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Sunday, April 12, 2015

Shakespeare's Sonnets: Sonnet XXVI Essay

Lord of my love, to whom in vassalage
Thy merit hath my duty strongly knit,
To thee I send this written embassage,
To witness duty, not to show my wit:
Duty so great, which wit so poor as mine
May make seem bare, in wanting words to show it,
But that I hope some good conceit of thine
In thy soul's thought, all naked, will bestow it:
Till whatsoever star that guides my moving,
Points on me graciously with fair aspect,
And puts apparel on my tottered loving,
To show me worthy of thy sweet respect:
   Then may I dare to boast how I do love thee;
   Till then, not show my head where thou mayst prove me.

Prompt: 1992 Poem: “The Prelude”  (William Wordsworth)
Prompt: In the passage below, which comes from William Wordsworth's autobiographical poem “The  Prelude,” the speaker encounters unfamiliar aspects of the natural world. Write an essay in which you trace the speaker's changing responses to his experiences and explain how they are conveyed by the poem's diction, imagery, and tone.

The poem fits the prompt because the speaker addresses the higher official in gratitude. In manner of speaking, the prompt suggests that the speaker of the poem can express his views of his position and takes upon poetry to a broader meaning. This Shakespeare Sonnet definitely includes diction, imagery, and tone in order to answer the prompt.

A sonnet written by Shakespeare expresses historical experiences such as an ambassador showing his utmost appearance to a higher official. By doing this, the poem settles down the loyalty of one to the employer per se. Since the speaker of the poem is of lower standing, the way of words are conveyed in the context of specific literary terms. Since the speaker changes his responses due to his duty as a servant, in turn the show of a worthy colleague, the text specifies diction, imagery, and tone of the sonnet to determine the speaker’s course of action and thought.
The speaker of the Shakespearean sonnet knows what he is being considered of. The choice of words, or diction, quoted: “to witness duty, not to show my wit”, which can be interpreted in showing his task as a messenger and not one who boasts about clever comments or intellectual quickness. There’s a drastic change in how one delivers a message transitioning “to show me worthy of thy sweet respect” so that that the audience can receive full attention. Another example of diction happens when the speaker formally acknowledges the vassal’s intellectual abilities quoted: “I hope some good conceit of thine…”
The tone of the poem is easily spotted amongst a relationship between two parties with one being subpar. That being the ambassador (to be continued)

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