Donne and Shakespeare
"A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" and "Sonnet 116" are two of the most beautiful poems written on the subject of true love. Firstly, it is important to install boundaries on what true love is as defined by most conventional ideals. True love is the meeting of like minds; where the love of two people is eternal regardless of the way in which one changes, physically or mentally, over time. Love is to give yourself wholly and completely to another person. It is the idea of soul mates. Shakespeare and Donne both express these conventions in their poems. They both speak of a love that is eternal and unchanging. Shakespeare says, "Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,/But bears it out even to the edge of doom" (11-12). He believes that love does vary due to time; it stays constant even until death. Donne states that true love is the union of two souls: "Our two soules therefore, which are one..."(21). He constantly compares their love as the joining of two people in to o!ne whole being. Both poets see love as an eternal connection, they also express that the passion of the mind contributes to the success of two lovers. Both Shakespeare and Donne are very confident that physical attraction or "lust' is not sufficient to
ime, it is referring to a stormy sky where the North star would not be visible to a lost soul. Therefore, the lost lover who desperately needs guidance from their "North star" would be lost. The irony is beautiful because again, Shakespeare can insure everything he says in his poem because he says love is permanent and everlasting, as well as, always changing. Shakespeare gives the reader the ideal love scenario through the whole poem and then shows that he fears such a love is impossible by breaking the lines of the poem up to mean the opposite of what the poem suggests. offers hope that such a love exists, Shakespeare undermines many of these beliefs through his use of line endings. tiful and sacred just as the circle. The reader feels warmed with the ideals of true love and is instilled with faith that such a love is out there. Donne offers hope for true and pure love where Shakespeare fears that a love of like minds is not possible. Shakespeare lacks faith in the idea of true love because he, himself has never been exposed to the union of like minds where Donne has found a life partner who shares his values. Both poets may write about true love and the passion of the minds, more so than the body, but only one gives the reader faith in these ideals. Shakespeare manipulates his sonnet so decisively that it is east to interpret that he does not necessarily believe in a love between like minds. He uses his unique line endings to prove his disbelief inn true love. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ es that if love "cannot admit/ Absence,"(14-15) then a true love does not exist. He knows that if two people are truly in love, then to remove the physi
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Approximate Word count = 1151
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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