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?
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