Poetic Devices In Sonnet 1

The most prominent poetic technique in Sonnet 1 is his use of metaphor to portray the true nature of poetry. Poetry is art, "paint the blackest face ...." Poetry is "fresh and fruitful showers" of imagery and imagination. The narrative thread is that the author has tried to express his love in poetry, when all else fails, the muse advises him, "Look in thy heart and write," a sentence in the sonnet that will serve as a major theme. His poems represent a denunciation of "learned" rules and techniques in poetry. Sidney explains in painstaking detail how he gradually fell in love with her and how much he is enduring due to it. He laments writing poetry in "praise" of his tragic situation. He concludes by stating as he writes about his misery, …show more content…
He claims that Cupid,being a false god, puts the real church and clergymen out of work, claiming that, as lovers, we ignore the Nature and have placed a false god in the place where the “real” christian God ought to be. The words ‘to thyself’ meaning ‘for yourself to worship’, so that god’s commandment doesn’t prohibit figurative art and, only the art for the purpose of worshipping. To him the idea of Beauty is laid up in heaven and all of the earthly beauties are imperfect copies of it and are likened to shadows In Plato’s Cave. Sidney understands,that one 's inner virtue, not the external beauty, is the "true beauty" and that external beauty is only the shadow of someone 's inner virtue, these two elements are mixed together in mankind. Sidney knows that although we are only on earth for a short journey "we are but pilgrims" and that our souls should be focused on going to Heaven, but he is dedicated to loving Stella despite what he believes that he should be doing. This sonnet, is about the replacement of inner beauty, virtue by the outward beauty, and is aware what he should be attracted to is the virtue, but Stella’s beauty is so compelling to him that he cannot help