Sonnet 147

The speaker compares his love to a sickness in this sonnet. He talks about his struggle to live with his mistress’s unfaithfulness. He is aware of her actions and doesn’t know what to do about it. The love for her is a “fever longing still”. I like how he compares it because it describes his situation very well. In the last couplet, the speaker is sort of in denial saying that his mistress is fair and bright but then says he knows that he’s wrong. This is another one that I’m not too fond of. I’d like to read some more of Shakespeare’s sonnets.

Sonnet 146

This sonnet is basically questioning the point of living if you’re just going to die anyways. This sonnet is probably one of the most difficult for me to understand. It is really jumpy and I don’t really know what’s going on. The last line in the sonnet is really interesting to me though. It says, “And death once dead, there’s no more dying then”. I like this line because it just states death is done once you’re already dead. The way that Shakespeare worded it was very neat. The rest of the poem is pretty confusing though and not one of my favorites.

Sonnet 138

This poem was written about the Dark Lady. The woman is unfaithful and he is getting old. They both don’t admit their faults and live a relationship full of dishonesty. The word “lies” has a double meaning in this poem. It means that the woman is not telling the truth and that she sleeps with other men. It is kind of upsetting to see the poor relationship that the man has with his mistress. They stay together but both know that it is unhealthy and not working out. The sonnet also portrays his insecurities about growing old like when he says, “And wherefore say not I that I am old?”. His relationship is a hidden mess and he is unstable himself.

Sonnet 130

This sonnet is sort of humorous. It takes a break from all the seriousness that Shakespeare usually writes and intends on mocking other poets that glorify women. The speaker talks about a woman and is actually quite rude. He says, her hair is like wire, her cheeks are not rosy, her breath reeks, and music is more pleasing than her voice. He is just trying to be different than the other poets and be realistic rather than praising a woman for something she’s not. He never says he doesn’t love her; he just isn’t glorifying her like normal. The comparisons in this sonnet are harsh but really creative and funny.

Sonnet 116

The speaker gives us his understanding and views on love in this sonnet. I like this sonnet because he is saying that love is always there. It overcomes obstacles and is not shaken when there is a disturbance. The speaker portrays love as something beautiful that is never altered through thick and thin. He also says that if he is proved wrong, then he, nor any other man, has ever loved. Again, the speaker personifies time and love in the line “Love’s not Time’s fool”. I also like when he compares love to the star. It is like the star that you can follow when you are lost and need direction. That line is really lovely and a good, creative comparison.

Sonnet 94

In the first eight lines of the sonnet, the speaker talks about those “that have the pow’r to hurt and will do none”. The person will fight temptation and not do the bad things they are capable of doing. Eventually, the person will be rewarded for this. The shift in this poem is quite obvious as it occurs in the third quatrain. The speaker shifts to talking about a flower. Summer treasures flowers but once the flower becomes contaminated, it is no better than a weed. The couplet states that sweet things that misbehave turn bad. The rhyme scheme in the last couplet is perfect and drives the point to close off the sonnet.

Sonnet 87

I have mixed thoughts on this sonnet. At first, I think it’s a lovely sonnet where the speaker is glorifying the reader and being very sweet. Then, I get the idea that the speaker has been rejected and is making a pathetic plea. He is asking for flattery and it seems like he has low self-esteem. The speaker could also be hinting that the person’s greatness has to do with money because words like bonds, riches, and gifts are used throughout the sonnet. The situation in the poem is not rectified as the speaker lets the person he is with go. After reading it over many times, I don’t feel bad for the speaker because he really sounds pretty phony. The turning point is the couplet at the end where he states that he wakes up from a dream into reality.

Sonnet 73

The speaker compares his age to the season of fall in this sonnet. He is saying that you can see that late autumn season in him where the trees have no leaves and the birds no longer sing. He uses “black night” to symbolize death in the second quatrain. His youth is dying and old age is this awful thing taking over. Little by little, the speaker is dying. I really like the last couplet because it is saying to love even more what you know you will lose before long. The message that it sends is to be happy with what you have because it’s not going to last forever.

Sonnet 55

In this sonnet, the speaker talks about how the person will be praised forever through the poetry. It is sort of a shift from the other ones with his confident tone. He sounds confident in his poetry that will forever live. I like this sonnet because it is pretty powerful through the descriptive words Shakespeare uses. Some of the evils of that time are portrayed and he says that through it all, memories will survive through his poems. It makes you think a little about how things can live through words. Shakespeare writes “shall you pace fourth; your praise shall still find room”. This shows that the person will move on and eventually die but will still be honored.

Sonnet 30

This poem expresses sorrow as the speaker is addressing his dear friend. Unlike some of the others, it is kind of depressing. He says he doesn't cry often by saying “then I can drown my eye (unused to flow)”, but seems to be upset about so many things. What could have been so tragic in his past and who were the loved ones that died? Also, the couplet says that when he thinks of his friend, the sorrows come to an end and he feels better. What kind of relationship does the speaker have with his “dear friend”. This sonnet is hard to get because we don’t really know where he is coming from. It is sad though and makes me feel somewhat sorry for him.

Sonnet 18

Sonnet 18 is extremely familiar to me. I remember reading this sonnet in ninth or tenth grade. The teacher used it to show us an example of a sonnet and what it was. Back then, it didn’t mean much to me and I didn’t really think anything of it. Now, I find a deeper meaning in it and it makes sense going along with the other Shakespeare sonnets. The speaker is comparing a person to a summer’s day. The person he is speaking of is more lovely and better saying that his beauty will never die. I really like this poem because for the most part it is easy to get and overall beautiful. I love how he picks out summer’s flaws and says the person is better than that.

Sonnet 12

Right off the bat, Shakespeare starts sonnet twelve with a neat play on words. He talks about a clock saying, “when I do count the clock that tells the time”. When that line is read, you find yourself annunciating many t’s and c’s which sounds like “tic toc”, the noise that a clock makes. Life is symbolized by bright, good things and death is symbolized by dark, and gloomy phrases in this sonnet. Also, time is being personified in the last couplet by saying “Time’s scythe” which means time’s destructiveness. This poem is saying that beauty doesn’t last forever and the man will get old and eventually his life will end. I’m confused on the use of the word “bier” and what it actually stands for in this sonnet.

Sonnet 2

Sonnet 2 is addressing the man again to create life. I loved how Shakespeare used the line “deep trenches in thy beauty’s field,” to symbolizes the wrinkles in the man’s aging face. The speaker is saying how foolish he would be not to have children. The last couplet of the poem is pretty powerful. It describes seeing life in the youth when there is no longer youth in the man by saying “and see thy blood warm when thou feel’st it cold.” I feel as though that line really drives the point across that when the man is no longer living, his blood still will be in another human.

Sonnet 1

The first sonnet uses slant rhyme because the words don’t rhyme but they make it sound like they do when it’s read. I don’t really like this because some words just don’t seem to rhyme no matter how you say them. The speaker addresses a man and says that he should be creating life. He wants the man to reproduce so that his beauty will never die. I think he is saying that the man loves himself too much and needs to be less self-consumed and more willing to pass it on to another generation. I like the line “that thereby beauty’s rose might never die,”. It is saying that the man’s beauty will live forever through his own flesh and blood. This sonnet follows the typical English form and starts the series out well.

My First AP Lit Blog

Sometimes, Mr. Currin is kind of crazy. Today, he accused me of "bad editing" on an article that I didn't even edit yet! He was WRONG and I proved it to him. Later on, as I was trying to do a voice over for my Media class, he kept interupting! What a creep. Now in class, he screams directions at us and I can barely hear myself think. What have I gotten myself into???