Poetry Analysis: Shakespeare's Sonnet 116 And 130

Poetry Analysis
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Poetry Analysis
Shakespeare ability to describe love and its influences from different perspectives compares to none and hence making him one of the greatest poets to ever live. The unique ability to incorporate diverse perspectives of love in his sonnets is evident in both sonnets 116 and 130. In the former, Shakespeare seeks to form or rather create a universal trait that defines the flexibility of love that goes beyond the trivial material or immaterial things to which love is often associated or related. On the other hand, in sonnet 130 the renowned poet takes a rather unorthodox approach to declare love through practical comparison of the lover to the common symbols of beauty employed by most poets to represent love for other persons. Nevertheless, the two poems seem to agree on the universal objectivity of love as it is characteristic of rising above the ideals often associated with it to form relations or associations with reality in an equally intensive manner.
William Shakespeare’s commitment to love and its intricacies is no match for any of the poets of his time. The poet’s depiction or rather the portrayal of love or matters related to the subject is at a class of its own as even the current generation has not found a replacement for the poetic maestro. Sonnet 116 and 130 come from different sections of Shakespeare’s collection thus represent different perspectives from which he expressed his intrigue with love’s mysterious nature. Apparently, sonnet 116 belongs to the category of poems perceivably written an unknown figure commonly referred to as the Fair Youth while sonnet 130 belongs to few poems dedicated to a female figure known as the Dark Lady. Comparing and contrasting various aspects of the poem will reveal the common ground upon which they both settle to the universal objectivity or rather the comprehensive nature of love.
Shakespeare’s sonnet 116 is made up of 14 lines through which he invites the reader to journey with him as he tries to find the perfect symbol befitting his newly found definition and understanding of true love. The poet appeals to or rather calls the reader’s attention to the poem by alluding to a familiar quotation from marriage proceedings, “Let me not to the marriage of true minds. Admit impediments.” (1-2). The poet refers to love as being the inseparable union of a marrying couple that should not allow for anything impede their bond of marriage. Lines 3 and 4 are a continuation of the poet’s negative definition of love as he goes on about what is not characteristic of love. Love, he purports, does not bend to any of the wide range of changes that occur in a person’s life (3-4). Instead, love is that which, “looks on tempests and is never shaken (6)”, should stand the test of time itself and defy all the odds if it’s genuine and true (9). The poet embraces a positive tone as he seeks to create a more concrete definition for love that would encompass his revelation on the objectivity of love in withstanding, outlasting, or outliving al...