The Spenserian sonnet combines elements of both Italian and the Shakespearean forms. It has three quatrains and a couplet but differ in that it has linking rhymes between the quatrains.
In the 17th Century the sonnet was adapted and used by John Donne in his religious poetry and by Milton who adapted to political themes. It was later revived by Wordsworth in the 19th Century, after being relatively neglected in the 18th Century. (aldick C.) have chosen Shakespeare Sonnet CXVI - Let me not to the marriage of true minds, to discuss.

The central aspect that appeals to me in this poem is its condensed and logical structure. The central point that is made is carried through the poem in a clear and concise way. This central theme is to emphasize that love, if it is true love, is enduring and permanent. True love cannot be subject to change or decline.…...

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Bibliography

Baldick C. About the Sonnet.. August 6, 2005.  http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/sonnet.htm 

Let en not to the marriage..." August 6, 2005.  http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/363.html 

THE SONNET. University of Pennsylvania. August 6, 2005  http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/sonnet.html 

Sharp W. The Sonnet: Its Characteristics and History. August 6, 2005  http://www.sonnets.org/sharp-b.htm

.." (line 8). This quatrain as a whole makes it clear that the meaning of the poem applies to the poem itself.
The third quatrain is entirely regular, as is the first line of the closing couplet, but the final line of the poem has an inverted first foot that continues the pattern of breaking up the structure of the poem and the meter at key moments. The final couplet reads: "For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds; / Lilies that fester, smell far worse than weeds" (lines 13-4). Continuing the same interpretation of the poem as self-referential that has heretofore been used, this line suggests that the poem and even the poet's skill could be turned sour by using used for ill purposes (such as more directly accusing the perceived cause of the poet's displeasure), and the inverted first foot of the second line of the couplet again arrests…...

Sonnet
The traditional sonnet form became popular during the Renaissance. This poem consisted of fourteen lines with a specific meter and rhyme scheme which depended on the sonnet form it was written in. Most would have a set of eight lines called an octave or two four line sets called quatrains. These would be followed by a sestet or grouping of six lines. hen the sonnet found its way to Elizabethan England, the form was toyed with, most famously by illiam Shakespeare who created the Elizabethan or Shakespearian sonnet wherein three sets of quatrains would be written in iambic pentameter and ended with a rhyming couplet (Miller). ith the advent of free verse, the relatively strict rules of sonnet structure broke down completely. Lines no longer had to rhyme nor follow any particular rhythm. Poet Laureate Billy Collin's poem titled "Sonnet" is a perfect example of the modern sonnet in that…...

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Works Cited

Billy Collins .net - Biography, Pictures, Videos, & Quotes. Web. 06 Dec. 2010.

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Collins, Billy. "Sonnet - Billy Collins." Billy Collins. Web. 06 Dec. 2010. .

Sonnet XVII
Neruda's Sonnet XVII uses very interesting imagery that is vague enough to allow for multiple interpretations. There is however a strong theme that runs through it that illustrates a contrast between light and dark. The contrast between light and dark is a central theme in many works of literature, spirituality, and many parts of life. In my interpretation of the sonnet, I think Neruda choses words that illuminate, such as salt-rose, topaz, carnation, and fire, and says that his love is "not that" is incredibly interesting. I got the feeling that he is trying to say that his love is steady, indefinite, or lasting. For example, the arrow of carnation the fire shoots off could represent the type of love that burns bright at first but then fades quickly -- like the small blazes that leave the fire as it burns that are bright at first then die down…...

Sonnet 165 by Shakespeae focuses on a young love, whose emotions ae deeply connected with whateve his sweetheat says to him. Thus, the entie poem elates the effects of the wods "I hate" on the young speake. The poem is addessed to the eade, and not to a specific listene. The speake is asking fo sympathy, as he evoked sympathy fom his lady.
The poem thus basically focuses on the fact that the young man's lady says the wods "I hate" to him. The effect of this on his emotions is devastating. The intensity of his feelings can be seen in the fist line, saying that the lips of his lady ae made by "Love's own hand." "Love" hee is pesonified as the goddess Venus. The lady is thus seen as being divinely inspied and loving, which makes he wods all the moe shocking. Thee is theefoe an intense contast between…...

