Shakespeare's Sonnets Summary and Analysis of Sonnet 18 - "Shall I compare thee to a summer's

day?"
WHAT'S HE SAYING?
"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? / Thou art more lovely and more temperate:"
What if I were to compare u to a summer day? U r luvlier n more temperate (d perfect temperature):
"Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May / And summer's lease hath all too short a date:"
Summer's beauty is fragile and can be shaken, and summertime fades away all too quickly:! 1
"Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines / And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;"
Sometimes the sun is far too hot, and often it is too cool, dimmed by clouds and shade;
"And every fair from fair sometime declines / By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;"
And everything that is beautiful eventually loses its beauty, whether by chance or by the uncontrollable
course of nature; 2
"But thy eternal summer shall not fade / Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;"
But your eternal beauty (or youth) will not fade, nor will your beauty by lost;
"Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade / When in eternal lines to time thou growest:"
Nor will Death boast dat u wander in his shadow, since u shall grow wit tym through dis sonnets: 3
"So long as men can breathe or eyes can see / So long lives this and this gives life to thee."
For as long as people can breathe and see, this sonnet will live on, and you (and your beauty) with it. 4
Why is he saying it?
Here the theme of the ravages of time again predominates; we see it especially in line 7, where the poet
speaks of the inevitable mortality of beauty: "And every fair from fair sometime declines." But the fair
lord's is of another sort, for it "shall not fade" - the poet is eternalizing the fair lord's beauty in his verse, in
these "eternal lines." Note the use of anaphora (the repetition of opening words) in lines 6-7, 10-11, and
13-14. Also note that May (line 3) was an early summer month in Shakespeare's time, because England
did not adopt the Gregorian calendar until 1752.

The poet describes summer as a season of extremes and disappointments. He begins in lines 3-4, where
"rough winds" are an unwelcome extreme and the shortness of summer is its disappointment. He
continues in lines 5-6, where he lingers on the imperfections of the summer sun. Here again we find an
extreme and a disappointment: the sun is sometimes far too hot, while at other times its "gold
complexion" is dimmed by passing clouds. These imperfections contrast sharply with the poet's
description of the fair lord, who is "more temperate" (not extreme) and whose "eternal summer shall not
fade" (i.e., will not become a disappointment) thanks to what the poet proposes in line 12.

In line 12 we find the poet's solution - how he intends to eternalize the fair lord's beauty despite his refusal
to have a child. The poet plans to capture the fair lord's beauty in his verse ("eternal lines"), which he
believes will withstand the ravages of time. Thereby the fair lord's "eternal summer shall not fade," and
the poet will have gotten his wish. Here we see the poet's use of "summer" as a metaphor for youth, or
perhaps beauty, or perhaps the beauty of youth.

NOTABLE RENAISSANCE FEATURE: Humanism; man has love for beauty.

