Poetry comparison essay- ‘Poem’ and ‘Sonnet 19’ Essay

For my assignment I am going to compare two sonnets, written in early-mid 1590 and the second in 1990s, by popular poets William Shakespeare and Simon Armitage. I will be writing about their content, meaning, structure, style, rhyme pattern, persona, imagery, language and the tone set in each piece of writing and comparing how each characteristic is similar and different. In the early-mid 1590s, William Shakespeare wrote a sonnet, in his own style – Shakespearean – in the traditional context: love. It was vaguely called ‘Sonnet 19’, which suggests he is displaying that perhaps he was not completely connected, emotionally, with the sonnet. However, this fact could be contradicted in the way that all his sonnets were simply identified with a number, this particular one not being different. The sonnet itself is written as a persona; it is meant to be perceived as coming from a character, possibly from one of his plays? It is about the loved one of the persona, aging with time, and the narrator pleading to ‘devouring’ Time (time, in this case, being classed as a noun) that He shouldn’t age his loved one. In this sense, it is a traditional sonnet; it is about love. Consisting of fourteen lines, and a structure of an octane, followed by a quatrane and then a couplet; it is a typical Shakespearean sonnet. This poem has a rhyme scheme of ABAB, CDCD, EFEF for the first twelve lines of it, however for the final couplet; a simple GG is used instead. This rhyme scheme gives a rhythm to the sonnet, and creates a less drastic and eerie atmosphere when reading; because the rhythm is more bouncy that that of a poem without the use of direct, full rhyme. Also, the iambic pentameter present in the sonnet gives out a more flowing beat when reading the poem. It also makes the sonnet seem a little less dark and tense, as it releases ease for the readers. The ten syllables on each line are important to the poem, to increase flow and to possibly give the audience a little humor; whether or not this was purposeful we don’t know. But we do know Shakespeare mean to include ten syllables in each and every line of ‘Sonnet 19’. The first octane introducing the problem the persona is faced with: in this case the fear that the one he loves will be negatively affected by time. This tells the reader what the person the poem is directed from, is possibly quite shallow- due to the fact he pleads with ‘Devouring Time’ not to ‘carve with thy hours [his] love’s fair brow’. This means that he doesn’t want time to have an effect on his loved one’s appearance, which brings out a hint of arrogance from the ‘writer’. However, this point can be disregarded by the time the reader gets to the couplet at the conclusion of the text. The persona comes to the compromise that, even if time does eat away at his loved one, the beauty and youth will exist forever in his writing; ‘[his] love shall in [his] verse ever live young’. Referring back to the first eight lines of the sonnet, lots of imagery is used in the introduction. At first, the imagery creates slightly more stubborn and fierce images; as if the persona is ordering Time to not touch his loved one. However, on the ninth line, ‘O carve not with thy hours my love’s fair brow’ gives the reader the impression that the persona is suddenly changing his attitude, and possibly realising the harder sense that was given off in the first octane. It paints an image of him almost begging, given the ‘O’ put as the opening to the line softens his tone sufficiently to create an imagery that puts the persona in a much less dominant place. Imagery in the first octane includes more angry phases, as he is almost demanding an answer for Time’s cruelty to the Earth, and to people and animals. This is shown through lines such as, ‘[Time] plucks the keen teeth from the tiger’s jaws’. This is saying that Time makes a tiger age, and therefore be drawn to less youthful features; loss of teeth, sufficiently less strength etc. But instead of saying this, a harsh image of somebody ferociously pulling the set of a tiger’s teeth out is created to add the effect of anger which has overcome the persona. The text itself is about love- along with the majority of other traditional sonnets. However, the poem is believed to be addressed to a man, however this doesn’t indicate a homosexual relationship between the persona and the subject. It is believed that Shakespeare may have been gay, but it will never be known for sure and this is just one interpretation of his writing. The second sonnet I am going to compare is one of which by Simon Armitage and is called, yet again- vaguely, ‘Poem’. Already, a similarity is appearing between the two sonnets with just the name and the appearance of a poor connection between the poet and the actual piece of writing. The sonnet was written in the 1990’s and so will be much newer than that of Shakespeare’s, but there are in fact many similarities between the two, despite the time difference. Once again, the same structure has been used; first an octane, then a quatrane and a couplet to end with. The eight lines and the last two serve the same purpose as the ‘Sonnet 19’ does; to introduce, and the couplet to conclude. However, the quatrane between the two simply continues the first octane in more detail- introducing the situation. Within this structure, yet another pattern was used; speaking in three lines about a positive part of the situation then including one negative fact, before returning to a lighter tone for three more lines. Also, the iambic pentameter is also used in this sonnet- and was likely to be purposeful to lighten the mood slightly, maybe to enhance the slight use of humour in some parts of the poem. However, the rhyme scheme; ABAB CCCC DDDD and EE, also makes the text more rhythmic and upbeat. Although, because the rhymes are mainly just half-rhymes (not full ones) we can’t be sure that the rhyme scheme was purposeful, and if they were, whether they were purposefully just half. Half rhymes generally, if used in deliberate format, dampen any humour included in a piece. This is because rhymes usually make it easier to read and more happy, or upbeat, but when reading ‘Poem’, you get a sense that a deliberate darkening to the mood was put into the text. The actual poem itself is not about love, unlike ‘Sonnet 19’ and many other traditional poems; it is thought to be an obituary. It speaks about somebody’s life, and also as if this person has passed away, or been removed from society. This also adds to the eerie feel, yet speaks of his life with a slightly humorous side. The imagery created in the positive lines of the poem develops a happier phase in this person’s life in each stanza. Phrases such as, ‘he praised his wife for every meal she made’ give off an impression he was a very kind man, and that he was also family-orientated. It tells us he was appreciative of others- showing a kinder, softer side to him. However, the fourth line of each phase cuts out the happier tone and surprises the reader with the fact that he one punched his wife ‘in the face’ for laughing. This immediately develops a cold image of this man and the reader recognises that he had a dark side as well as a good one. It also makes him out to be a violent and possibly incontrollable man. The use of slang is present in this poem, joined by many other of Armitage’s pieces, in the way he uses the word ‘slippered’ when describing the way he punished his daughter for lying. This is not proper English and perhaps was deliberate to create a picture of this man being very common, down-to-earth and possibly just your everyday person. This constantly switching of imagery soon develops a balanced view in the reader’s mind; that perhaps this man represents any normal person- for having both good and bad inside us is in everybody’s mannerisms. In the final couplet of this sonnet- which also includes a half-rhyme, instead of full- Armitage concludes the poem, saying the man the first twelve lines painted of was considered to be normal, and when people ‘looked back’ at his time, their thoughts were ‘sometimes he did this, sometimes he did that’. This tells us that his moods changed, along with his attitude and that he did both good and bad in his time. The way the final couplet concludes is the same as Shakespeare’s finale; and they both end the poem in a generally lighter tone. I believe that the two sonnets compared in my coursework are very similar, despite the change in times. Poetry clearly will not differ over time, and the similarities between the two indicate that sonnets- if kept traditional- will always be very similar.