Every person knows William Shakespeare, who is considered to be one of the greatest English writers. He was born and raised in Stafford-upon-Avenue. Right in his hometown, he had found his wife -Anne Hathaway. During his writing career, he wrote down 154 sonnets, 2 poems and 38 plays. Two of his best known sonnets are ‘Sonnet 18’ - “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day” and ‘Sonnet 130’ - “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like a sun”. They both have present similarities and difference between them.
They are written in the same Shakespearean format - sonnet. Both of these sonnets contain fourteen lines, three quatrains and a couplet. The regular iambic pentameter rhythm is inherent in both sonnets. In both sonnets we also can see similar using of nature. The main theme of these sonnets is love, but they can be distinguished easily because of their different genres. As for “Shall I Compare Thee to a summer's day” it is a hyperbolized love poem, where Shakespeare “ builds the image of his friend into a perfect being” (by Amanda Mabillard).
We can highlight that the poet tries to make the standard by which can be judged the true beauty. On the other hand, “My Mistress Eyes” is written as a parody, where “he deliberately uses typical for love poetry metaphors against themselves” (Mabillard, An Analysis of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130).
These sonnets diverge the subject of the author’s affections, his relations and view of each. In ‘Sonnet 18’ lover is superior to a summer’s day in which he “shall not fade”. He tries to express the depth of his love to his girlfriend. Some of lines in ‘Sonnet 18’ include compliments to his wife, asking himself if he should compare her to “a summer’s day”. It gives the expression to the reader that his wife is beautiful and great as the "summer’s day". In next lines he says that even the “summer’s day” not as glorious as his lover. But while the comparison with ‘Sonnet 18’ hyperbolizes the lover, the comparisons with ‘Sonnet 130’ are really insulting: the lover’s “lips” are less red than “coral”, her breasts are “dun”, her hair is black and wiry and she can’t be resemblance to a rose. The speaker’s lover has less “pleasing” voice than music and has nothing similar to a goddess. The majority of the sonnet is a joke, satiric. The poem’s conclusion says: “And yet by heav’n I think my love as rare/And Any she belied with false compare”. That means that the speaker suggests that his love is more real because his lady isn’t perfect. This makes the reader feel really surprised, because the other quatrains of ‘Sonnet 130’ are a joke.
Irony in Shakespeare’s ‘Sonnet 130’ doesn’t give us a reason to see insincerity of his ultimate message. When the lines 1-13 are sarcastic, the 14 line makes the reader think more seriously about the writers' ultimate message.
There is no doubt in talent and skills of William Shakespeare, because he shows his mastery of his art by writing the poems which have commonalities in their form and subject but diverged in their intention, tone and ultimate message.
He used several techniques to present these revolving around love poems.
As I said earlier, both sonnets must be understood as two different sides of view about their main subject: love.
