Comparison of Two Sonnets
William Shakespeare’s Sonnets are a collection of poems that talk about different aspects of human nature and relationship. The following paper will correctly compare and contrast sonnet LXIX and sonnet 18. Both sonnets are premised love that is written by the use of metaphoric language and a lot of sensory imagery to convey the viewpoints of Shakespeare. During Shakespeare’s time, metaphoric love poems were so common. In the two poems, it is apparent that Shakespeare describes the beauty of his lovers by likening them to the beauty of nature. He exaggerates his metaphors by ironically comparing the beauty of these lovers to the value of nature. For instance, in LXIX, Shakespeare mentions that without the light his lover carries in her hand, others would not be able to see. Shakespeare, in Sonnet 18, uses the metaphor of the season to describe the everlasting beauty of his lover. He mentions in the poem that though the days of summer will eventually come to an end, the beauty of his lover shall remain. At the same time in Sonnet LXIX, he mentions that he uses a similar metaphor of nature when she says that the beauty of her love is much brighter than even the sun, and without it, some people may not see.
In terms of stylistic devices, both poems have utilized rhymes to keep the flow. In LXIX, for instance, words like “bare and ware,” “unknown and grown,” are appearing at the end of the stanzas to make the poem have a regular pattern of ending. Similarly, in sonnet 18, words like “day and May” are used to make the rhyme in the poem. In terms of poems genre, the two sonnets are short songs with few stanzas. Though the two poems are about love, sonnet 18 uses the imagery of seasons, while sonnet LXIX uses the imagery of light (the Sun and the Moon).