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references in the poem are also interesting. Heaven and hell, as well as day and night are frequently used in the Bible to show salvation and damnation. This shows how intense the speaker's feelings for his love are. He almost worships her like a goddess. Hence also the reference to Love as a goddess in the first line.

Nonetheless, the balance and the love are restored at the end when the lady modifies her words. It was therefore the speaker's pain that scolded, or "chided" the lady's "ever sweet" tongue to change what she said. It is therefore shown that she is perhaps not completely heartless or blind. Her heart is softened by her lover's pain. The sonnet is therefore the fairly simple story of how words can hurt and heal. The lady's initial words hurt the speaker so badly that he feels as if he is dying. He nonetheless holds on to his love and his faith in an almost religious way. This is then rewarded with a journey towards healing and salvation.

Sources

Gibson, Rex (ed.). Shakespeare: The Sonnets. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1997.

Mabillard, Amanda. "Shakespeare: The Sonnets." 1999-2003.  http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/

Sonnet Analysis
The Quality of Beauty, Love, and Sonnets

Sir Thomas Wyatt's sonnet "How the Lover Perisheth in His Delight as the Fly in the Fire" describes how love, passion, and/or beauty can be all-consuming and self-destructive. The poet uses a long-running metaphor of birds as a substitute or symbol for male lovers generally and the speaker of the poem specifically, while the sun is the female lover and possessor of great beauty -- the source of the fire or passion, in some sense. It is the nature of the birds and their relationship to the sun that concern the speaker at first, however; he comments that some are able to shield their eyes from the sun's light, and that others only come out at night because the sun is simply too much for them to handle, but that many try to play in the sun but ultimately find themselves consumed by…...

The narrator is on his "death-bed" and recognizes that his youth was good and he lived a good life. The "glowing of such fire" seems like it would relate to Hell, but really it refers to the fire and passion of youth, that burns out as people grow older, and is extinguished entirely by the time a person has lived a long life and is ready to die. He recognizes he "must expire," and that his life will be consumed by the joys and youth that nourished it when he was younger. Again, the narrator seems to be reassuring the other person, and telling them that he lived a long and good life, he enjoyed the passions of youth, and that he is now ready to die, and that death is inevitable.
This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong,

To love that well which thou must leave ere long

These…...

Edna St. Vincent Millay's "Love is Not All"
Scansion and Analysis

Edna St. Vincent Millay utilizes a traditional sonnet form in "Love is Not All" that is reminiscent of a Shakespearean sonnet, with an ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GG rhyme scheme. It also contains a "turn," in that the argument that the poet appears to be making throughout the first half of the poem is suddenly turned in a different and unexpected manner so that the last lines of the poem surprise the reader and lead him to a contradictory or opposite conclusion. In this case, the first part of the sonnet is set to giving negative reasons for what love is not and why it is not so important in practical terms. And yet the poet concludes that in spite of all these practical reasons, love is still, in fact, everything -- that is, it is worth more than all other practical…...

Shakespeare's Sonnet # 138
Shakespeare's "Sonnet 138"

illiam Shakespeare's "Sonnet 138" provides audiences with the opportunity to get a more complex understanding of the speaker's relationship with the Dark Lady and concerning the insecurities that come to dominate his thinking as a result of him growing older. It seems that this relationship has become platonic and it influenced the speaker to experience an emotional detachment as he concentrates on turning a blind eye to what goes on around him -- he simply prefers to ignore the fact that she lies to him and that she is cheating on him with other men. The sonnet actually puts across a psychological study with regard to ideas like love, adultery, and acceptance of one's position in the world.