Individualism; man tends to adores beauty (most especially that of loved ones and see such as not
comparable to any other thing).
 Shakespeare's Sonnets Summary and Analysis of Sonnet 130 - "My mistress' eyes are nothing like
the sun"
WHAT'S HE SAYING?
"My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun; / Coral is far more red than her lips' red;"
My mistress's eyes look nothing like the sun; coral is far more red than her lips are.
"If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; / If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head."
If snow is white, then her breasts are a dull brown (in comparison); if hairs are wires, then black wires
grow on her head.
"I have seen roses damask'd, red and white / But no such roses see I in her cheeks;"
I have seen roses of pink, red, and white, but her cheeks are none of these colors;
"And in some perfumes is there more delight / Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks."
And some perfumes smell more delightful than the malodorous breath of my mistress.
"I love to hear her speak, yet well I know / That music hath a far more pleasing sound;"
I love to hear her speak, even though I know well that music has a far more pleasing sound;
"I grant I never saw a goddess go; / My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:"
I admit I’ve never seen a goddess walk, but my mistress, when she walks, steps (humanly) on the ground:
"And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare / As any she belied with false compare."
And yet, I swear before heaven, I think she is just as extraordinary as any woman that may be described
with false comparisons.
BRIEF ANALYSIS
This sonnet compares the speaker’s lover to a number of other beauties—and never in the lover’s favor.
Her eyes are “nothing like the sun,” her lips are less red than coral; compared to white snow, her breasts
are dun-colored, and her hairs are like black wires on her head.
In the second quatrain, the speaker says he has seen roses separated by color (“damasked”) into red and
white, but he sees no such roses in his mistress’s cheeks; and he says the breath that “reeks” from his
mistress is less delightful than perfume.
In the third quatrain, he admits that, though he loves her voice, music “hath a far more pleasing sound,”
and that, though he has never seen a goddess, his mistress—unlike goddesses—walks on the ground. In
the couplet, however, the speaker declares that, “by heav’n,” he thinks his love as rare and valuable “As
any she belied with false compare”—that is, any love in which false comparisons were invoked to
describe the loved one’s beauty.
Why is he saying it?
The sonnet is generally considered a humorous parody of the typical love sonnet. Petrarch, for example,
addressed many of his most famous sonnets to an idealized woman named Laura, whose beauty he often
likened to that of a goddess. In stark contrast Shakespeare makes no attempt at deification of the dark
lady; in fact he shuns it outright, as we see in lines 11-12: "I grant I never saw a goddess go; / My
mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground." Here the poet explicitly states that his mistress is not a
goddess.
This may lead one to wonder, is it really pure honesty that the poet is showing in sonnet 130, or is there
also some ulterior sentiment, perhaps that the dark lady is not deserving of the narrator's fine words? Or
perhaps she is deserving but such words are not necessary, There are many ways to interpret how the
poet's psychological state may have influenced stylistic choices in his writing, but these sonnets do not
provide definitive proof.

NOTABLE RENAISSANCE FEATURE : Humanism ; man loves beauty. Indicidualism; the

poet exalts beauty of his lover above material things as compared
Shakespeare's Sonnets Summary and Analysis of Sonnet 116 - "Let me not to the marriage of true
minds"
WHAT'S HE SAYING?
"Let me not to the marriage of true minds / Admit impediments. Love is not love"
I will not allow myself to admit that true love has any restrictions. Love is not real love
"Which alters when it alteration finds / Or bends with the remover to remove:"
If it changes in response to change, or if it allows itself to be changed by the one who is changing:
"O no! it is an ever-fixed mark / That looks on tempests and is never shaken;"
Not at all! Love is a permanent mark that persists unshaken despite the harsh winds of change;
"It is the star to every wandering bark / Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken."
Love is the guiding, constant star for every wandering ship, a fixed point whose nature is unknown,
although its height can be measured.
"Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks / Within his bending sickle's compass come:"
True love is not subject to the changes of Time, although beautiful faces do fall victim to the sweep of
Time's curved scythe:
"Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks / But bears it out even to the edge of doom."
Love does not change with Time's hours and weeks, but endures through Time right up until the day of
reckoning.
"If this be error and upon me proved / I never writ, nor no man ever loved."
If the above is false and proved against me, it would be as impossible as if I had never written anything,
or if nobody had ever loved.
Why is he saying it?
Sonnet 116 is one of the most famous of the sonnets for its stalwart defense of true love. The sonnet has a
relatively simple structure, with each quatrain attempting to describe what love is (or is not) and the final
couplet reaffirming the poet's words by placing his own merit on the line.

The opening lines of the sonnet dive the reader into the theme at a rapid pace, accomplished in part by the
use of enjambment - the continuation of a syntactic unit from one line of poetry to the next without any
form of pause, e.g., "Let me not to the marriage of true minds / Admit impediments ..." This first quatrain
asserts that true love is immortal and unchanging: it neither changes on its own nor allows itself to be
changed, even when it encounters changes in the loved one. Quatrain two embarks on a series of seafaring
metaphors to further establish the permanence of true love: in line 5 it is an "ever-fixed mark," a sea mark
that navigators could use to guide their course; in line 7 it is a steadfast star (the North Star, perhaps),
whose height we are able to measure (as with a quadrant) although we may know nothing of its nature
(the science of stars had hardly progressed by Shakespeare's time). Both of these metaphors emphasize
the constancy and dependability of true love.

