Comparative Analysis: Introduction - Nneka

Sonnet 116 and sonnet 130 are similar in exploring the themes of romantic love and that they are written in the same form; that being the English sonnet that was innovated from the traditional Petrarchan sonnet by William Shakespeare but they still have many differences. Sonnet 116 describes a more idealistic love, a true one even; one that "alters not" with time and age whereas sonnet 130 is a more realistic love that can almost seem nonchalant, without passion and even lacking love itself but with closer inspection that interpretation can be changed.



Sonnet 116 is an idealistic love poem which uses personification illustrating that love is viewed as timeless and beautiful. The line 'Love's not Time's fool' portrays how love will continue on no matter how old the couple gets, it is endless and will forever be in existence. By capitalizing the abstract nouns 'Love' and 'Time' displays an importance and identity as if it is looked upon as godly because God is also capitalized and extremely important to those who believe in him. This portrays how Shakespeare perceives love as a truly important thing in life to have, but also describing it in such an idealistic way as it is timeless and can never end.


However, in Sonnet 130, Shakespeare takes a more realistic perspective on love as he criticizes his partner. He introduces his sonnet with 'My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun', portraying that she isn't too special and he doesn't view her as 'rosy lipped' or goddess-like as he does in his other sonnets. This infers that he may have noticed that the idyllic love isn't realistic, so he desired to be different from other poets who wrote about the idealistic love such as Henry Howard.  -JESS


As well as using personification in Sonnet 116, Shakespeare uses the central extended metaphor of comparing love to a 'star'. The 'star' he refers to could probably be the North Star which never changes place, symbolising love's timelessness and everlasting strength which perfectly coincides with 116's entire theme of this idyllic love. The North Star was key to the navigator's of the Elizabethan era, the prime time of exploration, as that is what sailors would have searched for when calculating their location at sea. Thus, his description of love being a 'star to every wandering bark' takes on a whole new level of meaning; that for every 'wandering bark', representing man, there has to be his lover acting as a guide for him to identify himself and reassure him. The sonnet uses more nautical imagery to reiterate his perspective of love such as alluding to love being an 'ever-fixed mark', the North Star, and how it 'looks on tempests'. This creates the image of being on a ship at sea during a violent storm, but then continues to say how their love still 'is never shaken'.

On the other hand, Sonnet 130 takes a much more comedic stand on love by using more imagery as a whole in an attempt to mock his 'mistress' and constantly comparing between the two. An example of this being how his 'mistress'... breasts are dun' but 'snow be white', which on first look most would infer as being disrespectful. However on closer inspection of the sonnet, the text could be perceived as more endearing to the reader. Such as when he admits to his revelling more in 'some perfumes' than the 'breath that... my mistress reeks'; his use of sibilance in these short phrases soften the sound of the line and take the harsh first impression away. This comedic comparison makes the text more light-hearted and becomes less of an act of contempt. - Fran


In addition to nautical imagery being used to express the theme of timeless love in Sonnet 116, Shakespeare focuses on the significance of marriage and religion to convey his true love in its purest form. This idealistic concept of love is embodied in lines 1 and 2, with Shakespeare’s declaration beginning “Let me not to the marriage of true minds / Admit impediments.”, stressing the importance of love without tribulations and that true love should be without fault. Another example of religious imagery occurs in line 11, referencing “the edge of doom”, an allusion to judgement day within Christianity as an event that will not alter the course of idealistic love. During the Elizabethan era, marriages were often arranged, regardless of the woman’s opinion or emotions, and the act was viewed as a mere legal bond, rather than an act of true love. This sonnet juxtaposes the entire perception of marriage of the era, and instead offers an idealistic, transcendent viewpoint which emphasizes the constant love he holds for his partner.


To contrast, Sonnet 130 provides a much more realistic, yet derogatory portrayal of love through the use of colour and object comparison. Various negative similarities to natural objects are drawn, such as how his mistress’ eyes are “nothing like the sun” and the colour of her lips and breasts are dull when compared to the red in coral and the whiteness of snow. These comparisons could possibly be a method of demeaning his mistress due to her appearance being perceived as unattractive, thus the disparaging remarks diminishing his mistress’ worth to nothing more than “perfumes” or “roses”.  - Kenzee


Using sonnet 116 Shakespeare is conveying the nature of love and what he expects of his lover, to love him unconditionally, which is shown by 'love is not times fool,' the idyllic love Shakespeare is portraying to the reader is timeless and will forever stay the same through 'his brief hours and weeks' this shows that no matter how long his days seem when he sees his lover everything gets better. The enjambment used shows Shakespeare's wish to have no obstacles in the way of his love he wants it to flow forever. The beautiful imagery about the ocean show how he sees his lover.