The speaker focuses both on himself and his mistress in trying to provide audiences with a thorough account about their affair. Even with the fact that the…...

The rhyme scheme of this sonnet follows Shakespeare's usual structure, wherein the quatrains all have an independent alternating rhyme (ABAB CDCD EFEF), and the final two lines form an heroic couplet (GG). This adds to the feeling of receiving discrete steps of an argument, and enhances the divisions of the versification. There is also a noticeable prevalence of "l's and "s's in the poem, particularly in the first and third quatrains. these sounds make up the basics of the word "lies," which is itself used as a rhyme and is repeated in the poem, and which forms one of the major themes of the sonnet. In this way, the alliteration subconsciously reinforces the meaning and feel of the poem. There are also instances of repeated words, such as "love" in the lines "O love's best habit is in seeming trust, / and age in love, loves not to have..." (lines…...

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Works Cited

De Grazia, Margreta. The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare. New York: Cambridge University Press 2001.

Evans, G. Blakemore and M. Tobin, eds. The Riverside Shakespeare. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2003.

Shakespeare, William. "Sonnet 138." In the Riverside Shakespeare.

In comparison, he feels weak and inferior. These emotions are driven by fear of God and while fear is never good, it can be constructive in regard to building character.
Donne's language is significant because it emphasizes the mood and tone of the poem. He describes himself as "riddenly distempered, cold and hot" (7) - words that illustrate the conflict he is feeling. It is important to realize how these conflicts allow the poet see himself as he actually is. The cold and hot images are polar opposites and they reveal the poet's awareness of his human condition. The conflict within him is also illustrated with the image of a prayer and muteness. God's infinite power forces the poet to realize that he is none but he calls to God. His "devout fits" (12) are come and go just as his fear does and while he realizes that he will…...

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Works Cited

Lawrence Beaston, "Talking to a Silent God: Donne's Holy Sonnets and the Via Negativa." Renascence: Essays on Values in Literature. 1999. GALE Resource Database. Site Accessed May 29, 2008.  http://www.infotrac.galegroup.com .

Donne, John. "Sonnet XIX." Sonnet Central Online. Site Accessed May 31, 2008  http://www.sonnets.org/donne.htm#119 

Stringer, Gary. The Variorum Edition of the Poetry of John Donne. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 2005.

Shakespeare, Sonnet 57
A Reading of William Shakespeare's Sonnet 57

Shakespeare's Sonnet 57 begins with a striking metaphor: "being your slave." Shakespeare does not soften the image by using a simile to suggest he is "like a slave" -- he is already a slave because he is in love. Structurally any Shakespeare sonnet consists of three quatrains and a concluding couplet, in which the quatrains in some way speak to each other, ramifying or deepening the argument in some way. Here the striking opening metaphor of servitude is ramified and toyed with throughout the quatrains. But intriguingly the final couplet of the sonnet sidesteps all the imagery of slavery and servitude to redefine the terms of the lover's situation as described in the earlier body of the sonnet. I intend to show how the metaphor of slavery used in the first three words of the sonnet is unwritten by the last two…...

" The speaker nevertheless remains full of hope and faith: "Yet hope I well, that when this storme is past / My Helice the lodestar of my lyfe / will shine again, and looke on me at last, / with louely light to cleare my cloudy grief." Until the storm passes, however, the speaker is doomed to "wander carefull comfortlesse, / in secret sorow and sad pensiuenesse." Furthermore, Helice also symbolizes the beloved, a romantic love interest the speaker is currently apart from.
Spenser employs a variety of poetic devices to convey the underlying meaning and tone of the poem. First, a sonnet is traditionally a form of love poetry, which is why Helice probably refers to a human being as well as to a star. As a sonnet, this poem is structured with fourteen lines and a distinct rhyming scheme: ABABBCBCCDCEE. As with most sonnets, the final two lines of…...

