Comparison between “Moments” and “That time of the year thou mayst in me behold.”

Comparison between “Moments” and “That time of the year thou mayst in me behold.”

Introduction

Most literary works related in different forms. Some could be sharing similar structures, Styles, and stylistic devices, themes, or they could have characters with the same traits. The poem, “That time of the year thou mayst in me behold,” is a critical love poem that revolves around a middle-aged man who is trying to reveal the importance of present times in our lives by developing the theme of love. William Shakespeare wrote the poem in 1509. This poem was not published in 1609, like most of Shakespeare’s sonnets. It addresses the narrator’s anxiety about growing old by comparing the times of the year and the passing time in nature.  The author stresses on the emptiness of an earlier age. The song, “Moment” by Jhene Aiko is almost similar to Sonnet 73 by William Shakespeare. Moment revolves around time. The singers try to express the difference between the past present and the future. The artist claims that the past is history, the future is a mystery, and today is a gift. The author uses diverse styles like the use of metaphors to express different periods in an individual’s life. The expression of the artists is too emotional for the audience. The poem, “That time of the year thou mayst in me behold” and the song, “Moment” by Jhene Aiko have both differences and similarities. First, the two works revolve around the theme of love; they discuss time and embrace different stylistic devices like metaphors and similes to emphasize the idea of love. Again, the two works view time in different ways. This paper aims at comparing and contrasting the theme of love, the use of metaphors, repetition, and examining the tones of the two works.

First, the two works revolve around the theme of love. In sonnet 73 by Shakespeare, and Jhene Aiko’s song, Moment, have similar issues, although the tone of the two differs. Shakespeare expresses love in a different version, and the same applies to Jhene, who creatively designs a very emotional song. In Shakespeare’s sonnet, He tries to express love in the light of human mortality.  Shakespeare shows affection to a friend due to the situation in our lives. The state of our lives is temporal. Therefore, Shakespeare depicts the importance of his friend. He tries to convince his lover on the urgency of being committed in their relationship due to his aging. The poet embraces various images to depict this. He uses “yellow leaves”  in the second line of this sonnet (Shakespeare 1-2). Also, the use of prefix “twi” in the word “twilight” means half. In this context, it means that the narrator’s life is almost half. The poet convinces the love to urgently commit herself in showing full affection for the death is nearing. The song, Moment by Jhene Aiko, is another critical song that depicts the theme of love. Through Big Sean and Jhene Aiko, it is clear that people fall in love, they move on and wait for their fate. That is why in the third verse, Big sean reveals that past, present, and future are different in people’s lives. Through this song, the two artists express how they feel towards one another. The song suggests that they should live in the present since their past is history, and the future is unknown. “Hey, the past, That’s history/ The future, that’s a mystery/ The present, that’s a gift, that’s why we call is present”  (Aiko 25-27). Their words make the song catchy and too emotional hence encouraging people to fall in love.

Secondly, both works use metaphors and repetition to display the message of the poem. In the presented sonnet, the author makes it clear that both death and aging are inevitable; therefore, time to commit ourselves in love is now. The persona makes it clear that the person he is addressing is still committed to their relationship and aims at convincing her to appreciate the present even though their life together is limited. From the description, true love does not care about age, and it should not fade as one nears death. Moreover, metaphors make the speaker is no longer attractive and appealing. As the poem begins, the poet compares his aging to the periods of the year. The mentioning of late autumn is evident in the lines, “That time of the year thou mayst in me behold/ when yellow leaves none or few do hang” (Shakespeare 1-2).

Additionally, repetition is evident in the same poem. The poet repeats the word love several times in the entire verse.  In the last line of this sonnet. the poet says, “ To love that well which thou must leave ere long.” The poet repeats these words to empathize with the theme of love. The two styles are evident in the song Moment by Jhene Aiko. This artist uses metaphors and repetition to emphasize the idea of love. In the poem, the third verse depicts a metaphor where the persona addresses the lover as the answer. “Cause, baby in a room full of dancer/ you still are the answer.” The persona indirectly compares her lover to the solution, which is love. The use of this metaphor is to display the importance of love. The speaker calls the lover to take away all her stress. Indeed the song is full of repetition. The artist uses repetition in the chorus of this song. The phrase, “ With you, with you/ I get caught in the moment” is used several times in the entire song (Jhene Aiko 17-20). The phrase stresses the importance of being in love or the concern of the lover in this case.

Although the two works depict the theme of love, their tone differs. From Shakespeare’s sonnet, it is clear that it takes a Melancholy tone. The speaker explains to his lover that he is growing old. The three quatrains relate aging to the autumn season. On the same, the persona uses a mournful tone in discussing death that awaits him as he ages. However, the last lines change the attitude of the poem of the strange feeling towards the topic. The last two lines reveal an optimistic tone where the persona shows that death and aging are inevitable, and the two elements make their love more substantial and essential.

On the other hand, the song Moments by Jhene Aiko takes a romantic tone. Jhene expresses her feeling of love. She states her desire to be in love buy claiming that her lover will take away all the sorrow and all the stress, for she is not ready to embrace importance anymore.  The other speaker in the song admits that he is prepared to protect her as directed, for she is the answer. Also, the same speaker claims that he needs someone real to get close upon. The expressions of the two voices in this song reveal romance.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the poem, “That time of the year thou mayst in me behold” and the song, “Moment” by Jhene Aiko have both differences and similarities. First, the two works revolve around the theme of love; they discuss time and embrace different stylistic devices like metaphors, repetition, among others. However, the two works of art take diverse tones. These tones develop the subject matter or the idea of each job. Through analysis of the concept of love in the two works, we tend to understand how love or this topic is essential in our life. Again, the two work revolves around time, which is a critical factor in people’s lives. People will learn the importance of living in the present as the two actions dictate. They stress of living in the present, avoiding interference of both the past and the future. Both practices are so educative and critical in our contemporary society.

Work cited

Aiko, Jhene. 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XlxoQoiYYg. Accessed 26 Mar 2020.

Shakespeare, William, and Richard J. Hoffman. Sonnet 73. Richard Hoffman, 2014.