Finally, quatrain three nails home the theme, with love's undying essence prevailing against the "bending
sickle" of Time. Time's "hours and weeks" are "brief" compared to love's longevity, and only some great
and final destruction of apocalyptic proportions could spell its doom. Note here the reference back to the
nautical imagery of quatrain two with the use of the word "compass" in line 10.
Sonnet 116 closes with a rather hefty wager against the validity of the poet's words: he writes that if what
he claims above is proven untrue, then he "never writ, nor no man ever loved."

NOTABLE RENAISSANCE FEATURE: Humanism as man is bound to love.

Individualism as every man has different perspective of love and thus
cause a change of man towards love.
ASTROPHIL AND STELLA 31: WITH HOW SAD STEPS, O…SKIES BY SIR PHILIP SIDNEY
With how sad steps, O Moon, thou climb'st the skies!
How silently, and with how wan a face!
What, may it be that even in heav'nly place
That busy archer his sharp arrows tries!

Sure, if that long-with love-acquainted eyes

Can judge of love, thou feel'st a lover's case,
I read it in thy looks; thy languish'd grace
To me, that feel the like, thy state descries.

Then, ev'n of fellowship, O Moon, tell me,

Is constant love deem'd there but want of wit?
Are beauties there as proud as here they be?
Do they above love to be lov'd, and yet

Those lovers scorn whom that love doth possess?

Do they call virtue there ungratefulness?
31. ASTROPHEL sees the moon climbing in the sky at night, and he recognizes in its pale face the same
lovesickness that he experiences. He suggests that, perhaps even in the heights of the sky, Cupid's arrows
are powerful enough to shoot the moon. Then, Astrophel becomes completely certain that the moon is
lovesick. He recognizes its looks and its languishing grace because they are the same looks and grace that
he recognizes in himself. He asks the moon what life and love are like upon its surface. He asks: Is the
faithful lover viewed as an idiot? Are beautiful women as proud as they are on earth? Do they desire love
and attention but scorn those who give it to them? Do they call ungratefulness a virtue?

Analysis: Sidney's connection to the moon is an example of a "pathetic fallacy" in which elements of
nature appear to experience human emotions. At first Sidney describes the moon in accordance with
classical mythology, as an individual being. Yet, his insistence that the moon is lovesick does not make
sense in this context because the goddess of the moon is Diana, a perpetual virgin who is not affected by
love. Then, Sidney switches his perception of the moon to adhere to Copernican belief, and he describes
the moon as a planet. The series of questions he asks expresses his desire for a logical explanation of
Stella's behavior. He wants to know if the scorn his love receives at her hands is limited to the earth.

NOTABLE RENAISSANCE FEATURES: Humanism as man is bound to love.

Individualism as man tends to love and not not give up on it even when it's not reciprocated

ABOUT: Sir Philip Sidney was born in 1554 and died in 1586. He was an English poet, scholar, soldier, and
courtier. Sir Philip Sidney is remembered as one of the main literary figures of the Elizabethan age.
Rhyme scheme: Petrarchan
 abba abba cdcd ee

Sydney uses several devices in this 31st sonnet which are but not limited to personification,
symbolism, synecdoche, repetition alliteration, metonomy, assonance, and pathetic fallacy to bring the
moon to life as the speaker (astrophil) addresses the moon with a sorrowful tone with the inclusion of
the words "wan" and "sad steps" which allows the reader to understand the darkening aspect of the
moon and in essence the speaker's (Astrophil) melancholic mood
 ASTROPHIL AND STELLA 39: COME SLEEP!...PEACE BY SIR PHILIP SIDNEY
Come Sleep! O Sleep, the certain knot of peace,
The baiting-place of wit, the balm of woe,
The poor man's wealth, the prisoner's release,
Th' indifferent judge between the high and low.

