Sonnet LIV Compare Contrast Essay

Most humans need people that accept and like them despite their flaws in order to feel good about themselves and without these two things it is very difficult for a person to be happy. “Sonnet 29,” by William Shakespeare, and “Sonnet LIV,” by Edmund Spenser, explain the sadness and depression that comes with rejection. The narrators try to change themselves in search for attention and approval from the people around them, but no matter how hard they try to fit in, they fail. In both “Sonnet 29” and “Sonnet LIV” the narrators feel outcast and rejected, however in “Sonnet 29” the narrator is able to able to bounce back from his rejection by thinking of love, while in “Sonnet LIV” the narrator stays negative, and ultimately these different responses
One could be the richest man in the world but still feel empty and poor without being surrounded by people who love him. From the beginning the narrator in “Sonnet LIV” knew that the person he loved was not interested in him, however he got hung up on it and persisted the relationship even though it caused him great suffering. Not realizing the effects of a bad relationship a person can greatly hurt their future instead of ensuring a happy one. In this situation love can be seen as a weapon or a drug curing rejection. In “Sonnet 29” love is a drug where it takes the narrator, a man who is “in disgrace with Fortune,” out of a unhappy place and make feel like the luckiest man alive while in “Sonnet LIV,” love is a weapon, causing the narrator endless pain that can only be cured by love. Rejection can always bring out the sad insecure part of people but what really defines who someone is is how they are able to get strength from the mean people around them and use that strength to not only create a happy future but to somehow find love in a world full of heartless judgmental