Comparative Work on Sonnet 18 & 116

949 Words4 Pages
SONNETS: ACHIEVED ESSAY Describe at least ONE idea that was worth learning about in EACH text. Explain how the writer showed you this idea was worth learning about in EACH text. An idea that was worth learning about in sonnets 18 and 116 by William Shakespeare, is the idea of love. Shakespeare made this idea worth learning about through his use of the sonnet as a poetic form. In sonnet 18 Shakespeare tries to immortalise the beauty of his love by writing the sonnet about them. ‘So long as men can breathe or eyes can see / So long lives this and this gives life to thee.’ By writing about his love in the sonnet he has ensured that his love for that person will be preserved for as long as people can read. By doing so he has proven to his reader how strong love can be. This is an idea worth learning about. Shakespeare used the sonnet as a poetic form to illustrate his feelings for his love. The iambic pentameter in the sonnet creates a rhythm similar to a heart beat. That rhythm draws attention to the effect his love has on his heart. Sonnet 116 also teaches the reader about love. Shakespeare sets a benchmark for love by saying that it will endure any trouble. ‘It’s an ever-fixed mark / That looks on tempests and is never shaken.’ In this line he compares love to a lighthouse that endures storms and remains standing. This idea was worth learning about as it makes the reader question the strength of their own love. The sonnet’s structure is used to reinforce this idea of love. In the final rhyming couplet Shakespeare challenges his reader. ‘If this be error and upon me proved / I never writ, nor no man ever loved.’ He uses the final quatrain to drive home his message on love by putting his reputation as a writer on the line. He says that if he’s wrong, then everything that he has written is wrong, and that there’s no such thing as love. In conclusion,
Open Document