I found Shakespeare's Let me not to the Marriage of True Minds perhaps the most difficult to truly understand at first glance. Indeed the poem was very metaphorical in its essence and he uses many obscure descriptions to talk about his interpretation of love. After understanding the sonnet, I was able to truly appreciate his work, its message, and indeed agree with his interpretation. He ends the poem by with a heroic couplet that says, "If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved." I completely sympathize with what he is saying here. I believe he is saying that if he is proven wrong in his interpretation of love, then love must have never existed in the first place. This shows how passionate Shakespeare was about love. The only questions that arose while reading this poem involved his symbolism such as when he mentions a sickles compass. This was later revealed in class, that the sickle is symbolic of people such as the grim reaper, or more intentionally time; however, the sonnet is still open for interpretation.
Yes, Shakespeare's poem in class was very difficult to understand. Once we're past the complexity of his thoughts, a whole new appreciation is found for his way of thinking. If you have troubles again, I found a website that summarizes the poems really well by explaining almost every line, individually. http://www.shmoop.com
ReplyDeleteAlso, which poem did you find easiest to understand?
Shakespeare looks evil in your picture. One can only wonder what Shakespeare was like and I think your picture captures one of the lights that he was put in. Just interesting speculation
ReplyDeleteI agree very much. Most of Shakespeare's works are difficult for me to understand. The way he reorients the words in a sentence throws me off the meaning of the idea he is trying to convey.
ReplyDeleteTo Joshua: That is pretty funny that you say Shakespeare looks evil in the picture I posted. I suppose you are right in some ways and I am sure some people did like Shakespeare, it perhaps was controversial for the time period.
ReplyDeleteTo Mike: I am happy that I was not the only one. Shakespeare is definitely ambiguous sometimes.