Shakespeare's Sonnet 130 and Keats's Romantic Ballad

Shakespeare's Sonnet 130: A Realistic Perspective

Sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare is written in iambic pentameter. There isn’t any kind of title in Shakespearean sonnets; instead, we refer to them by their number. The order is very important because the sonnets can be separated into groups based on their subject matter.

Genre and Tone

The genre of this poem is a sonnet. The addressee is the beloved, and as for the tone, the speaker is sarcastic. He makes fun of the traditional idea of love poems.

Subject and Structure

The subject is realistic and complicates the notion of love. The speaker in this sonnet compares idealized love (Petrarchan) with his love for the Dark Lady. The Dark Lady is completely different from Petrarch’s Laura.

English Sonnet Structure (14 lines):

• Lines 1-4: The speaker spends one line on each comparison between his mistress and something else (the sun, coral, snow, and wires).
• Lines 5-12: In the second and third quatrains, he expands the descriptions to occupy two lines each. Comparisons involving roses/cheeks, perfume/breath, music/voice, and goddess/mistress each receive a pair of unrhymed lines.
• Lines 13-14: These lines show the speaker’s main point: unlike other poets, such as Wyatt, he doesn’t need flowery terms or fancy comparisons to refer to his mistress. He loves her for who she is.

The rhyme scheme of this sonnet is ABABCDCDEFEFGG.

Imagery and Intertextuality

Imagery: There is alliteration in the first stanza, line 4: “If hairs be wires,” and also a metaphor in the third stanza, line 3: “I grant I never saw a goddess go.”

As for intertextuality, this sonnet is a parody of the Petrarchan love sonnet, which was made popular in England by Sidney in the sonnet sequence “Astrophol and Stella.”

John Keats: La Belle Dame Sans Merci Analysis

The title of this poem is a ballad, and the genre is Romantic poetry. There are four speakers in this poem:

• An unnamed speaker who asks the knight some questions.
• The knight-at-arms who answers those questions.
• A girl who says, “I love thee true.”
• The princes and warriors who cry, “La Belle Dame Sans Merci.”

Tone, Setting, and Subject

The tone of this poem is melancholic and mysterious, as well as sad and dark. The setting of this poem is late autumn because the harvest is supposed to be completed at the end of summer. As for the rhythm and sound, it is an iambic pentameter. The subject of this poem is impossible love.