Nature in Shakespeare's Sonnets
Nature in Shakespeare’s Sonnets
In Shakespeare’s fair youth Sonnets, the speaker uses imagery and metaphors from nature to describe man’s life cycle. While reading the Sonnets, it may seem at first that the main point of the Sonnets is that life’s purpose is to reproduce. However, after reading the fair youth Sonnets, it becomes clear that imagery from nature is used to prove that death is inevitable and should be accepted. The fair youth Sonnets are ordered in a specific way to resemble the life cycle of a man. As the Sonnets progress the overall themes of the sonnets seems to change. This cycle starts off with ‘Sonnet 1’ and ‘Sonnet 3’ and concludes with ‘Sonnet 73’ and ‘Sonnet 74’. Sonnets 1, 3, 7, 15, 60, 73, and 74 are all used to show this life cycle and its progression through life. In ‘Sonnet 1’ and ‘Sonnet 3’ it is clear that the speaker is attempting to get the point across that reproduction is life’s only purpose. However, in ‘Sonnet 16’ – ‘Sonnet 73’ it is obvious that the theme changes drastically. No longer is reproduction the main point, but it changes to death and its inevitability. Throughout the Sonnets, nature is used as a comparison to help the speaker explain life in a way that helps the reader understand the true life cycle of man. It is understandable that death is inevitable for every living thing in nature. Reproduction is also required for every living thing to exist. In Sonnet 1 the speaker wants the reader to know that life is beautiful and reproduction is a result of that; “From fairest creatures we desire increase/That thereby beauty’s rose might never die/But as the riper should time decrease/His tender heir might bear his memory” (Sonnet 1 L. 1-3). The beauty of a rose is being compared to the beauty of man’s ability to reproduce and pass on the ‘fairest,’ or beautiful, genes. In nature a beautiful rose can stand out among the brush in a forest, or in a garden a rose can be the most beautiful flower, just the way that man’s
In Shakespeare’s fair youth Sonnets, the speaker uses imagery and metaphors from nature to describe man’s life cycle. While reading the Sonnets, it may seem at first that the main point of the Sonnets is that life’s purpose is to reproduce. However, after reading the fair youth Sonnets, it becomes clear that imagery from nature is used to prove that death is inevitable and should be accepted. The fair youth Sonnets are ordered in a specific way to resemble the life cycle of a man. As the Sonnets progress the overall themes of the sonnets seems to change. This cycle starts off with ‘Sonnet 1’ and ‘Sonnet 3’ and concludes with ‘Sonnet 73’ and ‘Sonnet 74’. Sonnets 1, 3, 7, 15, 60, 73, and 74 are all used to show this life cycle and its progression through life. In ‘Sonnet 1’ and ‘Sonnet 3’ it is clear that the speaker is attempting to get the point across that reproduction is life’s only purpose. However, in ‘Sonnet 16’ – ‘Sonnet 73’ it is obvious that the theme changes drastically. No longer is reproduction the main point, but it changes to death and its inevitability. Throughout the Sonnets, nature is used as a comparison to help the speaker explain life in a way that helps the reader understand the true life cycle of man. It is understandable that death is inevitable for every living thing in nature. Reproduction is also required for every living thing to exist. In Sonnet 1 the speaker wants the reader to know that life is beautiful and reproduction is a result of that; “From fairest creatures we desire increase/That thereby beauty’s rose might never die/But as the riper should time decrease/His tender heir might bear his memory” (Sonnet 1 L. 1-3). The beauty of a rose is being compared to the beauty of man’s ability to reproduce and pass on the ‘fairest,’ or beautiful, genes. In nature a beautiful rose can stand out among the brush in a forest, or in a garden a rose can be the most beautiful flower, just the way that man’s