Thursday, April 17, 2008
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Final Sonnet and Analysis
An Ode to Spring Beauty
The world is kind to you and I, my dear
The newly sprung green sapling looks like we
Their moving leaves make music sweet to hear
The melody leads all to dance with glee
As bees are drawn to apple blossoms fast
You mesmerize me with your sweet, sweet smile
And love for you sees me o'er seas vast
To me you are the sun and flower isle
Your fresh petals to bloom during this spring
My soul longs for the warm and verdant growth
Relief from thee eternal winter bring
Without you, dear, I will not plight my troth
but human's penchant for much pain will lead
me to extend this frost until I'm dead
Sonnet Analysis
This sonnet focuses on the spring, as indicated by the title. It's written from the perspective of someone who is in love with another person. The object of their affections is in love with him as well, but is currently away or is not in a relationship with him yet. The author associates the person he loves with the spring and the good things that come with the spring. Each four-line stanza will get a paragraph of analysis.
The sonnet opens with "The world is kind to you and I, my dear". This could mean that the world is kind for giving them the opportunity to love each other, ending the solitary winter that they had been enduring. "The newly sprung green sapling looks like we" indicates that their love is young and thus could be very fragile – one storm or dry season could kill it. The theme then focuses on music, mostly about the sounds that leaves make when they move. Music in the spring evokes a visual of a May festival and leads to "The melody leas all to dance with glee." This makes me think of woodland magic and the perfect, happy peace of the spring, which is the state that the two lovers now inhabit.
The lines, "As bees are drawn to apple blossoms fast, you mesmerize me with your sweet, sweet smile" speaks of the attraction he experiences toward her. He also compares her to the apple blossom, creating an image of a fair and delicate person. He continues with a proclamation of his dedication to her, saying, "And love for you sees me o'er seas vast". Whether they be real or figurative seas, the thought of the author's lover would enable him to overcome any trials that he might meet while traveling because he wants to see her again. "To me you are the sun and flower isle," continues the comparison to a flower, but adds a comparison to the sun. I take this to mean that the author feels the nourishing light of the sun when he is around the one he loves, as well sanctuary in their love when he is amid a sea of troubles.
The author's lover grows more beautiful when his love for her grows as shown in "your fresh petals will bloom during this spring." He wants her to grow in the light of his love and admits his desire to feel loved himself when he says, "my soul longs for the warm and verdant growth." The next line, "Relief from thee eternal winter bring," could be taken two ways when heard; it could be heard "thee" which would indicate that the author would relieve his lover from being lonely, or it could be hear "the" which would follow the theme of the author's lover being his salvation, and that she would be the one to rescue him. The stanza ends with an exclamation of eternal love, "without you, dear, I will not plight my troth." To plight one's troth means to get married, and thus the line means that the author will not get married unless it is to his lover because he is so in love with her.
The final couplet is rather bitter. "But human's penchant for much pain will lead me to extend this frost until I'm dead," exemplifies the human race's masochistic and backwards nature. Despite his great love for this person, he won't enter into a relationship with her. Who knows whether it's to leave this perfect love unsullied with the pain and bad feelings that one inevitably encounters in a relationship or if it's to gain the glory of an unrequited love. It is much like irony of setting up national parks to preserve the natural beauty of a place while outside these areas, the world is becoming more and more polluted.
Though I wrote this analysis about love, it could easily be about an idea or belief in God, or any number of other things. It is about the fragility of the newly established, but also about the joy in experiencing it in the beginning. It is about the attraction to something, the dedication that something inspires, and the good feelings of love and sanctuary when one embraces it. It is about wanting the best for the thing that one loves, and one's eternal devotion to it. And finally, it is about human folly in our complacency with ignorance, preferring to live without the pain that might come with something, and instead enduring the pain that comes from living without it.
The world is kind to you and I, my dear
The newly sprung green sapling looks like we
Their moving leaves make music sweet to hear
The melody leads all to dance with glee
As bees are drawn to apple blossoms fast
You mesmerize me with your sweet, sweet smile
And love for you sees me o'er seas vast
To me you are the sun and flower isle
Your fresh petals to bloom during this spring
My soul longs for the warm and verdant growth
Relief from thee eternal winter bring
Without you, dear, I will not plight my troth
but human's penchant for much pain will lead
me to extend this frost until I'm dead
Sonnet Analysis
This sonnet focuses on the spring, as indicated by the title. It's written from the perspective of someone who is in love with another person. The object of their affections is in love with him as well, but is currently away or is not in a relationship with him yet. The author associates the person he loves with the spring and the good things that come with the spring. Each four-line stanza will get a paragraph of analysis.
The sonnet opens with "The world is kind to you and I, my dear". This could mean that the world is kind for giving them the opportunity to love each other, ending the solitary winter that they had been enduring. "The newly sprung green sapling looks like we" indicates that their love is young and thus could be very fragile – one storm or dry season could kill it. The theme then focuses on music, mostly about the sounds that leaves make when they move. Music in the spring evokes a visual of a May festival and leads to "The melody leas all to dance with glee." This makes me think of woodland magic and the perfect, happy peace of the spring, which is the state that the two lovers now inhabit.
The lines, "As bees are drawn to apple blossoms fast, you mesmerize me with your sweet, sweet smile" speaks of the attraction he experiences toward her. He also compares her to the apple blossom, creating an image of a fair and delicate person. He continues with a proclamation of his dedication to her, saying, "And love for you sees me o'er seas vast". Whether they be real or figurative seas, the thought of the author's lover would enable him to overcome any trials that he might meet while traveling because he wants to see her again. "To me you are the sun and flower isle," continues the comparison to a flower, but adds a comparison to the sun. I take this to mean that the author feels the nourishing light of the sun when he is around the one he loves, as well sanctuary in their love when he is amid a sea of troubles.
The author's lover grows more beautiful when his love for her grows as shown in "your fresh petals will bloom during this spring." He wants her to grow in the light of his love and admits his desire to feel loved himself when he says, "my soul longs for the warm and verdant growth." The next line, "Relief from thee eternal winter bring," could be taken two ways when heard; it could be heard "thee" which would indicate that the author would relieve his lover from being lonely, or it could be hear "the" which would follow the theme of the author's lover being his salvation, and that she would be the one to rescue him. The stanza ends with an exclamation of eternal love, "without you, dear, I will not plight my troth." To plight one's troth means to get married, and thus the line means that the author will not get married unless it is to his lover because he is so in love with her.
The final couplet is rather bitter. "But human's penchant for much pain will lead me to extend this frost until I'm dead," exemplifies the human race's masochistic and backwards nature. Despite his great love for this person, he won't enter into a relationship with her. Who knows whether it's to leave this perfect love unsullied with the pain and bad feelings that one inevitably encounters in a relationship or if it's to gain the glory of an unrequited love. It is much like irony of setting up national parks to preserve the natural beauty of a place while outside these areas, the world is becoming more and more polluted.
Though I wrote this analysis about love, it could easily be about an idea or belief in God, or any number of other things. It is about the fragility of the newly established, but also about the joy in experiencing it in the beginning. It is about the attraction to something, the dedication that something inspires, and the good feelings of love and sanctuary when one embraces it. It is about wanting the best for the thing that one loves, and one's eternal devotion to it. And finally, it is about human folly in our complacency with ignorance, preferring to live without the pain that might come with something, and instead enduring the pain that comes from living without it.
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