William Shakespeare Sonnets - Essay Example

Sonnet 144, 146, 147 and 152 are a few of his completed works and these sonnets carry with them important themes and messages. The theme of love is evident in these sonnets like all of his works. Sonnet 144 mainly discusses the theme of how women are evil owing to the distraction that they provide to men and hence move men away from their faith. The sonnet explains how men are physically attracted to women and Shakespeare considers this attraction to be of threat to pure love. On the other hand, Sonnet 146 carries a spiritual theme and reflects upon the segregation of the soul from the body upon the death of a person.

Sonnet 147 explains the theme of illness and how illness drives a person towards depression. The last sonnet in discussion that is sonnet 152 revolves around the confusion of the poet regarding love and whether the love of the dark lady can be trusted and relied upon. The four sonnets carry with them individually very deep themes and meanings which are to be understood by the reader. Sonnets William Shakespeare is one name that fails to be unknown. From children to elderly, whether associated with Literature or not, everyone knows him as a man, who wrote plays and poetry.

As general as that sounds, that is the magnanimity of his reputation and fame. To be more precise, William Shakespeare is a person who has contributed to English Literature more than anyone else. In his life, he was known for his plays, theatres and drama, but after his death, the rest of his published work showed that he was a much more intense and qualified poet. The sixteenth century celebrated him and his talents, nevertheless, any celebration or recognition remains small to the size of his contributions.

His poetry remains alive today and his sonnets are a perfect example of it. As deep as his sonnets were, they had a certain mysterious element to it. There is a hidden story in each sonnet, yet they all seem connected and extremely personal at the same time. It’s the typical Shakespeare magic. The sonnets discussed in this paper are Sonnet 144, 146, 147 and 152; their complications, themes, story and their whole Shakespeare affect. Sonnet 144’s main theme is about how a woman is an evil figure when it comes to luring men.

In this Sonnet, Shakespeare talks about good and bad people and refers them to as the “two loves” and the “two spirits”. He is explaining the human nature of men as to how women attract them physically and damage their faith. It somehow reflects the reality of life that no matter what happens; men will always have a desire for women. Shakespeare writes this sonnet with a feeling of threat that he feels from this evil to his “pure love.” This sonnet clearly explains the war that rages within a man after he falls in love; a war between his spirit and body.

And according to this sonnet, the woman is the evil that supports body over the spirit. In short, the woman is like a wall between hell and heaven. Moving on, sonnet 146 is said to be the only sonnet which has a grave religious element to it. None of the other sonnets by William Shakespeare have that connection to God. This Sonnet, in particular brings out the feeling of “impending death.” Even though there is no particular mention of God, there is a spiritual and a meditative feel about this.

And once again, we witness a battle between the soul and body but in a completely different way. This battle is the detachment that takes place between the body and soul when a person dies. Sonnet number 147 is a different story in whole. It portrays the poet, that is, William Shakespeare as a sick man who is suffering from a disease that involves an excruciating fever. The expression in the sonnet