Throughout “Sonnet I,” the speaker employs metaphors in order to highlight her sad tone. The speaker presents common images in order to make her feelings more understandable to her audience, “But far, far happier is the lot of those / Who never learn'd her dear delusive art; / Which, while it decks the head with many a rose, / Reserves the thorn, to fester in the heart” (5-8). Poetic inspiration does not literally “deck the head” with roses or penetrate the heart with a thorn; the speaker simply draws this comparison to make her feelings more relatable. Because many people do not posses the same artistic abilities as the speaker, it is difficult for the audience to understand why the speaker feels saddened to posses a talent that appears very
