The Analysis Of Sonnet 18 and Funeral Blues

 Introduction

Sonnet 18 and funeral blues are two amazing poems. Both poems have factors of love but project it in a different way. In funeral blues, it shows some factors of death and unhappiness, compared to sonnet 18 which is very clearly a love poem. Sonnet 18 was written in 1609, compared to funeral blues being published in 1938. These poems are published 329 years apart, so the writing techniques and language have changed majorly during these periods. Sonnet 18 is most known for its time it was written, and all the strong language techniques used throughout the poem. Funeral blues is known for the theme and intense language used in the poem.

Form

Sonnet 18 includes several metaphors throughout the poem. One very noticeable and famous metaphor is “Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?”. This metaphor means that he wants to compare her to a nice supper day, but he is not able to because she is much more gorgeous and beautiful then a summer day. Imagery is also used in this poem. This is in the third line of the poem where he says, “Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May”. This means that bad weather may shake the trees and make the flower buds fall off. Funeral blues also shows imagery in the second half of the poem where the mood is very dark and hopeless. The tone of Sonnet 18 is very much deep love and affection compared to Funeral blues tone is grief. Sonnet 18 has 14 lines, including three quatrains and a couplet, and is written in iambic pentameter. What I noticed from Sonnet 18 is that it follows a common rhyme pattern. This pattern is abab cdcd efef gg. This pattern is used by many other poems during this time period. Funeral Blues is written in the quadrant stanza. The rhyme pattern is AABB instead of ABAB. There are 16 lines in the poem. The main theme of Sonnet 18 is generally admiring and appreciating a woman. He states that her beauty will never fade because she will be always in the poem. He also compares her to a nice summer day and says that she is more gorgeous. The theme for Funeral blues is mainly death, grief, unhappiness etc. this compares majorly to sonnet 18 as it can be made for many different audiences. For example, the main audience for sonnet 18 can be for people that are looking for love and for people who are very into poems as this poem is very descriptive and fill of unique language techniques. On the other hand, funeral blues is aimed at people who are sad, full of grief, etc. Sonnet 18 has many sound devises included in the poem. Some include Repetition, assonance, alliteration, and internal and end rhyme. Alliteration is used in the eighth line where Shakesbear states 'By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed;'. Assonance is used in Sonnet 18 in line three with the long “a” sound in the word “shake” and the word “May”. this is used throughout the poem especially in lines 5, 7,8 and 9. These are in words like eye, sometimes, declines, thy, shines. Volta also occurs in the beginning of the poem. This is shown when Shakespeare starts talking about the future (But thy eternal summer shall not fade).

Purpose

The purpose of Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare is to give life so long as he can breathe and see. Shakesbear states this at the end portion of the poem stating, “So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, so long lives this and this gives life to thee”. The purpose for Funeral Blues isn’t as easy to spot compared to sonnet 18. The purpose of the Funeral blues is that it is ok to be sad and that it is very human and normal for everyone.

Audience

The main audience for sonnet 18 is for people who love to read about deep love and to hear all of the descriptive and unique language techniques. Given that the poem has been published 411 years ago, the audience has changed as some people may read the poem for different reasons. Funeral blues on the other hand is more directed at people who are feeling sad or feeling grief. This poem can help teach you that you are not alone, and this happens to everyone.

Context

The poem Sonnet 18 was published in 1609. He published 154 sonnets alongside sonnet 18. It is debatably the most popular poem out of the other 154 sonnets. Funeral Blues was published in 1938. The two poems are 321 years apart. In this huge time period, language techniques have changed.

Conclusion

Sonnet 18 is a poem published in 1609 by William Shakespeare. This amazing is about is love. He compares a woman to a nice summer day and says the woman is more beautiful. Funeral blues is about unhappiness and grief. Sonnet 18 includes several metaphors throughout the poem. One very noticeable and famous metaphor is “Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?”. This metaphor means that he isn’t able to compare her to a summer day because she is much better, lovelier, and milder than a summer day. Funeral Blues shows imagery in the second half of the poem where the mood is very dark and hopeless. These poems have different factors but still have similarities such as love.