Essays on Sonnet

The theme of Sonnet 141 conveyed by William Shakespeare, using specific language and tone, is that love might not always go both ways. In this particular sonnet, a man and a woman are in a committed relationship, but the man thinks himself foolish for loving...

William Shakespeare is known for his beloved plays such as Hamlet, Macbeth, and Romeo and Juliet, but he actually wrote more poems than plays. “Sonnet 18” is one of the most quoted poems in history and most remembered. William Shakespeare uses rhyme, personification, metaphor, and...

Many, both professional and amateur, critics analyze William Shakespeare’s sonnets with a fine tooth comb. From the manipulation of iambic pentameter and rhyme scheme, to the combination of mismatched words, Shakespeare’s sonnets are interpreted in various different ways. “Sonnet 30”, is a popular one among...

William Shakespeare is likely the most well-known literary figure in Western history, and thus an analysis of his works can deeply connect us to our cultural history. The beauty about studying Shakespeare is that any one of his works, such as “Sonnet 116” which we...

Sonnets are known by their structure. A sonnet is a 14 lined poem that most of the time has a rhyme scheme. William Shakespeare wrote over 100 sonnets, but they are not known for their sonnet-like structure, they are known for their moving themes or...

Sonnet 18 was written by William Shakespeare, that articulates and accentuates the sentiment of passion and love. The poem expresses the poet’s endearment and perpetual devotion of his subject and how the subject surpasses all tangible beauty. He explicitly expresses this notion through the manipulation...

William Wordsworth’s sonnet, “The world is Too Much With Us” was first published in, Poems, in Two Volumes in 1807, a collection characterised by its Romantic exaltation of nature. While the sonnet has often been read primarily as a critique of nineteenth-century society’s discord with...

John Keats sonnet written in April of 1819, titled ‘On Fame’, on first reading appears to be a love poem. Upon closer reading, it becomes clear that Keats is using women as a simile for the nature of fame, by contrasting the two against each...

Claude McKay was born in Jamaica in 1889 and then came to the United States in 1912. Upon his arrival in the United States, he enrolled at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. He studied English-style poetry that was written by Milton and Pope. McKay soon ascertained...

Fertility may be the foundation of a society. As the natural production of offspring, the idea of fertility drives a nation. It, quite literally, creates the next generation, and in doing so offers the reality of innovations and the continuation of a culture. Shakespeare’s Sonnet...

The profound perception in “Sonnet LXXXI” by Edmund Spenser discusses a woman’s physical appearance in a conventional manner as it is characterized by the society. However, the context of the text highlights the unique qualities of the woman, praising both the natural aspects of her...

Spenser’s “Amoretti” is a sonnet cycle dedicated to his wife, Elizabeth Boyle. Among this group of sonnets, a seemingly odd one is discovered: Sonnet 68. This one, instead of being a love poem written exclusively for his beloved, it is a diversion from the typical...

Numerous men in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries developed a sonnet that praises women they loved, most of whom embellished their physical qualities. On the other hand, Shakespeare did exactly the opposite, in his 130th sonnet, he states that his mistress deficiencies most of...