Reflection on Sonnet One Hundred and Thirty

When examining this sonnet within class, a lot of people said they would be insulted if they were the subject Shakespeare had written this sonnet for. However, I believe that there is a genuine meaning behind this sonnet. If an individual prizes their worth all on their appearance, it's a truly insecure person that would find this poem to be degrading. Perhaps Shakespeare's comparisons can seem harsh to some readers, but I find that this sonnet has underlying meaning. 

Essentially, Shakespeare is saying that in the terms of beauty defined by the society at the time, the subject of the poem would not be considered "beautiful" by the judgmental people. However, I believe that what Shakespeare is trying to highlight is that the subject is beautiful in their own way. Is everything based on appearance? If the subject is the dark lady, is her music not beautiful? Just because her skin is not so fair and her hair isn't the ideal color, does that make her unsuitable? Due to the critical lens of society, anyone who would find this particular subject to be appealing would be in a rare form. But Shakespeare is a man who can be assumed to examine subjects thoroughly, learning about their true personalities and ways of living. Perchance it is for the reasons that cannot be visible to the naked eye that Shakespeare indefinitely feels love for the subject.

Reflection on Sonnet One Hundred and Twenty-nine

Sonnet One Hundred and Twenty-nine is more of a rant than anything else. Throughout the piece, Shakespeare's thoughts keep changing, evident in the use of altered tenses, such as the utilization of had, having, and have within one sentence. The reader cannot deny that the previous sonnets have all included varying sentence count and structure, making it very strange that this sonnet contains only two sentences for all of the lines used. The notion that the first sentence is just an extremely continuous sentence is just further proof that Shakespeare has a lot to say about passion. 

This is the first dark lady sonnet that we explored within the classroom. I find it interesting that Shakespeare alternates between negative, positive, and negative feelings about his (or the speaker's, for we cannot assume the speaker is definitely Shakespeare) passion for the subject (who also could potentially be someone different than the dark lady.) Perhaps this is meant to show how passion toys with an individual's mind, clouding thoughts and emotions.

Reflection on Sonnet One Hundred and Sixteen

I feel that this sonnet is a rebuttal to a debate between the speaker and the subject of this sonnet. I feel that this sonnet has somewhat of a mocking tone buried beneath Shakespeare's own true interpretation of love.

Due to the former conclusions about the young man in question, Mr. W.H., I believe he is a very stubborn, spoiled individual. I'm sure that this same young man would deny any change in his viewpoints, and would often scoff at Shakespeare's ideologies. Shakespeare seems to develop this throughout the sonnet, using many forms of alter and bend to let the readers conclude that the relationship between the speaker and the subject is forever changing, due to emotions and varying viewpoints. 

I also found that although the sonnet centers around themes of mortality and immortality, as well as how love really has no definite boundaries, the sonnet overall is very negative. I was able to find eight negative words, as well as a triple negative in the ending line, 

"I never writ, nor no man ever loved."

I believe it is these elements that set Sonnet One Hundred and Sixteen so far apart from the other sonnets previously studied. 

Reflection on Sonnet Ninety-nine

There is a lot going on within this sonnet. One of the first things to examine is that this sonnet would technically not be a traditional sonnet, seeing as the sonnet is comprised of fifteen lines instead of fourteen. However, it can be still be considered a sonnet due to the fact that the first line (or fifteenth, depending on one's literary lens) is more of an introduction than a true part of the sonnet, rather a meaningless prologue. 

The center focus of this poem is that flowers take beauty away from humans, who originally created beauty in the world. I find it selfish to promote the ideology that humans create all of the beauty that other aspects of nature originate from. In this particular sonnet, Shakespeare writes that the flowers are stealing beauty from the breath, complexion, veins, and hair of his love. This sonnet overall expresses a certain passion for appearance.But is appearance really everything, in the scheme of life?

Reflection on Sonnet Eighty-seven

It is within this sonnet that I found the possibility of Mr. W.H. being from a noble, wealthy family to be most definite. Of course, the fact that the intended subject is most likely the young man was established within the first sonnet examined, but I personally found this sonnet to be the sonnet in which the credibility of the young man being very wealthy to be assured. There are so many financial terms sprinkled throughout the piece, including possessing, estimate, charter, bonds, riches, gift, patent, worth, gav'st, gift, and king.

Shakespeare also puts a lot of effort into having the speaker glorify the subject. The speaker virtually acknowledges that he is not by any means as rich or as interesting as the subject, and therefore is not good enough to be deserving of the subject's love. It is through this sonnet that the speaker is starting to say a good-bye to the young man, a means of providing closure for the young man's obvious rejection of Shakespeare's praise through the sonnets. Perhaps it is these hard feelings that bring the darker subjects into the sonnets following Sonnet Eighty-seven.