Sonnet 130 contradicts how Shakespeare sees his love as he no longer uses the beautiful imagery he wrote in Sonnet 116, as you can infer that he has returned to reality and seen that not all love is everlasting and beautiful. The message throughout the Sonnet is that even though this lover is not physically the most beautiful with her 'dun' body parts contrasting the lover in Sonnet 116 'rosy lips', he loves her anyway because you don't have to be physically appealing to be loved. Sonnet 130 takes a more unrequited love tone as it can be taken as she loves him a lot more then he loves her. -Evie.

Sonnet Poems - Nneka

There are two different types of sonnets: the Petrarchan ( original ) sonnet and the Shakespearean ( altered / modern ) sonnet which have slightly different conventions but are very similar. It ( can be ) a lyric poem comprising 14 rhyming lines of equal length: iambic pentameters ( 5 stressed and unstressed syllables ) in English, alexandrines in French, hendecasyllables in Italian. 

Conventions of a sonnet:

A Italian sonnet ( Petrarchan ) has:

• has an 8-line 'octave' of two quatrains
• followed by a 6-line 'sestet'
• ryhmed abbaabba then cdcdcd or cdecde
• has a volta or turning point in between the quatrains and sestet
• composed of 14 lines

A English sonnet ( Shakespearean ) has:

• rhyming ababcdcdefefgg
• three quatrains and a rhyming couplet
• a variant of this is the Spenserian sonnet (introduced by the Elizabethan poet Edmund Spenser), which links the three quatrains by rhyme, in the sequence ababbabccdcdee
• the volta or turn comes in between the quatrains and rhyming couplet
• composed of 14 lines

Examples of sonnets:

• William Shakespeare – Sonnet 29
• John Donne – Death, be not proud
• William Wordsworth – Composed upon Westminster bridge
• Christina Rossetti – Remember
• Sir Thomas Wyatt – Whoso List to Hunt

Sonnet 29 -

When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,

I all alone beweep my outcast state,

And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,

And look upon myself and curse my fate,

Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,

Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,

Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope,

With what I most enjoy contented least;

Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,

Haply I think on thee, and then my state,

Like to the lark at break of day arising

From sullen earth sings hymns at heaven’s gate;

For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings

That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

About the Sonnet:

A sonnet is a poem that expresses a single, complete thought, idea, or sentiment. Originating in Italy, the sonnet was established by Petrarch in the 14th century as a major form of love poetry. It came to be adopted in Spain, France and England in the 16^th century; and in Germany in the 17th. Sir Thomas Wyatt was one of the poets that introduced the sonnet form to England and produced one of the worlds first sonnets.

Pastoral poetry - Kenzee

The pastoral tradition refers to a lineage of creative works that idealize rural life and landscapes, while the term “pastoral” refers to the individual poems within the genre. It is a very ancient form of poetry, and can be linked back to 750 and 650 BCE through a Greek oral poet named Hesiod. During the Italian Renaissance, several poets attempted to imitate another famous pastoral poet, Virgil, and some of these newer poets wrote examples of a pastoral lyric, which is a shorter poem describing beautiful rural landscapes. Another subgenre of pastoral poetry is the pastoral elegy, where a poet in the form of a shepherd is mourning the death of a friend, with one of the most famous examples being John Milton’s Lycidas. A typical theme of pastoral poetry is the corruption of city life, and through this theme, political statements are sometimes made. Pastoral poems are mostly simple and the poetic expression uses conventions that have changed very little over centuries.

Pastoral, in the classical sense, died out in the eighteenth century, with the last notable example being Pope's Pastorals of 1709. In more recent usage, the term 'pastoral' has gained an extended definition: poet William Empson has described it as "the process of putting the complex into the simple", and further explained that "in pastoral, you take a limited life and pretend it is the full and normal one", referring to the idolization of country life.

One of the most famous pastoral poems is 'The Passionate Shepherd to His Love' by Christopher Marlowe:

:Come live with me and be my love,

And we will all the pleasures prove
That valleys, groves, hills, and fields,
Woods, or steepy mountain yields.

And we will sit upon the rocks, 
Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks, 
By shallow rivers to whose falls 
Melodious birds sing madrigals.

And I will make thee beds of roses
And a thousand fragrant posies, 
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle
Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle;

A gown made of the finest wool
Which from our pretty lambs we pull;
Fair lined slippers for the cold, 
With buckles of the purest gold;

A belt of straw and ivy buds,
With coral clasps and amber studs:
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me, and be my love.

The shepherds’ swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May morning:
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me and be my love.

Epigram - Evie

An Epigram is a short poem usually with a twist at the end. It is most commonly found written in a verse form, also written as a couplet or quatrain or can be just a one lined phrase. The subject of an Epigram is usually singular. The word Epigram comes from the Greek word ‘Epigraphien’ meaning ‘to write on, inscribe’. An Epigram was originally formed as a reference to the inscriptions on the stone monuments in ancient Greece. The Epigram was very popular in the sixteenth and seventeenth century England due to many poets like John Donne, Robert Herrick and Ben Jonson. Epigrams were used as mainly as expressions of social criticism or political satire. Jane Wilde, an Irish poet, believed that Epigrams were much better than an argumentative speech.

