Do you know about sonnet 141 ?

 

 Sonnet 141 by William Shakespeare.



Introduction

  • Sonnet 141 is addressed to the so called dark lady, the mistress, the subject of the Shakespeare's final 28 sonnets of the complete 154 sonnet sequence.
  • Sonnet 141 is one of several sonnets that explore the theme of "eye against the heart" the rational mind against the emotional core.
  • It focuses on the struggle between the speaker's sense and his heart. He knows his lover is not the most beautiful to look at; she hasn't the voice or smell or touch but nonetheless he's her tormented slave.
  • He doted on her because he is religiously devoted, a nothing of a man without her. She is the cause of pain yet she makes it worthwhile.




Overview

  • Tone - confessional 
  • theme - there are other reasons to attraction than physical features.
  • narration - 1st person / written to the dark lady

Lets study the poem 

  • In the first quatrain,

*** Shakespeare introduces a love which is beyond physical attraction. ***


*** The speaker's overwhelmed emotional attraction to the lady contradictory with his vision which is a reflection of social convention -- in Elizabethan era the beauty of women is highly valued and appreciated. ***

*** So, the poet's struggle between the mind and heart is introduced. *** 


*** His confession reveals that he does something unacceptable to be done by an ordinary person. ***


Techniques

Symbols
Inversion 
Hyperbole
Personification

  • in the second quatrain,
*** Poet further emphasizes the physical imperfection of the "Dark lady" to reveal that she does not possess any socially accepted norms of beauty to celebrate. ***

*** His confession reveals: though she is full of blemishes, he still cannot loving her. ***

*** It further reveals that the speaker does not love her to merely having physical pleasure. But his love is beyond physical pleasure. ***

 Techniques

Anaphora 
Imagery 
Parallelism
Metaphor
Alliteration
Personification
  • in the third quatrain,
*** Poet reveals the struggle between the heart and the brain. He has lost his control over the wits and senses making his a slave to the dark lady who possesses  the nature of stereotype women in this era. ***

*** He is unconditionally attracted to her personality like a slave. He admits that he has lost his control over his emotions making him a miserable character before the eyes of society. ***

Techniques

Metaphor
Inversion 

  • in the couplet,
*** His predicament is shown in the last couplet. ***

*** He reveals the pain that was awarded by the woman who possesses conventional proud and cruel heart.***

*** He believes loving dark lady is a sin and his pain is the punishment for his rigorous devotion towards her. ***

*** In a way, it is a complicated love which is gives the lover pain as a gift. ***

Techniques

Metaphor
Religious words


Themes

  • Attraction and sensual pleasure 
  • Infatuation
  • Love

I will talk about Metaphysical age in my next article. 
Thank you !!
Location: Galle, Sri Lanka

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What is a sonnet ? What are the types and qualities of sonnets? Sonnets | Petrarchan sonnet | Shakespearean sonnet

Image
  Sonnets  Introduction What is a sonnet ?           Basically a sonnet is a fourteen-line poem written in Iambic pentameter. What are the types of sonnets ?           There are two types of sonnets; Petrarchan and Shakespearean. Features of two sonnet types  I will talk about the topic "Shakespeare in sonnet writing" in my next article. thank you !
Read more

Everything you need about "Cat in the Rain" by Earnest Hemingway.

Image
Cat in the rain By Earnest Hemingway Who is Earnest Hemingway ? • He is an American ambassador. • First worked as an ambulance driver. • After that worked as a war reporter. • He is famous for his unique literary pieces. What are the common qualities of modern short stories ? • Brevity of the story. (short in length) • Conciseness (Limited characters / single plot / single setting) • Single impression. • Abrupt entrance. “Cat in the rain” introduction Everybody knows cats hate water- so what do they do when it rains. Apparently, they shiver and cover in the driest place they can find. Must be pretty lonely. Hemingway first published “cat in the rain” in 1925 as a part of a short story collection, “in our time”. He wrote it while living in Paris with his first wife Hadley, but the story’s setting in the small Italian town was clearly influenced by his time in Italy as a Red Cross worker in WW1. * This story is a prime example of the clean lean writing style that he was d...
Read more
  Seedr : The Easiest Way to Download and Stream Torrents Online If you’re tired of slow torrent downloads or complicated software, Seedr is the game-changer you’ve been waiting for. It's a cloud-based torrent downloader that lets you fetch and stream torrent files fast, securely, and directly from your browser — no need for uTorrent or any other client! Why Choose Seedr? No Installation Needed Seedr runs entirely in the cloud. Just paste a torrent link or magnet link into the website, and Seedr will download it to your personal cloud instantly. Super Fast Speeds Seedr uses high-speed servers to fetch files quickly — even if you have a slow internet connection. Once a file is in your Seedr account, you can stream it or download it at top speed . Stream Videos Instantly Want to watch movies or TV shows without waiting? Seedr lets you stream videos straight from your cloud using its built-in media player. Safe and Anonymous Because the torrents are downloaded to See...
Read more