Reflection on Sonnet Fifty-five

Sonnet Fifty-five was interesting. I liked how the sonnet revolved around the sense of embodiment, making the subject move from being an object to having true substance. The whole reflection on how poetry literally lasts (or can last) forever, while most man-made objects eventually crumble under the strain of nature is thought-provoking. Do we really take the time to determine how our human creativity will be affected by nature?

I also contemplated the original text of the poem with that version of the sonnet through modern text. In the original, Shakespeare italicizes Statues and Mars. Does that give both words more meaning? It is easy to infer that Mars is relating to the Roman god (which is surprising, since English literature really didn't reference to Roman gods during the time period,) but why would statues be capitalized and italicized? 

The greatest thing to recognize is the many forms of "life" included throughout the sonnet. The words include outlive, living, oblivious (which is thought to be somewhat of a pun,) and live. There is definite emphasis on the value of the listener throughout this piece. 

Reflection on Sonnet Eighteen

Sonnet Eighteen is one of Shakespeare's most famous sonnets. The content of the sonnet most assuredly seems to be beautiful, but there are many peculiarities throughout this piece. 

First of all, it seems very strange how the structure of the sonnet is set up; indeed the sonnet follows the fourteen-line rule, as well as the ending couplet, but the focus of the sonnet changes from a simple subject to that of a complex ideology. The sonnet certainly has many examples of elision (dropping a letter from a specific word to release a syllable, while still retaining the meaning,) which adds to the tone of the piece. 

The listener of the sonnet (whom we could assume to be the mysteriously charming Mr. W.H.,) would be absolutely insane if they were to not acknowledge Shakespeare's love for them. Perhaps it is not so much a love of true meaning, than that of a mix of adoration, obsession, and passion, but it is a form of love all the same. I wonder what the subject's reactionary response was? Were they flattered, or did they feel strange?

Reflection on Sonnet Twelve

This sonnet has a definite rhythm, whether read out loud or internalized through the reader. The constant pattern is almost like the incessant tide pulling in and drawing back out to sea, a smooth and fluid movement that has a definite beat. This is extremely evident in the opening line:

"When I do count the clock that tells the time,"

A large portion of this sonnet reflects on how the seasons relate to periods of one's life. Shakespeare establishes spring as children, summer as youth, autumn as middle age, and winter as old age. The seasons obviously correlate with life in these stages, because it is comparing human life to the life cycle of plants. It is this way in which Shakespeare tries to convince the listener (who we believe to be the young man, Mr. W.H.,) to enjoy the seasons of his life, but not in ways which make his life for naught. All of the sonnets aforementioned also had to deal with advocating continuing the family lineage, but I feel that it is these comparisons to the seasons that have been most effective. Both the aging of humans and the cycles of plant life are apparent and visible, which makes the sonnet so much more powerful.

Reflection on Sonnet Two

Sonnet Two is one of my favorite sonnets that we explored in class. The imagery is so powerful, creating instant visions within the reader's head. For example, some of my favorite lines were:

"When forty winters shall besiege thy brow, And dig deep trenches in thy beauty's field,"

"Will be a tottered weed of small worth held:"

Both of the above lines created a clear picture within my mind's eye. I think one of the most enjoyable aspects of Shakespeare is his beautiful usage and appreciation of the English language. The ways in which Shakespeare manipulates words for syllabication and cleverly using double meanings of words are incredible. Until learning about sonnets throughout these lessons, I did not realize that Shakespeare wrote in such a restricted style of writing. Having to count out syllables and keeping the iambic pentameter (the heartbeat or ticking clock of the sonnet) surely had Shakespeare's work cut out for him. However, it is obvious that Shakespeare found ways to bend around the rules a bit and create sonnets that still are enjoyed to this day.

Reflection on Sonnet One

Shakespeare is very direct throughout the entirety of this sonnet. The speaker is addressing the listener to go forth and proliferate, acknowledging that the listener is beautiful and that the general population always wants more of what is beautiful, so the listener would be doing a justice for the public and himself by having children. It is this sonnet in which we first explore the relationship between Mr. W.H. and Shakespeare, acknowledging that there is some sort of emotional connection between the two individuals, regardless of whether or not the relationship is formed based on Shakespeare's income provided by the family.

It is assumed that Mr. W.H. was a young man who was part of a noble family, a family which hired Shakespeare as a writer to come into the household and dedicate poetry to Mr. W.H. as both a form of entertainment and to encourage the young man to settle down, find a wife, and having children as a means of carrying the family name and prosperity. This is only one of the many conclusions made within the literary world, however this is the theory which we discussed throughout class.

The aspect of Sonnet One that I most admire is how bold Shakespeare is within his poetry. He is telling the young man how selfish he is to not want to procreate. This direct accusal and praise toward the young man leads the reader to believe that Shakespeare finds the young man to be desirable.