Critical Analysis
Poem Critical Analysis
Introduction
This article is about the poems Sonnet 116 written by William Shakespeare, Holly Sonnet 14 written by John Donne, and Ballad of Chocolate Mabbie by Gwendolyn Brooks. In this article, we will share the backgrounds of each poem so we can somehow get the idea behind these poems. These renowned writers of our history can consider these a work of art. These poems also show how the writers wrote their piece in a different manner using different terms. Also, in this article, we’ll have the idea on how these authors expressed their thoughts about a person’s characteristics based on different circumstances.
Analysis
Let’s see what William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116’s background. This poem is about how the author sees love and it shows how the Love can be expressed. This poem portrays love is not just a simple feeling. It has more definition in terms of a person’s feeling and understanding the true meaning of love. It was written in a way that Shakespeare did not use any singsong pattern and forcible words in are poem where it moves smoothly. And, that he uses different word and terminologies in writing this poem. He used these terms to express how the love works and to show how it is to love and be loved in return. Next is Holy Sonnet 14 by John Donne. He started his piece by expressing as if he is talking to the Holy Trinity or made by God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit as Christianity calls them “The Three Personed God”. It portrays that the speaker wants God to enter his body in an aggressive way instead of being gently, but he was having a hard time doing it because of being rational. He personally believes and loves God as what the speaker shows. But the trouble of having God’s enemy on his way makes it harder for him to fight for his faith and the desire to feel God’s love. The third poem is written by Gwendolyn Brooks which is entitled “Ballad of chocolate Mabbie”. This piece expresses about a girl called mabbie who has a crush on Willie Boone as stated in lines number seven and eight
It shows how this girl acts because of the admiration that she feels for him, which he never recognizes at all; neither is he attracted to her. It shows how she waited for him in the front door, as she knows that he will be passing that way. It’s like Willie Boone’s reaction would like to tell and have Mabbie to realize that what she feels will not worth anything for her at the moment for what he likes is a fair skinned girl, unlike Mabbie. Just like what the other author does, Gwendolyn Brooks did not use direct terminologies to express the speaker’s message. It’s the same with Holy Sonnet 14 by John Donne and Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare.
The analogy of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116 is about how love is being expressed by a person. It highlights the way that two lovers come together to show their feelings to one another. It also shares that the true love is unbreakable and can survive the hardest challenge that may happen. An example was used as an ever-fixed mark like a lighthouse that will never be destructed no matter how strong the wind is, or no matter how bad the storm will be and can even stand a strong earthquake. That’s how the poet describes what true love is. We may be able to gauge how we love the person, but it doesn’t really mean that we totally know it because love’s value cannot be known. On the other hand, love doesn’t only mean admiration. It can be love for God or in the other word, “Faith in God”. The other poem tells about the speaker’s desire to fight for his faith. The author started his line by talking to God as if he is talking to him in person. He was asking for help from God to strengthen his religious belief and faith. Not just a graceful, holy, or careful help, but also an aggressive and forced way of God entering is Human body and soul. It was not a typical prayer asking for God’s grace because he was fighting against God’s enemy who is on his path to be on God’s side. The speaker is undoubtedly believes in God and he wants to feel God’s love too.
But his other side of being a person doesn’t show that he is not on God enemy’s side. Desperately, he wants to be in God’s possession and to be God’s prisoner. He wanted to be this way because he thinks that if he will not be forced to turn down against the enemy, he will surely be sinned again like what he admitted that his writing is his sin that he wanted to be forgiven for. Another analogy of writing would be Gwendolyn Brooks’ poem, which is “Ballad of Chocolate Mabbie”. This poem is about Mabbie, a girl that is cut from a chocolate bar who has a crush on Willie Boone. It shows hard it is for this girl to be ignored because of her skin color. It also portrays that despite the rejection that she experienced, she still does the usual things just to see and express what she feels for Willie Boone. This also tells experience of some blacks that sometimes experience rejection as what it shows how Willie Boone was treating Marbbie.
Conclusion
These writers show how creativity comes in when writing a poem. They smoothly expressed their thoughts on how they write their piece. The use of different terminologies made their creation unique. Not only that, they made a good result because they did not just write the poem based on what they think and see, but because they used their own experience too and, that maybe the reason how they created a very nice piece of writing.
References
Brooks, G. (n.d.). The Ballad of Chocolate Mabbie. faculty.headroyce.org. Retrieved March 9, 2013, from http://faculty.headroyce.org/~smckenna/pages/english10/poetry/narrpoemtext.html
Donne, J. (2003). John Donne. Holy Sonnet 14. Luminarium: Anthology of English Literature. Retrieved March 9, 2013, from http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/donne/sonnet14.php
Shakespeare, W. (1999, October 27). Soundings - Sonnet 116. theatlantic.com. Retrieved March 9, 2013, from http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/unbound/poetry/soundings/shakespeare.htm
