compare imagery used in sonnet 29 and 30
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We can learn many things from the work of Shakespeare. His sonnets 29 and 30 are wonderful poems of love and despair. In many of his sonnets, he has a shift in mood from the beginning three quatrains to the rhyming couplet at the end. Shakespeare lets true human emotion seep through in his writing. These two sonnets start off in a depressing mood. The mood later picks up into a happy, more optimistic tone.
In Sonnet 29, the speaker starts off in a depressing mood. He is envious of people who have more hope than he, who are more handsome and popular than he is. Things that make him happy now only make him more upset. The shift is then presented in the rhyming couplet. The now changed mood is more optimistic and happy. The cause of this shift is the speaker’s lover. He thinks of her and his mood brightens because she makes him feel like the luckiest man in the world.
In Sonnet 30, the speaker is feeling very regretful. He weeps over things he has not done. He also weeps over friends who have died, as well as faded memories and the pain they bring. He is deep in his grief over so many things. However, when he thinks of his friend, his wounds are healed and he is now happy. The cause of this shift from grief to happiness is his friend.
Sonnet structure plays a big part in conveying the shift in moods. The three quatrains provide a main focus, a main storyline. It eventually builds up in mood. Just as the reader may be getting bored with these three quatrains, the rhyming couplets come into play. They change up the mood and refresh the poem again, bringing a surprising ending