditionto,orinplaceof,onvey

theiropinion,theirfeeling,andtheirpassionbypoems,whichmakereaders

illintroducethreepoems:sonnet18by

WilliamShakespeare,sonnet43byElizabethBarrettBrowning,andsonnet75by

EdmundSpenr.

Beforetalkingaboutthethreesonnets,tisa

14-linepoemwithaspecificrhymeschemeandmeterwhichusuallyisiambic

etryformat–whichforcesthepoettowraphisthoughtsinasmall,

neatpackagewhichcouldbereadorsungtotheaccompanimentofalute.

Sonnet18,oftenalternatelytitledShallIcomparetheetoasummer'sday?,isoneof

themostbeautifulsonnetswrittenbyShakespeare,inwhichhehasaprofound

meditationofthedestructivepoweroftimeandtheeternalbeautybroughtforthby

ummer’sdayisusuallytransient,butthebeautyin

43byElizabethBarrettBrowningexpressthepoet’s

intenloveforherhusband,.Sointenisherloveforhim,shesays,thatitristo

eshimfreely,withoutcoercion;sheloveshimpurely,

nloveshimwithanintensityofthe

sufferingremblingthatofChristonthecross,andsheloveshiminthewaythatshe

er,sheexpectstocontinuetolovehimafterdeath.

LookingthecontentsofSpenr’s,wefindthatSpenrclaimstogiveherwife

1tellsofhowthemanwrotehisbeloved'snameonthe

beach,Line2ofhowthewavewashedthemaway,Line3and4ofhowherewrote

eherlfwilldieandvanish,her

stfourlinesoftheoctethave

describedtheactionofthea;thecondfourlinesthenquotethebelovedas

rthusmakexplicittheparallelbetweenthe

etcontainsastep-by-stepargument.

AndtheninthestetSpenrmadeaclaimthathisverwillbestowimmortality

eviewofcontext,thesonnets’themearealllove.

Then,letusconsiderabouttheirsonnets’18isa

istsofthreequatrainsfollowedbya

couplet,andhasthecharacteristicrhymescheme:43isin

iambicpentameterwhichhas10syllables,orfivefeet,andperlinewithfivepairsof

meschemeofSonnet43isasfollows:

Lines1to8–ABBA,ABBA;Lines9to14–CD,CD,ch'ssonnetsalso

75isiambicpentameterwith

afinallineiniambichexameterwhichhassixfeetorstress),whichisspecialinthe

rhymeababbcbccdcdee.

InShakespeare’ssonnet,hecompareshisbelovedtothesummerason,andargues

statesthathisbelovedwillliveonforeverthrough

theRenaissance,itwascommonforpoetstoemploy

ngthistypeofmetaphor,anauthor

makelaboratecomparisonsofhisbelovedtooneormoreverydissimilarthings.

asily

distinguishthe.