EN 540: Mr. Fornshell
Shakespeare Teagle
Love, As Seen in Shakespeare’s Sonnets
Due to his eminence as a playwright, Shakespeare’s caliber as a poet has a tendency of going overlooked. Compared to his theatrical works, the Bard’s sonnets have been greatly under examined and, even when analyzed, critics often narrowly focus on whom the works are addressed to or their biographic implications. As interesting as Shakespeare’s lovers and himself were, it is just as riveting to look into the collection’s overarching theme to see what insights the dramatist has to offer about the role of love in life.
Instead of adhering to the rather restrained Italian (Petrarchan) sonnet tradition of praising an ideal mistress, the Bard developed …show more content…
He likens himself to an actor who timidly stumbles over his lines, or a wild beast subdued after a futile tantrum to explain that he cannot properly deliver his emotions as he means to. The sonnets do not properly deliver the magnitude of his love because it is beyond expression. Line 12 "More than that tongue that more hath more expressed" alludes to the poet 's excessive love, and the overpowering passion that ultimately humbles him.
On the other hand, the speaker pursues a physical relationship with the dark lady but the attraction seems very shallow. As seen in Sonnet 128, the poet takes a playful and sensual approach to their love. Through his Epicurean language, Shakespeare evokes the image of a woman gently swaying whilst playing a wooden instrument as the poet enjoys the music and envies the instrument.. As a double entendre, he compares her playing beautiful music on a "blessed" wooden instrument to her playing him (line 2). The diction of the sonnet is particularly licentious: "To be so tickled they would change their state" (line 9) implying the achievement of an erection and the reaping of a harvest (line 7) indicating his sexual climax and ejaculation. In fact, it seems as though Shakespeare sees the woman only as a sexual and physical being to exploit for his own sexual enjoyment, misinterpreting his lust as