Sonnet essay example

Shakespeare uses his sonnet to differentiate between love and lust, criticize writers who fabricate their women’s splendor, and tell readers to accept what they can not change. To communicate his many meanings, Shakespeare uses several literary devices. Most obviously, Shakespeare uses rhyme and rhythm to make the poem more aesthetically pleasing.

If Shakespeare had simply said that love should recognize and accept imperfections, stylistically, the sonnet would be weak because its pattern would be inconsistent with the other sonnets in the series, all of which describe Shakespeare’s relationship with his mistress, his feelings for her, or her attributes.

Many men in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries composed sequences of sonnets about women whom they loved. William Shakespeare’s incomplete sonnet sequence is among the genre’s most acclaimed.

While sonnet 130 follows the basic style of sonnet writing, it subtly criticizes the woman by comparing her to wonderful things and stating her inadequacies. Readers wonder why Shakespeare would highlight the flaws of the woman he loves so they hypothesize his intent.