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GCSE: Shakespeare's Sonnets

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  • Marked by Teachers essays 2
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  1. Marked by a teacher

    Compare Shakespeare's Sonnet 12 with Shelley's Ozymandias

    4 star(s)

    The first eight lines of the sonnet, describe and give many examples of the destruction that time has on the beauty of nature. In the next quatrain, Shakespeare has come to the conclusion that everything in the world eventually loses its splendour and beauty and will die. "Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake, And die as fast as they see others grow." The sonnet ends with a rhyming couplet, which summarises and concludes the message of the previous twelve lines.

    • Word count: 1154
  2. Marked by a teacher

    Shakespeare - still relevant today

    3 star(s)

    Humans have these same emotions and experiences today. People still feel jealousy, love, hatred, etc the same as they did in Shakespeare's time. This is why they are still relevant to Australians reading them today, and it is why so many people can relate to the messages of the sonnets. For example, Shakespeare uses metaphorical comparison to show the guiding, stable and everlasting nature of love. This is evident in Sonnet 116, where Shakespeare talks of love: "It is the star to every wandering bark".

    • Word count: 642
  3. Shakespeare's portrayal of love in Sonnets 18 and 116, and in Romeo and Juliet.

    Act 1 scene 5 of Romeo and Juliet has many key features. One of the most important parts of Romeo and Juliet is where Romeo spots Juliet in the ball and starts to speak in soliloquy .Whilst speaking in soliloquy Romeo says "She doth teach the torches to burn bright!" this tells me that he believes that she is so stunningly beautiful that she is able t teach things to things that don't need teaching. Once they start speaking they use an extended Christian metaphor of Juliet lips being a shrine and his lips being "two blushing pilgrims" which indicates

    • Word count: 1074
  4. Shylock: Villain or Victim

    Bassanio's way of good is to help people when they need it, but Shylock's way of good is when he is making interest off of his loans to people. When Bassanio says 'If it please you to dine with us' there is tension, and Shylock is instantly offended because he is Jewish and the Jewish religion can't eat pork so Bassanio could have said that to make Shylock angry. Shylock makes it clear why he hates Antonio: 'I hate him for he is a Christian; but more, for that in low simplicity, he lends out money gratis, and brings down'.

    • Word count: 1295
  5. Sonnet 130

    are grey, why black wires grow on her head, why her cheeks aren't rosy red, why her breath smells, the way she speaks, and why she isn't elegant. What is the language used by the persona? The language used by the persona is mainly informal as he talks about the things that he dislikes about his wife easily and conversationally. There is no sign of polite language being used in the poem. What does he value/praise his mistress for? He values his mistress for the love that they share even though the persona in the poem does not like the way the mistress looks.

    • Word count: 805
  6. In one sonnet in particular, Shall I compare thee to a summers day? Shakespeare uses lots of imagery to describe the ways in which a summers day is an inadequate comparison with his beloved

    proving that he thinks that summer is beautiful but not knowing whether his lover is even more beautiful. As you read on though, he seems to talk himself out of it, and decides that his girlfriend is more to him than summer, "Thou art more lovely and more temperate" giving a clear image to the reader of a beautiful, calm and even-tempered woman sitting next to a slightly less beautiful, calm and even-tempered summer's day, summer seems to constantly be an inadequate comparison. Shakespeare then moves on to say that the time that summer lasts for is too short conveying the fact that his lover is always there, "And summers lease hath all to short a date" this evokes the realisation that summer doesn't last that long but his lover will last for eternity, never leaving his side.

    • Word count: 597
  7. Romeo and Juliet 1

    be A love never agreed to 2 suicides is the love that dies 1 girl who goes against her parents will 1 boy who goes against her parents will 1 love can do anything If the love is not there why live?

    • Word count: 137
  8. Sonnet 130: The Meaning Analysis

    If hairs are wires, then black wires grow on her head I have seen roses damask'd, red and white, I have seen roses of pink, red, and white But no such roses see I in her cheeks; But her cheeks are like none of these colours And in some perfumes is there more delight And some perfumes smell more delightful Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. Than the breath that reeks from my mistress I love to hear her speak, yet well I know I love to hear her speak, yet even though I know well That

    • Word count: 717
  9. explore the ways these poets examine r****m in thei culture

    In the second stanza, Meeropol contrasts nature with reality as he writes: 'Pastoral scenes of the gallant South, The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth' People who were unaware of lynching and the dreadful way that black people were treated might of imagined South America as an idealized place. By creating such gruesome visual imagery, Meeropol makes it a really successful contrast. He does this again in the second couplet of the stanza as he writes: 'Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh, Then the sudden smell of burning flesh' This contrast is even more dramatic than the first one as not only does it use visual imagery, it makes you imagine the smell of burning flesh.

