If it is real love, it does not disappear, it only “alters” or “bends”. “Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments. Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove:” If love alters or takes on another form in any way it is not love, for love as he sees it cannot be harmed or change. This is a very philosophical and obviously a poet's view of love. We will have to assume that what Shakespeare means is that love between people can change, but love as an idea will never wither or die.
Shakespeare has more underlying themes in his verse such as the attack on the triumvirate, whereas Dryden focuses more on the love and drama of Antony and Cleopatra allowing the reader to be more involved in the drama instead of figuring out where the stories going next. While both texts ultimately speak of true love at its finest, the refinery of their characters is quite different. Dryden portrays an, although love stricken, heroic soldier never lacking in pride for his person, and on the other hand a love struck queen who is at the mercy of her brave hero. On the opposite end of the spectrum Shakespeare chooses the opposite route. His feminine lead is selfish and manipulative, although she ultimately loves Marc Antony, she is
introduction I am going to explore the ways in which writers present different variations on the themes of love, Courtly/Petrarchan Love, Sexual love/the art of seduction and true love and finding similarities and differences within Romeo and Juliet, The Flea, To His Coy Mistress, Sonnet 116 and Sonnet 130. Petrarchan/Courtly love Petrarchan/Courtly Love is the main type of love that appears in the poems of Petrarch. It is very self centered as it isn’t having contact with what you are in love with, just being inside the head. This is shown in Romeo and Juliet at the start of the play. Romeo expresses courtly love for Rosaline although he hasn’t met her yet, this shows that Romeo is very childlike.
My Mistress’ eyes are Nothing Like the Sun 1. Rhyme scheme: abab cdcd efef gg 2. The initial tone of the poem is Satirical and mocking. The poet does not direct the mocking tone at his Mistress, but rather at the world, who seems to believe that women and love is perfect and that no fault can be found with the one you love. The poet gives the impression of repulsiveness when he speaks of his Mistress’s hair and breath (“Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.” “If hair be wires, black wires grow on her head.”) He uses a tone of honesty when describing her unpleasant voice (which he loves to hear) and the way she walks (“I love to hear her speak, yet well I know That music hath a far more pleasing sound;” “My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground.” He uses nature’s beauty to describe her complete imperfection in comparison to nature.
He describes that his beloved is nothing unusual in the world and she is as simple as a women on the ground. But yet his love toward his beloved is unique because he dose not bestowed her with any false compare like other poet of the time yet his love is rare. Shakespeare dose not attribute his beloved with any false compare like other poet of Elizabethan period in his ‘Sonnet 130’. He describes his love in a realistic way. His love is unique from other in this point that he describes her in a simple way.
Although some may argue that Romeo is impulsive and immature, he is also intellectual. When talking about his love for Rosaline, Romeo says, “Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health! / Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is!” (I, i). Romeo does not think that his saddened and confused love with Rosaline is true love. He knows that this cannot be love, because they are neither affectionate nor devoted to each other.
Marriage is reaffirming the traditional social order after chaos and confusion of the comedy. Marriage is also seen as a respected institution, so it makes sense that at the end of a Shakespearean comedy play to have a wedding, as it is the climax of it. Furthermore, it symbolises all loose ends being tied up together and restoring harmony again, to the audiences’ relief. Shakespeare used a love story or plots of young lovers trying to overcome their ‘obstacles’ and difficulties. Up to this day, marriage is still used in comedies as it gives the comedic effect to the audience.
Shakespeare opens this poem with his opinion of how true love should be. There is no reason to why the “marriage of true minds” that truly love each other should not be bound together (1). The sense that love isn't really love if it changes by itself, allows itself to be changed, or is changed if the beloved changed or disappears is presented in the first quatrain. Shakespeare uses alliteration in lines 2-4 to express his idea that “love is not love/Which alters when it alteration finds,/Or bends with the remover to remove”. Alliteration helps the lines to flow effortlessly while emphasizing his point of each phrase.
Both poems generally give a positive overview of love; both poets suggest that love is never ending and can battle through bad situations. Shakespeare’s sonnet takes the form of argument, talking about the unchanging and eternal qualities of love whilst Browning’s sonnet is like a direct poem to her husband discussing the nature of her love for him. Shakespeare starts the poem by saying “let me not to the marriage of true minds” which sets the tone and exploration of true love. Browning starts by saying “how do I love thee? Let me count the ways!” She is suggesting that we can say that we love someone in many different ways.
Even though Shakespeare is mocking the clichés of love poetry, he sticks to the outline of a traditional love poem. However, the 13th and 14th lines of sonnet 130 read “And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare - As any she belied with false compare”. Shakespeare blasts love poetry for misrepresenting true love’s correlation to beauty, and reasserts that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and not determined by societies standards. The 11th and 12th lines of