Renaissance Poetic Analysis: Shakespeare’s Sonnets, Marvell’s Carpe Diem, and Wyatt’s Hunt
Sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare
This poem is a sonnet by William Shakespeare, written during the Renaissance period. Shakespearean sonnets do not have titles; we refer to them by number. The order is very important, as the sonnets can be separated into groups based on their subject matter. Sonnet 130 belongs to a group that scholars believe is addressed to the “Dark Lady,” characterized by black hair and dark features.
Structure and Voice
- Form: English Sonnet (three quatrains and one final couplet) in iambic pentameter.
- I Voice: The lover, who refers to the beloved. The speaker is sarcastic, mocking the conventions of idealized love poems.
- Subject: Realistic and complicated love. The speaker contrasts idealized Petrarchan love with his genuine affection for the Dark Lady. The Dark Lady is completely different from Petrarch’s Laura.
Analysis by Stanza
- First Quatrain: The speaker dedicates one line to each comparison between his mistress and natural elements (sun, coral, snow, etc.).
- Second and Third Quatrains: Descriptions are expanded to occupy two lines each (roses/cheeks, perfume/breath, music/voice, goddess/mistress).
- Final Couplet: The speaker reveals his main point: unlike other poets, he does not need flowery terms or fanciful comparisons. He loves his mistress for who she truly is.
Imagery and Rhetorical Features
- Rhyming Pattern: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG (Typical English sonnet structure).
- Alliteration: Examples include “If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head” (line 4) and “I grant I never saw a goddess go” (line 11).
- Metaphor and Subversion: The speaker mocks typical Petrarchan conventions (e.g., “My mistress’ eyes are like the sun; her lips like roses, her breasts are white as snow, her voice is like music, she is a goddess”). The entire poem is a subversion of these idealized metaphors.
Intertextuality in Sonnet 130
This sonnet functions as a parody of the Petrarchan love sonnet. While poets like Sidney might claim the lover is more beautiful than the finest pearls, diamonds, and rubies, Shakespeare uses these elements to illustrate that his lover is not as beautiful. It is a total rejection of Petrarchan form and content.
To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell
This is a metaphysical poem by Andrew Marvell, written during the Renaissance period. “To His Coy Mistress” consists of three stanzas and a final couplet, written in iambic pentameter.
Theme and Argument
- Subject: Carpe Diem (Seize the Day). The speaker urgently attempts to persuade his beloved to engage in sexual intimacy, constantly reminding her of their limited time.
- First Stanza: Represents an ideal, hypothetical situation where time is infinite. The lover describes how he would focus on each part of her body until reaching her heart (love/sex).
Rhetorical Features and Imagery
This poem is characterized by intense imagery and rhetorical devices:
- Rhyming Pattern: Developed in couplets (AABBCCDDEEFF…).
- Metaphor: “time’s winged chariot” (line 22), symbolizing the rapid approach of death.
- Conceit: “vegetable love” (line 11), illustrating how love grows slowly and expansively if given infinite time.
- Alliteration: Examples include “we would/ which way” (line 3), “long love’s day” (line 4), and “thirty thousand” (line 16).
- Hyperbole: Used to emphasize the vastness of time they don’t have: “Two hundred to adore each breast” (line 15) and “till the conversion of the Jews” (line 10)—meaning never, or until Judgment Day.
Ideology and Intertextuality
The poem contains colonial references and allusions, reflecting the ideology of the time:
- Colonial Allusions: “Indian Ganges’ side” (line 5), “vaster than empires” (line 11), and “state” (line 19).
- Intertextuality: “To His Coy Mistress” holds strong similarities with “The Flea” by John Donne, as both poems focus on the persuasion of the beloved into having sex.
Sonnet 18 (Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?)
This famous sonnet by William Shakespeare, written during the Renaissance period, follows the typical structure of an English sonnet: three quatrains and one final couplet in iambic pentameter.
Voice and Theme
- I Voice: Shakespeare himself, or an unnamed lover/speaker.