With shield of proof shield me from out the prease

Of those fierce darts despair at me doth throw:
O make in me those civil wars to cease;
I will good tribute pay, if thou do so.

Take thou of me smooth pillows, sweetest bed,

A chamber deaf to noise and blind to light,
A rosy garland and a weary head:
And if these things, as being thine by right,

Move not thy heavy grace, thou shalt in me,

Livelier than elsewhere, Stella's image see.

39. Sidney personifies sleep and begins to have a conversation with it. He prays that Sleep will come and
release him from his current misery. Only when he is asleep is he able to ease his suffering and stem the
civil war that is waging between his heart and his head, between his love and his reason. He wonders what
price he must pay in order to convince the god of Sleep to come to him, and he promises a "good tribute."
Smooth pillows, a comfortable bed, and a dark, quiet room are all that he desires, if only he can persuade
Sleep to come. Finally, Sidney comes up with a way to convince Sleep to come to him. When he is
asleep, he argues, the image of Stella will appear in his dreams, and Sleep will be able to watch. This is
the greatest tribute that he can pay.

Analysis: This is an example of a sonnet in which Sidney's persona talks to an entity other than Stella. In
addition to "Sleep," Sidney also directs his speeches to the allegorical "Reason," "Love," "Queen Virtue,"
"Patience," "Desire," and more. In literature and rhetoric, this act of addressing something that is not a
person is referred to as "apostrophe." The irony in this sonnet is very interesting. Sidney begs for Sleep to
come and rescue him from his love and suffering for Stella. Yet, at the same time, an image of Stella will
automatically come to his head while he is asleep. Whether he is asleep or awake, Stella is always in his
mind. He prefers the Stella in his dreams because he does not have to face the reality that she is not his
own.
NOTABLE RENAISSANCE FEATURE: Humanism as man gets troubled by love naturally.
Individualism as man finds a way out of the trouble caused by love (just as the poet takes sleep as
the way out of the troubling of love and despair in him).

# Tone: begging and hopelessness #He personifies Sleep as a savior and Despair as a villain
 # Metaphor of Sleep "Come sleep, oh sleep, the certain knot of peace,/ The baiting place of wit, the balm of woe,/
The poor man’s wealth, the prisoner’s release,/ Th’indifferent judge between the high and low."
 Sidney compares sleep to joyous, healing, or relieving situations in order to convey the emotions which sleep brings
a person.
 Paradox: The word ‘poor’ lexically means a person who has a little, and Prisoner, someone who is bound by
the four walls of a prison. But here the poet remarks Sleep to be a wealth of a poor, and freedom from the
world of prison to a prisoner.
Theme: Sleep can end the miseries of reality such as the feeling of distressed love.
 AMORETTI: SONNET 26 BY EDMUND SPENSER
Sweet is the Rose, but growes upon a brere;
Sweet is the Junipere, but sharpe his bough;
sweet is the Eglantine, but pricketh nere;
sweet is the firbloome, but his braunches rough.

Sweet is the Cypresse, but his rynd is tough,

sweet is the nut, but bitter is his pill;
sweet is the broome-flowre, but yet sowre enough;
and sweet is Moly, but his root is ill.

So every sweet with soure is tempred still,

that maketh it be coveted the more:
for easie things that may be got at will,
most sorts of men doe set but little store.

Why then should I accoumpt of little paine

that endlesse pleasure shall unto me gaine.
BRIEF ANALYSIS
Let's first look into the general overview of the poem before we look into the simplified analysis. Shall
we? "So every sweet with sour is tempered still, / That maketh it be coveted the more." (Spenser, "Sonnet
26", lines 11- 12). In Edmund Spenser's "Sonnet 26", Spenser emphasized the notion that life is made
sweeter by some kind of pain or obstacle. He recorded several beautiful flowers to evidence this notion.
He then used this list of flowers to express that he may endure "little paine" to experience "endless
pleasure" with the one he loved (lines 13-14).

