Declarations of Unchanging Love in Shakespeares Sonnets - Essay Example

     Sonnet 18 is arguably the best-known and appreciated of Shakespeare’s 130 sonnets. Contrary to popular misconception, it is addressed, not to his lady-love, but to a friend, probably William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke. Shakespeare commences his sonnet by comparing the youth with summer, with its connotations of warmth and light, but then devotes the first two quatrains to listing the shortcomings of summer. Unlike the even-tempered disposition of his friend, summer is subject to excesses. It is a transient season, which flits away all too soon: the metaphor of the short lease (Line 4). The sun, “the eye of heaven,” (line 5) either blinds one with a surfeit of light or vanishes behind overcast skies or the darkness of night. Capitulating to the inexorable march of time, nothing can adhere permanently to the ideal of beauty. In the third quatrain, Shakespeare acclaims the unchanging nature of his friends’ virtues, denoted by “thy eternal summer” (Line 9). His beauty, being of the mind and not of the body, will always remain within his grasp. In the last two lines of the third quatrain and the concluding couplet, the poet asserts the immutability of his love for the youth, whom he has immortalized “in eternal lines” (Line 12). As long as the written word exists, his love will live on, beyond the reach of death. The sonnet apotheosizes both the poem and the poet’s Muse, concluding with the poignantly beautiful words: “So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, / So long lives this and this gives life to thee.”

     Coming to Sonnet 130, the first contrast to strike us is the difference between the straightforward paean of praise, which is Sonnet 18, and the light-hearted, satirical tone of Sonnet 130. All three quatrains apparently mock the physical deficiencies of Shakespeare’s mistress: her eyes are less bright than the sun, coral outdoes her lips in redness, snow outshines her dull breast, her hair is far from the ideal of spun gold, she lacks the pink and white complexion of damask roses, her breath is no fragrant perfume and her voice does not aspire to the sound of music. All in all, she is no “goddess” (Line 11), but a down-to-earth, plain woman. However, when we come to the concluding couplet, with its’ unequivocal declaration of love: “And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare / As any she belied with false compare”, we perceive the underlying similarity which links the two sonnets.

     Despite the marked difference in tone and approach, both sonnets are passionate declarations of abiding love. Sonnet 18 is replete with poetic eloquence and idealism, adhering to the traditional love sonnet, while Sonnet 130 is more a parody than a poem. But, in the final analysis, both sonnets are Shakespeare’s depictions of a love that surpasses the transient nature of the physical characteristics to reside in the sublime, unchanging ideal of the spirit.