 

 

Candy

Is dandy,

But liquor

Is quicker

An Epigram by Ogden Nash called ‘ice breaking’.

 

Bent and battered, the live oaks have through ages survived

until developed senses of modern man ripped them up still alive.

 

Time rolls out down wide grassy lawns

yet within these suburbs a dearth of it is spawned.

 

Such volunteers are said to advocate

but to the law, they instead frustrate.

Aubade Poems - Frankie

Aubade Poems

   An example of an aubade:

Aubade – William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

HARK! hark! the lark at heaven's gate sings,  

  And Phoebus 'gins arise,  

His steeds to water at those springs

 On chaliced flowers that lies;

                                                                                                                                                                                                   And winking Mary-buds begin      

  To ope their golden eyes:  

With everything that pretty bin,  

  My lady sweet, arise!  

    Arise, arise!

--

An aubade is to put it simply, a love poem or song that’s written in the morning directed to a sleeping woman. These usually are conflated with "alba’s", which are a genre of Old Occitan lyric poetry describes the longing of lovers who, having passed a night together, must separate for fear of being discovered. Typically written in the 18th and 19th Century, aubade's in the 20th Century have shifted their focus from the genre's original courtly love context into the more abstract theme of a human parting at daybreak. A classic example of a modern aubade is Phillip Larkin's "Aubade".

In this example, you can see there are 4 sets of rhymes in this poem including one half-rhyme and one rhyming couplet at the end which was common in a lot of Shakespeare's work.

Other than those smart rhymes, Shakespeare strengths in the poem are located in his use of figurative language. He used a couple of attractive personifications here, “the lark at heaven's gate sings”, and “winking Mary-buds begin to open their golden eyes.” In addition, he also used the other name of the Greek sun-god Apollo, Phoebus, as a symbol of the sun. Furthermore, he also appropriately used a hyperbolic metaphor to replace dews on flowers’ petals with “those springs on chaliced flowers”.

Villanelle Poems - Jess

Villanelle Poems

 

An example of a Villanelle poem is ‘Do not go gentle into that good night’ by Dylan Thomas:

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

Dylan Thomas (1914-1953)

Do not go gentle into that good night,                                                                                                                                               Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,                                                                                                                Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night,

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright                                                                                                                               Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,                                                                                                                          And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night,

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight                                                                                                                        Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,                                                                                                                                     Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light

A Villanelle poem is divided into three segments. The first segment is called the introduction. The second is called the development and the third is called the conclusion.

As you can see in this example and any other Villanelle poem, this lyric form of poetry is quite long. It consists of 19 lines with 5 tercets, 1 quatrain and refrains to end the quatrain and the previous tercets (I have highlighted these refrains). Villanelles have strong opening tercets, with the first and third lines providing a two-barreled refrain. They also gradually build in tone and intensity from one stanza to the next. All throughout the poem there are only 2 rhymes on each line, in this example the rhymes are words similar to 'night' and 'day'.

Jess xx

Conventions of Elegies-Nieve

Conventions and features of the Elegy


Elegies are usually defined as "a poem of serious reflection", typically a lament for the dead in Greek and Roman poetry. However it can also be defined as "a poem of mortal loss and consolation". Eulogies are most often written in formal prose. Here are a few examples of elegies:

• "Lycidas"-John Milton
• "Adonais"-Percy Shelly
• The Duino Elegies by Rainer Maria Rilke
• "Astrophel"-Edmund Spenser
• "In Memoriam A.H.H by Alfred Lord Tennyson

The normal expectations of the Elegy


The elements of a traditional elegy would mirror the three stages of loss moving from grief to consolation:

1. A lament, where the speaker expresses grief or sorrow.
2. Praise and admiration of the idealized dead.
3. Then finally, consolation and solace (the deceased person in question is not dead, but lives on in another world).

Other conventions include:

• The use of refrains, repeated questions, and repetitions.
• The poet's reflection on the unkindness of death, elements of resentment against a cruel fate.
• Concluding images of resurrection.

There are also some conventions that subvert the normal constituents of an elegy but these are less frequent:

• A division of mourning between several voices.
• Questions of reward, contest, and inheritance between the elegist and the subject.
• The elegist's need to draw attention to his own surviving powers.
• The elegist's reluctant submission to language and an accompanying protestation of incapacity.

Another form of an elegy is a Pastoral Elegy, these types of elegies use more pastoral context and the use of pathetic fallacy is more common, which could represent the attributions of human emotions to the world of nature. Elegies of this type may also express a sense of the natural order being disrupted by death.

Year 12 Tutorial 12/09/17

Welcome to our blog!

Welcome to our Literature Blog, Year 12!

Here is where we will share our thoughts regarding the texts we are studying, and where you will post your contributions to class discussions, independent study and collaborative essays.

Make sure your online persona is professional, and that all interactions with other students are respectful and insightful.

Miss R