A central element that is fostered throughout the poem is the sense of emotional intensity and passion which is suggested by images and metaphors of burning and fire. For example, who had the lure of love in my breast, what wonder if I suddenly caught fire?
The second stanza continues the theme of lost love. The woman is depicted in a golden light and idealized form, which is supported by the emotional intensity of the protagonists love for her. This stanza also follows the same pattern of increase and decrease in intensity and the shift between adoration and loss of love. This pattern continues throughout the stanzas and culminates in the final lines of the poem. It is as if the recollection and memory of the loved one intensifies the feeling of love and passion to mythical proportions.

Her way of moving was no mortal thing, but of angelic form: and…...

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Works Cited

The Columbia Encyclopedia. 6th ed. 2004. Questia. 19 Dec. 2006  http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=101264363 .

A www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=107555259

Spiller, Michael R.G. The Development of the Sonnet: An Introduction. New York: Routledge, 1992. Questia. 19 Dec. 2006  http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=107555261 .

Shakespeare is often revered as one of the world's greatest authors. His works, which have now become legend, are the subject of intense study and review. In many instances, many of today's popular motion pictures, dramas, and movies have used elements of Shakespeare's work. Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were mainly comedies and histories, genres he raised to the peak of sophistication and artistry by the end of the 16th century. He then wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, King Lear, Othello, and Macbeth, considered some of the finest works in the English language. Many of these tragedies have been adapted for modern viewing. Hamlet, Othello, and Macbeth, for instance, have seen multiple motion picture releases and have captivated generations. In addition, many of Shakespeare's tragedies have become common works on Broadway, further justifying their importance in English literature.…...

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References:

1) Booth, Stephen, ed. Shakespeare's Sonnets. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977, p. 457- 476.

Shakespeare may be the most popular broad topic for essays in English classes.  He wrote some of the most well-known works in the English language and, while he is known for his plays, he is also known for poetry.  English essays may focus on his works, but it is also possible to write compelling essays about Shakespeare’s life, including the enduring popular topic of whether Shakespeare was the true author of the works credited to him. 

Here are some essay title suggestions:   

1. Bringing Home the Bacon: Questions About the Authorship of Shakespeare’s Plays
2. The Real Tragedy of....

1. Analysis of the themes of love and betrayal in Shakespeare's plays
2. The role of women in Shakespeare's works
3. Shakespeare's influence on modern literature and theater
4. The use of language and imagery in Shakespeare's sonnets
5. Comparing and contrasting the characters of Hamlet and Macbeth
6. The portrayal of power and ambition in Shakespeare's historical plays
7. Examining the significance of fate and destiny in Shakespeare's tragedies
8. The depiction of madness in Shakespearean dramas
9. Shakespeare's use of humor and wit in his comedies
10. Exploring the concept of youth vs. age in Shakespeare's plays
11. The representation of race and ethnicity in Shakespeare's works
12. Analyzing....

Twilight's Reflection on Easter's Themes

1. The Duality of Light and Darkness

Easter marks the triumph of light over darkness, the resurrection of Jesus from the tomb. Twilight, a state of transition where light and darkness intertwine, mirrors this duality. An essay could explore the symbolic interplay between the waning light of twilight and the darkness of the tomb, contrasting it with the dawn of Easter's hope and victory.

2. The Transformation of Dawn

Twilight precedes the dawn, a time of anticipation and renewal. Easter is a celebration of the transformation wrought by Christ's resurrection, bringing hope and a new beginning. An essay could....

Walt Whitman's Pioneering Use of Free Verse and Unconventional Syntax

Walt Whitman, the celebrated American poet of the 19th century, was a pioneer in crafting a distinct poetic style that transcended conventional verse forms and syntax. His innovative use of free verse and unconventional syntax served as a powerful medium through which he explored profound themes of individualism and democracy.

Free Verse and the Liberation of the Individual

Whitman rejected the rigid confines of traditional poetic forms, such as sonnets or iambic pentameter, in favor of free verse. Free verse, with its irregular line length and unrhymed lines, allowed Whitman to express his....