The poet seizes upon this notion of pain leading to pleasure by making a brief catalogue of beautiful
flowers which bloom on unpleasant plants. The rose grows upon a briar, the juniper has sharp boughs, the
eglantine has thorns, the “firbloome” has rough branches, the cypress has a tough “rynd” (lines 1-5). The
nut is sweet, but “bitter is his pill” (line 6), the broome-flower also sweet, but “sowre enough” (line 7).
Moly is sweet, but the root is “ill” (line 8). From nature the speaker learns that “euery sweet with soure is
tempered still” (line 9), but this sourness only makes the sweet object the more desirable (line 10). He
rationalizes, then, that he can endure a “little paine” to gain “endless pleasure” in the arms of his beloved
(lines 13-14).

Notable Renaissance feature : Humanism as man struggle as there is no gain without pain.
 AMORETTI, SONNET 67 BY EDMUND SPENSER
Like as a huntsman after weary chase,
Seeing the game from him escap’d away,
Sits down to rest him in some shady place,
With panting hounds beguiled of their prey:

So after long pursuit and vain assay,

When I all weary had the chase forsook,
The gentle deer return’d the selfsame way,
Thinking to quench her thirst at the next brook.

There she beholding me with milder look,

Sought not to fly, but fearless still did bide:
Till I in hand her yet half tremblingtook,
And with her own goodwill her firmly tied.

Strange thing, me seem’d, to see a beast so wild,

So goodly won, with her own will beguil’d.

OVERVIEW
Here the speaker turns his earlier images of predator and prey around, describing himself as “a huntsman
after weary chace” having given “long pursuit and vaine assay” (lilines 1 and 5). His beloved, now a
“gentle deare” (line 7) seeks to “quench her thirst at the next brooke” (line 8) and, catching sight of the
hunter, surrenders herself to him “till I in hand her yet halfe trmbling tooke,’and with her owne goodwill
hir fiyrmely tyde” (lines 12-13). He stands amazed at her willing surrender to him, “to see a beast so
wyld,/so goodly wonne with her owne will beguyld” (lines 13-14). He rejoices that she has surrendered to
him, but is mystified (and perhaps further pleased) that she has done it not under duress, but of her own
free will.

