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Use of sonnet throughout the ages (Shakespeare, Milton and Rossetti) - page 6
Keywords: english literature lit sonnet poetry william shakespeare john milton christina rossetti
By exploiit on 19/06/2010
Level: GCSE Key Stage 4 (Years 10-11)
Page Number: 6 of 8 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8is easily conveyed as true, and does not operate on such a superficial level as seen in William Shakespeare’s sonnet. Milton is successful in his objective and is able to depict his deceased wife as angelic and pure, particularly through his heavy use of religious imagery. His emotions are also well presented both through the modifications to pace and tone, and his use of devices such as metaphors and similes. His piece reaches its audience on an emotive level, and for this I think Milton has done a superb job.
Christina Rossetti’s “Remember” is another sonnet which I have studied. Written during the Victorian period, it focuses on a time she fears, one in which she will be deprived of the man she loves. Rossetti conforms to the conventions of an Italian sonnet in “Remember”, and strictly follows its characteristics. The opening octave introduces the problematic subject matter at hand, as she describes what would happen if she were to pass away and leave her lover behind. This is followed by a change of tone via a volta, and finally a traditional sestet in which Rossetti reveals the bona fide meaning behind her piece.
Although about her lover, the octave suggests that Rossetti writes in a somewhat self-concerned manner. The opening line explores the loneliness and isolation that she will be faced with when she is “gone away / Gone far away into the silent land”. She uses a very efficient hyperbolic metaphor at this point, likening death to a ‘silent land’ – a very dramatic and overstated illustration. The repetition of “gone away” again emphasizes her poetic voice’s fear or seclusion. The opening line also offers the idea that Rossetti’s final wish not for the happiness of her lover, but to be selfishly always remembered. Her epic portrayal of her own death seems to present Rossetti as, again, somewhat egocentric. Instead of talking about her lover’s grief and pain, she focuses on her own. As she faces death, she “half turn[s] to go, yet turning stay[s]”. This conveys her death as a very big event and, although it is, it is something that every human being must eventually face. The octave continues in a selfish manner. The poetic voice discusses the “future that [her lover] plann’d”, and seems almost bitter that he has not delivered this promise before her death. She again asks to be remembered, and explains that “it will
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