Looking at Figurative Language in Sonnet 18
Love is one of the most beautiful things, but causes some of the greatest tragedies in life. William Shakespeare wrote many stories that referred back to love in some way. In most cases he used figurative language to achieve this. When using figurative language Shakespeare is also able to allow the reader to develop his or her own idea on what the poem means to themselves. Shakespeare uses similes, metaphors, and symbolism to tell a story about a love story between two people. Firstly, Shakespeare uses metaphors, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” (1) comparing a woman to that of a summers day. This allows for the reader to make several guesses on what he is talking about. I believe that he is saying that a woman is like a glorious sunny day that brightens your mood and allows you to escape life for a day. In this case it would be most likely in a relationship where the man finds his joy in life from the woman. …show more content…
This takes the meaning of the poem to a deeper level, exploring this idea that death is now a person taking the love of his life away from him. In this we can also explore the idea that maybe death did take the woman he loved away, but Death can never fully take her away because he will always have her in his heart. In Shakespeare’s case he would always have her when he writes. On the whole, the use of Figurative Language in Sonnet 18 allows for a very deep meaning to the sonnet. The use of metaphors, similes and symbolism created and molded the romantic love story between these two people. The use of these elements is what creates a story that each reader may take differently. Ultimately without the use of figurative language the reader would not truly understand how much the woman in the story means to
Love is one of the most beautiful things, but causes some of the greatest tragedies in life. William Shakespeare wrote many stories that referred back to love in some way. In most cases he used figurative language to achieve this. When using figurative language Shakespeare is also able to allow the reader to develop his or her own idea on what the poem means to themselves. Shakespeare uses similes, metaphors, and symbolism to tell a story about a love story between two people. Firstly, Shakespeare uses metaphors, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” (1) comparing a woman to that of a summers day. This allows for the reader to make several guesses on what he is talking about. I believe that he is saying that a woman is like a glorious sunny day that brightens your mood and allows you to escape life for a day. In this case it would be most likely in a relationship where the man finds his joy in life from the woman. …show more content…
This takes the meaning of the poem to a deeper level, exploring this idea that death is now a person taking the love of his life away from him. In this we can also explore the idea that maybe death did take the woman he loved away, but Death can never fully take her away because he will always have her in his heart. In Shakespeare’s case he would always have her when he writes. On the whole, the use of Figurative Language in Sonnet 18 allows for a very deep meaning to the sonnet. The use of metaphors, similes and symbolism created and molded the romantic love story between these two people. The use of these elements is what creates a story that each reader may take differently. Ultimately without the use of figurative language the reader would not truly understand how much the woman in the story means to