Sonnets 18 and 130

825 Words4 Pages
Scorn not the Sonnet; Critic, you have frowned, Mindless of its just honours; with this key Shakespeare unlocked his heart. William Wordsworth A sonnet is a dialectical construct which allows the poet to examine the nature of two usually contrastive ideas by juxtaposing the two against each other, but resolving them towards the end.The Petrarchan and Shakespearean sonnets are the two most significant types of sonnets. The Petrarchan sonnet consists of two parts; an octave and a sestet in an ABBA ABBA rhyme scheme.This scheme and structure work together to emphasize the idea of the poem: the first quatrain presents the theme and sets up the issue ,whereas, the second quatrain explains the resolution or the turning point. Whereas in the Shakespearean sonnet, there are three quatrains and a concluding couplet. The rhyme scheme is in the ABAB CDCD EFEF GG format.The first twelve lines set up his story and the rhyming couplet, gives the moral of the sonnet. One of the most famous sonnets of Shakespeare is the Sonnet 18. Keeping love alive is not easy and One knows that life and love eventually come to an end. It is in "Sonnet 18", that we see a challenge to the idea that love is finite.The major theme of this sonnet is his immense friendship which is addressed to an unnamed male friend considerably younger than the poet. The sonnet points out to the intense interpersonal friendship between them. Initially there were commentators who considered this as a homosexual relationship. But it was later assured that the Elizabethan men simply expressed their close friendship in this manner. This sonnet is a great example of the Platonic love that Shakespeare feels for his friend. The poet starts the praise of his dear friend without ostentation, but he slowly builds the image of his friend into that of a perfect being. The poet compares his beloved friends consistency to a
Open Document