The Similarities and Differences in Tones Between Sonnet 18 and Sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare
Poetry is said to be the language of love and has been used to convey romantic feelings for hundreds of years. William T. Shakespeare is no exception; he has written numerous love poems that continue to be quoted even today. His love poems are popular because he brilliantly captures many different types of love. Sonnet 18 and sonnet 130 successfully illustrate Shakespeare's knowledge of various types of love. In sonnet 130, Shakespeare portrays a speaker who finds true beauty in his mistress's ordinary appearance while in sonnet 18, the speaker boasts about his ability to preserve his beloved's outward beauty in his poem for eternity. These sonnets depict two very different types of love; genuine love for another and vanity.
Although both sonnet 18 and sonnet 130 are love poems, their contrasting tones tell two very different love stories. The overall tone of sonnet 18 is very jubilant. The speaker glorifies his beloved's appearance and brags about his power to retain that beauty within the lines of his poem, forever. The prideful speaker also emits a triumphant attitude; he is certain that through his poem, his beloved's beauty will not fade in time, "[n]or shall Death brag [his beloved] wander'st in his shade." It is this arrogance that makes sonnet 18 so different from sonnet 130.
The tone of sonnet 130 is quite comical as its speaker belittles his mistress's appearance, despite being a love poem, by comparing her to unparalleled beauties, such as the sun and goddesses. Shakespeare's use of satire in sonnet 130 is an indirect criticism of every love poem that exaggerates their subjects' beauty. Considering the love poem is intentionally humorous, the speaker genuinely holds no true malice towards his mistress. If the sonnet held a malicious tone, its entire meaning would change and it would no longer be a love poem. Similarly, if the speaker of sonnet 18 had an appreciative attitude, the poem would represent the speaker's undying love for his beloved's outward beauty. The overall tone of a poem reveals the true meaning of the writing, even if it contradicts the words.
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The couplet of a sonnet often reveals the true significance of the poem. That being said, the couplet can completely change the overall meaning of a sonnet's preceding quatrains. Both sonnet 18 and sonnet 130 are affected in this way. In the quatrains of sonnet 18, the speaker compliments his beloved's fair looks and how they will surely stand the test of time. From the quatrains alone, the reader may believe the poem is an expression of the speaker's utter admiration of his beloved's physicality. However, the speaker dulls that sentiment in the final couplet by saying "[s]o long as men can breathe or eyes can see, [s]o long lives this, and this gives life to thee." In other words, their beauty will endure eternity simply because it is preserved within the lines of this everlasting poem.
The poem is not a gesture of affection, but a declaration of the speaker's own ability to overcome time. While the last couplet of sonnet 18 negatively transforms the poem's purpose, the closing couplet of sonnet 130 positively alters its meaning. The speaker first degrades his mistress's appearance by comparing it to lovely things she is not. Yet, in the last couplet, he changes his tune by saying "And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare [a]s any she belied with false compare." He explains how love does not need these vanities for it to be genuine; a woman does not have to resemble roses or the sun for her to be beautiful. In the end, the speaker loves his mistress's outward beauty for what it truly is, which is ordinary. The couplets of sonnets 18 and 130 are particularly important because of the drastic changes to each of their meanings.
Even though the couplets change the intentions of the poems, it does not change the fact that each speaker focuses on their beloved's physical beauty in comparison to other natural beauties. The beloved spoken of in sonnet 18 is compared to a summer's day. Summer, as described by the speaker, involves hot rays from the sun, cloudy days, and rough winds that blow away spring flower buds. Such imagery is used in favor of the poem's subject who is "more lovely and more temperate" than summer. Unlike sonnet 18, the imagery in sonnet 130 is used to downgrade the subject's appearance. Through his words, the speaker paints a mental illustration of "Coral [that] is far more red than [his mistress's] lips" and "black wires [that] grow on her head."
The reader is left with quite an unattractive image of this man's mistress. Imagery, however, can be quite deceiving to the overall significance of a poem, such is what occurs within each of these sonnets. Provided the description of the speaker's beloved in sonnet 18, it is surprising to realize the poem is actually about the speaker's own power, Similarly, it is shocking to hear the speaker of sonnet 130 call his mistress beautiful despite his critical portrayal of her appearance. Although imagery is used to better understand another person's point of view in poetry, it should not be taken so literally and without consideration of the final couplets.
Although they are both love poems, sonnet 18 is about the conceited love the speaker feels for himself, whereas the speaker in sonnet 130 truthfully loves his mistress's outward beauty. The exultant tone of sonnet 18 and the amusing attitude of sonnet 130 contradict the speakers' words. In addition, the final couplets of each poem reveal the speaker's pride in himself in sonnet 18 and the authentic appreciation the speaker of sonnet 130 has for his mistress's looks. Furthermore, through their contrast from the couplets, the imagery used by Shakespeare in each sonnet helps prove each poem's ultimate significance. As can be seen, there are only two types of love poetry in the world; selfish and unselfish. Shakespeare fully understood this and perfectly executed both types of love within his sonnets.
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The Similarities and Differences in Tones Between Sonnet 18 and Sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare. (2023, Feb 21). Retrieved from https://phdessay.com/the-similarities-and-differences-in-tones-between-sonnet-18-and-sonnet-130-by-william-shakespeare/
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