Response to Sonnet 146

Sonnet 146 seems to be written in almost a homiletic phrasing. The speaker dwells on the Christian idea that one should feed the soul and not starve it while feeding the body gluttonously because the body will only die when eaten up by worms. The topic of the poem is almost a clichéd religious poem, like one would use when an overzealous aging aunt would come over for dinner to entertain her. What makes this poem interesting that unlike most religious poems, it does not mention the afterlife in any metaphysical terms like heaven and hell, but it focuses on the physical, being eaten by worms when one is no longer animated. This is one of the “Dark Lady Sonnets” and this may be addressing the fact that the “Dark Lady” was being superfluous with her extravagant worldliness possibly being too much alcohol or promiscuity or overspending. All of these things may have made the subject feel good now on the outside, but doing nothing for the soul, about which the speaker is most concerned.

Response to Sonnet 129

The speaker in Sonnet 116 seems flummoxed over the fact that himself and the subject are not in love, or more in love because they think so much alike. Two pictures are represented in this sonnet. One is of a boat passing a lighthouse, and the other is the end of time. This may be able to be explained together as the speaker saying that their love will endure until the end of time even though, like boats on water, they, unless guided properly will just pass on without stopping. This sonnet could also be interpreted as beauty changes with time, but love will endure all, like a lighthouse that is a constant on a shoreline. There is a triple negative in the last line, which is odd, and may be able to represent the theme because with each negative, the meaning changes, but with the three negatives, the original negative meaning is preserved, like love is said to be preserved.

Response to Sonnet 116

The speaker in Sonnet 116 seems flummoxed over the fact that himself and the subject are not in love, or more in love because they think so much alike. Two pictures are represented in this sonnet. One is of a boat passing a lighthouse, and the other is the end of time. This may be able to be explained together as the speaker saying that their love will endure until the end of time even though, like boats on water, they, unless guided properly will just pass on without stopping. This sonnet could also be interpreted as beauty changes with time, but love will endure all, like a lighthouse that is a constant on a shoreline. There is a triple negative in the last line, which is odd, and may be able to represent the theme because with each negative, the meaning changes, but with the three negatives, the original negative meaning is preserved, like love is said to be preserved.

Response to Sonnet 87

The summarization of Sonnet 87 can be said to be as simple as “you are too good for me, and because of this, I do not deserve you.” This in coalition of the numerous examples of financial terminology can be assumed to say that wealth separates the two parties being spoken of in the sonnet. The desperate voice of the poem makes it seem like there is a pity party going on where the speaker is fishing for compliments, which contrasts from Sonnet 55 where the speaker displayed a great egotism. This poem also comes right after the “rival poet” sequence, so the competition may have hurt the speaker’s self-esteem, if they were the same speaker. This sonnet also ends most of the lines with a verbs, I am not sure if this was intentional, but if it was, it could signify that the sonnet is an active being that with many verbs in the gerund form, is ongoing presently, meaning possibly that the issues in this poem have been ongoing.

Response to Sonnet 55

This sonnet uses man made descriptors like monuments, war and masonry mixed with a reference to the Roman god Mars and a personification of “Judgement” in the biblical sense to persuade that this poem will make the subject live on longer than any other medium. The egotism presented in this poem is odd compared to the other poems that I have responded to thus far. They all were about making the subject feel wonderful, but this poem seems to say that only poetry is able to make the memory live on of the subject. This may be because Mr. W.H.’s parents finally gave up forcing him to procreate or the speaker of the sonnet was trying to say that without children to carry on his memory. It would not matter what monument is constructed because the subject will only live on in the sonnet read by lovers because Time would go over everything else like an unkempt housemaid and bury it up with dirt and grime over the years.

Response to Sonnet 30

Sonnet 2 uses the seasons as a metaphor of the process of aging. The forty winters is a time marker of the average forty years that a person during that time had to live. The word “besiege” in the first line makes the idea of aging as a negative process, and thus setting the stage for the rest of the sonnet. The words relating to war and the words relating to nature intermix throughout the sonnet. In line two, the words trenches can play a double meaning in both nature and war, even though trench warfare was not very popular, to say the least, in the Middle Ages, but looking at it now in modern way, the word “trenches” can have two placements. This sonnet also uses dialogue which is rare in Shakespeare’s sonnets. This sonnet also directly addresses the audience as thou, which I believe is odd because the sonnet before it was very indirectly addressing anybody at all.

Response to Sonnet 18

Sonnet 2 uses the seasons as a metaphor of the process of aging. The forty winters is a time marker of the average forty years that a person during that time had to live. The word “besiege” in the first line makes the idea of aging as a negative process, and thus setting the stage for the rest of the sonnet. The words relating to war and the words relating to nature intermix throughout the sonnet. In line two, the words trenches can play a double meaning in both nature and war, even though trench warfare was not very popular, to say the least, in the Middle Ages, but looking at it now in modern way, the word “trenches” can have two placements. This sonnet also uses dialogue which is rare in Shakespeare’s sonnets. This sonnet also directly addresses the audience as thou, which I believe is odd because the sonnet before it was very indirectly addressing anybody at all.

Response to Sonnet 12

Sonnet 2 uses the seasons as a metaphor of the process of aging. The forty winters is a time marker of the average forty years that a person during that time had to live. The word “besiege” in the first line makes the idea of aging as a negative process, and thus setting the stage for the rest of the sonnet. The words relating to war and the words relating to nature intermix throughout the sonnet. In line two, the words trenches can play a double meaning in both nature and war, even though trench warfare was not very popular, to say the least, in the Middle Ages, but looking at it now in modern way, the word “trenches” can have two placements. This sonnet also uses dialogue which is rare in Shakespeare’s sonnets. This sonnet also directly addresses the audience as thou, which I believe is odd because the sonnet before it was very indirectly addressing anybody at all.

Reflection of Sonnet 2

Sonnet 2 uses the seasons as a metaphor of the process of aging. The forty winters is a time marker of the average forty years that a person during that time had to live. The word “besiege” in the first line makes the idea of aging as a negative process, and thus setting the stage for the rest of the sonnet. The words relating to war and the words relating to nature intermix throughout the sonnet. In line two, the words trenches can play a double meaning in both nature and war, even though trench warfare was not very popular, to say the least, in the Middle Ages, but looking at it now in modern way, the word “trenches” can have two placements. This sonnet also uses dialogue which is rare in Shakespeare’s sonnets. This sonnet also directly addresses the audience as thou, which I believe is odd because the sonnet before it was very indirectly addressing anybody at all.

Reflection of Sonnet 1

This sonnet is quite formal, as sonnets go. It addresses the audience in a round-about way. Assuming this poem is to Mr. W.H., and was commissioned by his parents, is seems like it is trying only to plant the seeds of an idea, not try to force them. It is outright suggesting to procreate, to make beauty live on, because it is human nature to want more of what is beautiful. It threatens negative qualities of selfishness and gluttony and promotes procreation. The oxymoron in line eight can be said to make the point that in one person, there is good, but the potential for evil as well. The speaker seems to use many comparisons and metaphors to make the point understood. In the third line, however, the speaker is quite blunt reading “His tender heir might bear his memory.” This is a very direct way of persuading the audience in knowing the direction that the speaker is taking because the first lines that were more open to interpretation.