    • Word count: 682
  10. Analysis of Shakespeare's Sonnet 18

    The rhyming scheme is very complex, yet subtle, whilst allowing a definite flexibility in rhyme. It is as follows: abab, cdcd, efef, gg. This rhyme sequence sets the usual structure of the sonnet as three quatrains (sets of four lines) concluding with 1 couplet (a pair of lines). The first quatrain consists of an exposition of the main theme and main metaphor, "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" enforcing the first metaphor of a person being a season. The second quatrain extends and complicates this metaphor. In the case of Sonnet 18 this consists of the faults of summer, for example, being "too hot".

    • Word count: 1199
  11. Comparison of two shakespearian sonnets

    The audience can immediately recognise that Shakespeare is writing about love and will compare his lover to the epitome of beauty- summer. Though written by the same poet, the two sonnets have very different audiences and intentions. Though both proclaiming love for the recipient, they do so in very different fashions. Sonnet 18 was written to immortalise Shakespeare's subject and to proclaim a love towards them by comparing them to the most beautiful part of the year- summer. Shakespeare also wants to digress from the conventions of other poems, shown by the way the sonnet starts by posing a question, engaging the reader and putting forward the idea that Shakespeare isn't quite sure himself.

    • Word count: 1943
  12. In conclusion from sonnet LXXXV we have learnt how Shakespeare has to battle with rival poets however his experience comes out on top and how it is useful to have knowledge and he uses that to his advantage and

    Sonnet LXXXV is a sonnet, which undermines itself simply by existing. The sonnet starts of by saying how he to behave in the same manner as previously and praising her. He then goes on to say how the poems in praise of the youth and put together with great learning and stylistic skill and flourishes. After which he goes on to say how commentaries are praising you preserve you richly in writing. By "reserving thy character with golden quill" means that he will forever keep her beauty and personality alive with poetic language and she will live on forever in a poem.

    • Word count: 647
  13. Compare Sonnet 130 by Shakespeare and the Glasgow Sonnet by Edwin Morgan.

    The structure of the modern sonnet is a complete anomaly compared with the Elizabethan sonnets. This is because they have two stanzas, the first consisting of eight lines and the second consisting of six lines, they are called the octave and the sestet. The sestet is the conclusion of a modern sonnet which contains a message whereas the Elizabethan's message is held within the couplet. The modern sonnets usually hold a meaning of poverty and desolation within it and the tones vary extensively, although a sense of fundamental contentment is established with the rigidity of the form.

    • Word count: 1125
  14. There are many differences between the two sonnets; the first difference is when they were written Christina Rossetti wrote

    In the octave she talks about the past but in the sestet she talks about the present. This is another demonstration of how the meaning has changed in the octave and sestet. The language used in "Remember" is very forceful as she repeatedly insists her partner remember her. She also covers the word death by using different phrases and metaphors like "I am gone away" and "silent land" this shows that she is scared of dying but has learnt to except it. "When you can no more hold me by the hand". This quote shows that the person Christina Rossetti is writing to is very close, considering that she is a Victorian lady she can not talk more intimately.

    • Word count: 960
  15. The Presentation of Women in Shakespeare's Sonnet 130 and Griffin's Sonnet 39

    This is also seen in the latter lines of the sonnet; her lips are not as red as coral, her b*****s are dun-colored and the black wires growing on her head. (lines 2-4). In Griffin's sonnet, we can see how he praises the beauty of his lady and her perfection with the use of figurative languages. Although the two sonnets seems to be similar, both admiring the beauty of their lovers, it is still apparent that the two women in the two sonnets are presented in different ways and the fact that there is a contrast between the two of them.

    • Word count: 1585
  16. Sonnet 19 and 63 consider the destructive nature of time and the effect on the man's beauty. Compare and contrast the two sonnets focusing on the poet's intention and use of language and structure.

    Whereas in Sonnet 63 the theme and intention is very similar to sonnet 19 but is portrayed in an ageing process. In sonnet 19 Shakespeare uses time and the destructive power of time however he uses a contrast of the old and young to appreciate time will eventually crush and wear you down, "With time's injured hand crushed and o'erworn". There is a major contrast in one line which mainly focuses on the ageing process "With lines and wrinkles when is youthful morn" this quote represents the soon to be death and time will have its turn upon you.

    • Word count: 1415
  17. Examining the theme of Time in Shakespeare's Sonnets

    In this Sonnet Shakespeare is telling a young man to pass his beauty on by having a child. Shakespeare uses Time because it is a threatening aspect of life. No one can stay beautiful forever and this is why Shakespeare uses the idea of Time battling it out with beauty. The imagery Shakespeare uses in Sonnet 2 is very compelling. The images of Time and Beauty fighting it out on a battlefield are very graphical. Other images of War and Legal issues are very interesting.

