Why Does Shakespeare Rhyme Scheme

Words: 560

Pages: 3

Open Document

In Shakespeare’s sonnet, he tackles an ambiguous and complex emotion like love, by breaking it down into three parts: what love doesn’t do, what love is and what love does. This is all shown with the use of simplistic language and a rhyme scheme of ‘abab’. In the first quatrain, the speaker is defining love by what it doesn’t do, which in this case, is that it doesn’t change even if it finds change in the one it loves. The entirety of the sonnet is in iambic pentameter, which is common for Shakespeare, as it gives it a pace which makes the rhyme scheme more prominent, especially when read aloud. Despite this however, the reader is forced to stop mid-flow in the second line due to the caesura: “Admit impediments. Love is not love”. This not only causes an uneven rhythm, but it also causes discomfort when reading aloud, and draws attention to the line post-punctuation. The speaker wants the reader to focus on the most important part of the first quatrain, which is that love doesn’t “alter when it alteration finds”. Another thing noticeable at the start is the eye rhyme with the words “love” and “remove”. Both of these look as though they should rhyme but don’t, which again, could be …show more content…
Love here, is described as an “ever-fixed mark” which could be in reference to a star as well as being linked back to the idea that love doesn’t waiver. Also, the speaker is suggesting that love is not left open to storms (“tempests”), which again, is an extended metaphor to mean any obstacles that would taint love in a relationship, such as infidelity or lies. So to an extent, the speaker is comparing the way that a star guides travellers, to love guiding people, either to each other or towards where they’re supposed to be. Essentially, even if they don’t know where they’re going, love will take them

Essay Poetry and Sonnet

his ideas in a different way, but there are still some points that need to be discussed. Comparing two sonnets by different authors and analyzing them I can find similar and contrasting features. Sonnet 18 by Shakespeare A sonnet is a poem of fourteen lines that follows a strict rhyme scheme and specific structure. So the two masterpieces are written in the frames of a sonnet structure and they both have fourteen lines. Another similarity is the presence of a mysterious lyrical hero "she", that…

Words 659 - Pages 3

Final Paper English 101

and meaning are very complexly bound together and writing sees an ever fluctuating balance among the two as the poem works out what it is to be. (Traditional Sonnets). A sonnet consists of various rich fixtures, and some of the important ones are scheme, imagery, and theme. There are three main basic sonnet forms: the Italian (or Petrarchan) sonnet, the Spenserian sonnet, and the English (Shakespearean) sonnet. In a sonnet, you show two related but differing things to the reader in order to communicate…

Words 1912 - Pages 8

Tone In William Shakespeare's Sonnet 130

as having stars in their eyes, lips that look like art, and cheeks as red as roses. Despite the heavy presence of this universal standard for perfection, some individuals recognize the impossibility of such a standard. Throughout “Sonnet 130,” Shakespeare employs cliché comparisons in order to mock traditional Petrarchan love sonnets. Shakespeare’s mocking tone ultimately serves to demonstrate that a person…

Words 1204 - Pages 5

Sonnet 130 and My Ugly Love Contrast and Comparison Essay

poets speak or write of their beloved with what they and the audience would like to hear, with kind and breathtaking words and verses. Yet, Shakespeare and Neruda, honest men as they both were, chose to write about what love truly is, it matters most what’s on the inside rather than the outside. The theme of true beauty and love are found through Shakespeare and Neruda’s uses of imagery, structure, and tone. The imagery portrayed in both…

Words 1108 - Pages 5

The form and structure of poems Essay

Sonnets are a very good way of reflecting on a scene or an idea but are not well suited to story telling. Metre Over the years poets have developed many different forms, with set rules of rhythm and rhyme. These sets of rules are known as metre . You might ask yourself why poets bother themselves with these things, but if you think in terms of running, it might become clearer. It's fun to run up and down, but if you enjoy running, eventually you will want to test yourself against others…

Words 1713 - Pages 7

Essay about Enlish: Poetry and Rhyme Scheme

old or mysterious. “Poetry is old, ancient, goes back far. It is among the oldest of living things. So old it is that no man knows how and why the first poems came.” "It beats . . . as it sweeps . . . as it cleans!" - slogan for Hoover vacuum cleaners Examples of Assonance Blank Verse Verse written in iambic pentameter, without rhyme William Shakespeare are written in blank verse; this example is from Macbeth: Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day…

Words 3228 - Pages 13

Poetry Paper

(Burnshaw). His father William Frost Jr. was a former teacher who turned into a newspaperman, a hard drinker, and a gambler (Burnshaw). His mother Isabelle Moodie, who was also a teacher, taught in Salem, New Hampshire (Burnshaw). She introduced Shakespeare, Bible stories, and myths to a young Robert Frost who eventually began memorizing poetry and started reading books on his own at a young age (Burnshaw). For the first forty years of his life he was unrecognized for his poetry and it wasn’t until…

Words 2407 - Pages 10

Beauty In Poetry Analysis

Taliea Peterman Mr. Lamphear AP English 12 10 March 2015 The theme of beauty in poetry continues to transcend generations as each generation has a different time period and can be influenced greatly by what surrounds them. William Shakespeare wrote during the Elizabethan age. During this age the importance of literature, learning, and acting were being recognized. Lord Byron was an English poet who wrote during the Romanticism period. This period fought against the Eighteenth century obsession with…

Words 1688 - Pages 7

Essay on Next To Of Course God America I

A sonnet isn’t always to do with love. They became known in England as a thing to do with love, but they aren’t always. Shakespeare, among others, is responsible for this. When Romeo and Juliet first meet, their words form a sonnet. Spenser, Wyatt and others are mainly responsible for our views about the connection between love and sonnets. First... look at these sonnets: Spenser Wyatt Sidney Shakespeare These look and feel quite different from E. E. cummings! These poems show how the sonnet was used to compare women to angels…

Words 3676 - Pages 15

Grade 9 Literature Terms Essay

Literature Terms Term Definition Example Poetry Terms and Poetic Sound Devices Alliteration Allusion Assonance Consonance Onomatopoeia Rhyme Approximate (slant) Rhyme End Rhyme Repetition of the same or very similar consonant sounds usually at the beginnings of words that are close together in a poem. Reference to a statement, a person, a place, or an event from literature, history, religion, mythology, politics, sports, science, or pop culture. Repetition of similar vowel…

Words 4227 - Pages 17