BRIEF ANALYSIS
First we will take a look at a literal interpretation of Sonnet 67. This piece begins with a huntsman in
pursuit. His stalked prey, a deer, has gotten away from him. He is tired and sick of spending all of his time
hunting this deer and so he sits down in the shade to rest with his dogs and decides to give up his hunt for
the deer. But then the deer comes back from the way it had gone to drink from a nearby stream. The deer
sees the hunter sitting there in the shade and seeing that he is no longer hunting her, she decides that he is
not a threat and she comes straight to him without fear. Because of the deer’s trust the hunter was then
able to easily tie a rope about her neck and capture her. He then notes how strange it is to see a wild
animal so tame to be caught in that way.
Next we will look at the first half of Spenser’s Sonnet 67 in a metaphorical sense. “Like as a huntsman
after weary chase, / Seeing the game from him escapt away,” (ll. 1 and 2), portrays a man, a suitor if you
will, as the huntsman and a woman as his game. The man has been chasing after and longing for this
woman and she keeps getting away from him. He is trying to court her and she is not encouraging him,
she doesn’t want anything to do with the man. He decides to stop and rest for a bit because chasing after
this woman is so exhausting emotionally and mentally. Suddenly he realizes that he has been courting
her for a long time and that he isn’t going to win the woman’s affections and resigns himself to giving up
on his courtship of her. Now we will look at the second half of Sonnet 67, also in a metaphorical sense.
The woman sees that the man is no longer chasing after her “There she beholding me with milder look,”
(Spenser ll. 9) and suddenly decides he might not be such a bad suitor after all “Sought not to fly, but
fearelesse still did bide:” (Spencer ll.10). Spenser turns this piece around from the original Petrarch piece
here. He shows that it is the woman that is in control as opposed to the man. He reaches out to her
nervously because she has been running from him all this time and now she seems to be encouraging and
wanting his affections. He appears hopeful that his sentiments will be well received by the woman and at
the same time fearful of rejection. But she allows him to court her now and encourages him to love her
instead of playing hard to get and running off again. The man then thinks that it seems very odd to see the
woman who was so adamantly against him and his affections and who was such a free spirit to be a
gentle, meek, mild woman willing to submit to a man. But it wasn’t that she didn’t want him necessarily it
was that she wanted him on her terms not his. Edmund Spenser’s Sonnet 67 “Lyke as a Huntsman” is a
metaphorical piece written in the late 16th century in England for his wife in terms of their courtship prior
to their marriage. The sonnet goes through the long chase after the love of a woman and Spenser’s
frustration with it. It then shows him at his breaking point finally giving up. When the woman comes back
and finds that he is no longer chasing her fervently she decides she does want him and they wind
up together in the end. Petrarch’s version of this, Rima 190, ends with the deer, or young lady if you will,
being free because she belongs to Caesar and he has branded her with a collar that makes her safe from
hunters, or suitors. Spenser’s adaptation of this, along with the rest of the sonnets in Amoretti, differs
greatly from other sonnets of this time period. Most other sonnets end in tragedy with the suitor unable to
attain his love. Spencer’s version is rare in that in the end, he gets the the lady/woman.
Notable Renaissance feature: Humanism as man falls in love.
Individualism as man chases after his loved one (just as the poetic persona did)
Literary Devices
Most literary devices are not used in Sonnet 67. There are a few literary devices used such as metaphors
and personification. The whole poem uses a metaphor since the topic is a man trying to win the love of his
life but in the sonnet, the love of his life is a deer and the man is a hunter. Also, since in reality the deer is
the love of his life, and the sonnet refers to the deer as a female, then another literary device is
personification.

ABAB CDCD EFEF GG

 AMORETTI SONNET 75: ONE DAY I WROTE HER NAME BY EDMUND SPENSER
Summary
‘Sonnet 75’ by Edmund Spenser is a traditional love sonnet that depicts a speaker’s attempts to make his true love immortal.
Throughout the poem, the speaker describes writing his lover’s name in the sand, only to watch it be washed away by the
tide. No matter how many times it happens, he labors on. He even continues to write after his lover tells him that she has no
desire to live forever. He doesn’t believe that she should reside along with the baser things of the world. Spenser concludes
with his speaker suggesting that his love is going to endure throughout time.