    • Word count: 727
  18. Discuss the effects of the writing in sonnet 63; showing how far and in what ways this poem seems to you to be characteristic of Shakespeare's methods and concerns.

    The method used shows how powerful the idea is, as, we are still learning about the intensity of the Young Mans' beauty. Therefore, it clearly shows just how strongly the views about this idea were, as it has given the Young Man immortality. This point is an important part of the speakers' views as this is not the first time we hear of immortality, in Sonnet 19, contains exactly the same idea. Evidence of this is "My love shall in my verse ever live young" re-emphasising this idea magnifies the speakers' theme of immortality, that within literature you can be immortal.

    • Word count: 1942
  19. Shakespeare the satire -

    Shakespeare, instead, uses metaphors to express her physical shortcomings. "Coral is far more red than her lips' red" (line 2) describes his mistress' faded lips. "If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head" (line 4) shows the coarse, unkempt and dark color of her hair. "And in some perfumes is there more delight than in the breath that from my mistress reeks." (Lines 7-8) expresses his mistress' dire need for a breath mint. These comparisons give one a vivid description of his mistress' lacking beauty, and sets one up for the couplet at the end of the sonnet.

    • Word count: 855
  20. Looking at Sonnet 12 by William Shakespeare and I Look into my Glass by Thomas Hardy, explore how the poets treat the theme of time in their works

    In the next verse then again the persona talks about his loneliness which is portrayed through the words, "By hearts grown cold to me". He also mentions the word "equanimity" in the next line which creates an atmosphere of even temper which links in with his loneliness. This implies that he is not angry about this but more depressed about it. He wishes he could accept how people how people have deserted him but he can't. The next verse shows Hardy personifying time.

    • Word count: 1445
  21. Examine the literary tradition of sonnet writing with particular reference to the sonnets of William Shakespeare.

    This type of sonnet consists of an octave and a sestet. The octave has a rhyming scheme of; a, b, b, a, a, b, b, a. Whilst the sestet has a rhyming scheme which usually consists of; c, d, c, d, c, d. The metre in a Petrarchan sonnet is also iambic pentameter (10 syllables per line). The Petrarchan form may also convey the topic of love, but also other emotions as in Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley, and other sonnets.

    • Word count: 2013
  22. Shall I compare thee &#133;&#133;&#133;&#133;&#133;&#133;&#133;.? by William Shakespeare - review.

    'sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines' This phrase uses strong words and a metaphor. The word 'hot' is a violent word and shows us that not all the time is summer 'just right'. This word is made more intense by the use of the word 'too', which is placed before hot making the summer sound tedious. This part of the line leads into the use of a metaphor to describe the sun. 'eye of heaven shines' This metaphor is used very well to describe the sun, yet he believes that she is better than even this.

    • Word count: 794
  23. Discuss the use of sonnets through the ages.

    This can also be seen because he blames his troubles of love on him. The poetic voice despises the fact that Cupid is trying in vain to make people fall in love. This shows us the pain that he is experiencing because of Cupid's attempt to make people fall in love but not him. The atmosphere of despair is further suggested by the poet's use of strong vocabulary to get across how hurt he is. Words like 'proud', 'scorn', 'ungratefulness', 'wan', 'sharp', 'sad', and languisit' are used. These words emphasise just how dramatic and life changing the speaker's experience of love has been.

    • Word count: 3389
  24. With close reference to at least three appropriate poems, discuss and illustrate the different ways language is used in Tudor and Elizabethan love poetry.

    Since the response is focused on Tudor and Elizabethan love poetry, the Shakespearian sonnets numbers 116 and 130 are worthy of examination. Shakespeare's 116th sonnet examines the love of "true minds". As is typical of the Elizabethan and more specifically the Shakespearian sonnet, the imagery is intricate and Shakespeare makes use of the conceited metaphor. Love is compared to a guiding star, steering ships to safety. This continued comparison is quite unlike the typical metaphors associated with love and therefore seems thoughtful and authentic.

    • Word count: 1424
  25. Pre-1914 Poetry William Shakespeare (1562-1616) Sonnet 29, and Sonnet 130.

    However, Sonnet 130 counteracts Sonnet 29 by subverting convention. We will be looking at their similarities and differences. In Sonnet 29, Shakespeare is expressing his admiration of a loved one. The sonnet reflects on the poet's insecurities ("I all alone between my outcast state"); this illustrates his state of self-pity. As we read on further through the poem ("And look upon myself and curse my fate") we can comprehend that this poet is almost self-loathing. He feels envious ("like him with friends possessed"); and, as we draw nearer to the octave ("With what I most enjoy contended least")

    • Word count: 718

Conclusion analysis


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