- Subject: The immortality of the beloved’s beauty (often associated with the Fair Youth sequence). The poem praises the loved one’s beauty by comparing it favorably to a summer’s day.
Analysis by Stanza
- First Quatrain: The speaker compares the beloved to a summer’s day, immediately noting the beloved’s superior qualities.
- Second Quatrain: The speaker observes that “every fair from fair sometime declines,” meaning all natural beauty fades, either “By chance or nature’s changing course.”
- Third Quatrain: The speaker asserts that the beloved’s eternal summer (beauty) will not fade because it is preserved in these “eternal lines” (the poem itself).
- Final Couplet: Summarizes the poem’s central argument: the beloved’s beauty will last forever due to the poem’s existence.
Rhetorical Features
The rhyming pattern (ABAB CDCD EFEF GG) is typical of the English sonnet.
- Anaphora: Found in the final couplet with the repetition of “So long” at the beginning of both lines.
- Euphemism: Used in the phrase “every fair from fair sometime declines.”
- Anadiplosis: Appears in the second line of the final couplet: “So long lives this, and this gives life to thee,” repeating the word “this.”
- Personification: Examples include “the eye of heaven” (the sun) and “Death brag.”
Intertextuality in Sonnet 18
The primary reference is the Petrarchan sonnet tradition. Since Sir Thomas Wyatt, who influenced Shakespeare, used Petrarch’s Canzoniere as a reference for his sonnet “Whoso list to hunt,” Petrarch’s sonnets serve as the foundational reference for Sonnet 18.
Whoso list to hunt by Sir Thomas Wyatt
This sonnet by Sir Thomas Wyatt, written during the Renaissance period, is crucial as Wyatt was one of the first poets to introduce the sonnet form into English literature.
Structure and Theme
- Form: Consists of three quatrains and one final couplet in iambic pentameter.
- I Voice: A hunter who describes the impossibility of catching the woman he pursues. The poem uses the metaphor of hunting to allude to the pursuit of love.
- Subject: Unrequited love and the futility of the speaker’s efforts (the “wasted hunt”).
Analysis by Stanza
- First Quatrain: The lover attempts to abandon the hunt, acknowledging he is “of them that farthest cometh behind.” Phrases like “I may no more” and “the vain travail” confirm his disappointment and decision to quit. The woman is introduced metaphorically as the “hind” (deer).
- Second Quatrain: Explores the speaker’s inability to distract his “wearied mind” from the deer (the woman).
- Third Quatrain: The speaker warns other potential suitors: “I put him out of doubt / As well as I, may spend his time in vain!” The loved one is presented as powerful and wealthy, her neck adorned with diamonds.
- Final Couplet: Crucial for the sonnet’s meaning. It reveals the lady is unattainable because she belongs to an influential man: “Noli me tangere, for Caesar’s I am.” This couplet also introduces a paradox: the lady is wild, not tame, despite appearances.
The reference to Caesar is widely interpreted as Henry VIII. Scholars suggest the woman is Anne Boleyn, meaning the speaker (Wyatt) was forced to withdraw from the relationship due to a stronger rival (the King).
Rhetorical Features and Rhyme
- Metaphor: Established in the first line: “Whoso list to hunt, I know where is a hind.”
- Alliteration: Found on lines 1, 3, 5, and 9 (e.g., “Whoso list to hunt, I know where is a hind,” “so sore,” “my wearied mind”). The repetition of the ‘h’ sound conveys the speaker’s sense of loss and sighing.
- Rhyming Pattern: ABBA ABBA CDDC EE. This scheme, different from the later conventional English sonnet (ABAB CDCD EFEF GG), reflects Wyatt’s adaptation of the Italian/Petrarchan form.
Intertextuality
Wyatt’s sonnet closely resembles Petrarch’s Sonnet 190 from the Canzoniere. Both poems use the hunting allusion to describe the courtship of an unattainable mistress owned by a more powerful man. However, Wyatt’s sonnet is distinguished by its sense of loss and anxiety, as the speaker explicitly forsakes the chase, concentrating on the futility of love and frustration.