SONNET 75 ANALYSIS
Lines 1-4
One day I wrote her name upon the strand,
But came the waves and washed it away:
Again I write it with a second hand,
But came the tide, and made my pains his prey.
The first quatrain of Sonnet 75 depicts the lyrical voice’s attempt to immortalize his loved one.
The stanza starts by setting the scene: “One day”. The lyrical voice writes the name of his loved one on
the sand of a beach but the waves wash the writing away (“I wrote her name upon the strand,/But came
the waves and washed it away”). The lyrical voice writes the name in the sand again, but, as before, the
waves wash the name away (“Again I write it with a second hand,/ But came the tide, and made my pains
his prey”). The action of the wave symbolizes how time will destroy all man-made things. To emphasize
this action the waves are personified as they “washed it away” and “made my pains his prey”. Notice also,
the way in which the lyrical voice refers to his own writing (“my pains”) and how this works as a
metaphor (“his prey”) for the relationship that the words have with nature and time.
Lines 5-8
“Vain man, said she, “that doest in vain assay,
A mortal thing so to immortalize,
For I myself shall like to this decay,
And eke my name be wiped out likewise.”
The second quatrain describes a dialogue that the lyrical voice has with his loved one. The woman reacts
to the writing and tells the lyrical voice that his attempts are in vain (“Vain man, said she, that doest in
vain assay/A mortal thing so to immortalize”), as mortal things such as herself cannot live forever. The
woman introduces a new perspective to Sonnet 75, as she criticizes the lyrical voice’s actions and words.
She emphasizes her mortal nature because she will also disappear like the words in the sand (“For I
myself shall like to this decay/And eek my name be wiped out likewise”). Thus, it is useless to write her
name because she, as the words in the sand, will eventually disappear. Time and nature are cruel and
destroy man-made things.
Lines 9-12
“Not so,” (quod I) “let baser things devise
To die in dust, but you shall live by fame:
My verse, your virtues rare shall eternize,
And in the heavens write your glorious name.
The third quatrain presents the lyrical voice’s response to what his loved one said. In this stanza, there is
a volta (turn) and the tone of Sonnet 75 changes. Up to this moment, both the lyrical voice and his loved
one emphasized on the mortal nature of them and their creations. Nevertheless, the lyrical voice says the
opposite in this stanza. The lyrical voice tells the woman that the “baser things” will disappear, but she
will live on (“Not so, (quod I) let baser things devise/To die in dust, but you shall live by fame”). Notice
the alliteration in these lines: “devise”, “die”, and “dust”. The lyrical voice, a poet, will immortalize his
loved one in his poems and, because of that, she will live forever (“My verse, your virtues rare shall
eternize, And in the heavens write your glorious name”). By immortalizing his loved one, the lyrical voice
puts her on a heavenly space, as she will be “in the heavens” with her “glorious name”. Now, the
alliteration is made with “v” sounds (“verse” and “virtues”), and they are much softer than the “d”sounds
in the previous lines.
Lines 13-14
Where whenas death shall all the world subdue,
Our love shall live, and later life renew.
The final couplet of Sonnet 75 summarizes the message of the poem. According to the lyrical voice, even
if everything comes to an end (“Where whenas death shall all the world subdue”), their love will survive
(“Out love shall live, and later life renew”). There is alliteration in the first line with a “w” sound
(“Where”, “wheneas”, and “world) and with an “l” sound in the second line (“Love”, “live”, “later”, and
“life”). The immortal quality in love and death is contrasted to the briefness in life. Notice how,
throughout the poem, there is a very melodic and stable rhythm that is formed with the
regular rhyme scheme and the iambic pentameter. These devices make the sonnet calm and pleasant to the
ear, while creating a very detailed picture.
THEMES
In ‘Sonnet 75,’ Edmund Spenser engages with themes of immortality and love. He spends the poem depicting his
efforts to immoralize his true love. As hard as he works, he can’t seem to accomplish what he’s striving for.
Spenser uses the image of the sand and waves in order to depict the inevitability of death. But, at the same time, as
he continues to write between waves, he confronts death, seeking to overcome it. This shows the strength of his
love in the face of unwinnable odds.

STRUCTURE AND FORM

‘Sonnet 75’ by Edmund Spenser is a traditional Spenserian sonnet, formed by three interlocked quatrains and
a couplet. It has an ABAB BCBC CDCD EE rhyme scheme and it is written in iambic pentameter. Spenser’s name
is tied to this pattern as Shakespeare is tied to the structure he made famous within his sonnets.

LITERARY DEVICES
Spenser makes use of several literary devices in ‘Sonnet 75.’ These include but are not limited to alliteration,
an extended metaphor, and enjambment. The latter is a common formal device that occurs when a poet cuts off a
line before its natural stopping point. For example, the transition between lines nine and ten. Allieration is another
interesting device, one that is involved with repetition. For example, “pains” and “prey” in the fourth line and
“verse” and “virtues” in line eleven. In the first lines of the poem, the speaker introduces an
extended metaphor that uses the image of a wave washing away his writing on the beach. It is used to represent the
way that the speaker labors over his love but is continually rebuffed.

NOTABLE RENAISSANCE FEATURE : Humanism as man is bound to fall in and guard love.
Individualism as human attempt to immortalize love for one's
loved ones.
 AMORETTI SONNET 79: MEN CALL YOU FAIR BY EDMUND SPENSER
Men call you fair, and you do credit it,
For that your self ye daily such do see:
But the true fair, that is the gentle wit,
And vertuous mind, is much more prais'd of me.

For all the rest, how ever fair it be,

Shall turn to naught and lose that glorious hue:
But only that is permanent and free
From frail corruption, that doth flesh ensue.

That is true beauty: that doth argue you

To be divine, and born of heavenly seed:
Deriv'd from that fair Spirit, from whom all true
And perfect beauty did at first proceed.

He only fair, and what he fair hath made,

All other fair, like flowers untimely fade.
OVERVIEW
Entering again into a more metaphysical tone, the poet here praises how his beloved’s inner virtues
outshine her outer beauty. “Men call you fayre” he says (line 1), and she accepts it, but it is her “Gentle
wit,/and virtuous mind” that he would praise more (lines 2-4). Lovely as she is, her beauty “shall turne to
nought” and she will “loose that glorious hew” (line 6), whereas her true beauty—her mind “deriu’d from
that fayre Spirit”—is the only aspect of her self that is “permanent and free/from frayle corruption” (lines
7-8).

BRIEF ANALYSIS
One evident thing in the sonnet is Renaissance humanism which can be seen in the Sonnet and gives a
discourse on human beauty, love, mortality , immortality and aspects of time. Spenser highlights the idea
of ideal beauty which he believes is worthy and perfectly fit to be appraised. The ideal beauty is the
beauty of “gentle wit” and “virtuous mind”. The lines suggests the inner beauty of a human mind and
intellect which is completely abstract. Critically, Spenser glorifies the abstract objects rather than the
physical object of beauty. It is clearly an influence of Petrarchan ideals who also glorifies the ideal beauty
and love. However, the idea of mortality is another aspect in the Sonnet where Spenser argues that the
physical beauty is mortal and fades away with the passage of Time. Time is personified to a manly figure
who destroys and decays the one’s physical body with its passing age. He states that the physical beauty
loses its “glorious hue” with Time no matter how “fair it be”. Furthermore, another aspect of humanistic
ideal is the idea of immortality is seen in the poem.
According to Spenser, the ideal beauty is immortal and free “From frail corruption”. He means to suggest
that the inner beauty is “permanent and free” and will last forever and ever. Critically, Spenser seems to
defeat the attacks of Time in the lines where the power of Time has no affect in it. He calls it as the “true
beauty” and he argues the reason pertaining to its immortality. He states that the reason behind its
immortality is because of its attachment with the higher being or “divine”. The ideal beauty is born from
the “heavenly seed” and and comes from the “fair spirit” or God himself which is true in itself. He further
stretches that whatever God has created the ideal beauty will remain immortal since he “fair hath made”.
One can assess that Spenser was able to accord the origin of true beauty in the sonnet which comes from
the divine source and the beauty is the ideal beauty which is immortal unlike the physical beauty which
fades away like any flowers that exist on the earth.
NOTABLE RENAISSANCE FEATURE: Humanism as the idolizing, immortalizing, exaltation or
adoring of love by man.

ABAB BCBC CDCD EE

Poetic Devices
 Allusion: "Shall turn to naught and lose that glorious hue" (line 6) = The Fairy Queen
 Simile: "All other fair, like flowers, untimely fade." (line 14) = compares beauty to flowers, both
fade
 Repetition: "fair" repeated five times

About the Sonnet

 Sequence of sonnets called Amoretti , (“little love poems” or “little Cupids”) , published in 1595.
 Letters written to Elizabeth Boyle who became his second wife in 1594
 Representation of the development of his love for his wife