Sonnets, and novels, and tweets! Oh, my!

            Sonnets are a form of writing that conveys much emotion in an artistic manner. Despite its structure – fourteen lines, a set number of syllables per line, and a specific rhyming scheme – this form of poetry is still very free and expressive. As mentioned in class, the expectation for a sonnet is that the poet will somehow present his current problem and the couplet will be an attempted solution, but he does not have to be blatantly clear about what that problem or solution is. More often than not, the poet is vague and even confusing in his word choice; this allows for multiple meanings to the poet’s words and freedom of interpretation on the readers’ part. Compared to novels, sonnets have more rules. Since novels do not have many rules, writers have a great degree of freedom in their writing style and the length of the book, but the novel needs to be relatively clear. Each chapter builds on the chapters preceding it, so there can only be one main plot to the story, perhaps with a few subplots, and the plot has to be consistent with itself or else the readers will get lost. Of course, the writer can include many more characters in a novel and can choose to develop certain characters throughout the story. For this reason, novels are more intricate than sonnets. On the other hand, tweets are very short – up to 140 characters in length – so people on twitter must be concise. People usually tweet about daily life, interesting events, or anything they have attached a lot of emotion to such as a car crash or a surprise birthday party. Informal language and abbreviations are commonly used. Tweets are a view into someone’s life moment by moment, but the topics do not have to correlate with each other.

            In Sonnet 73, Shakespeare uses different imagery to describe the problem of his fading love for this woman. His sonnet describes a change of seasons, the day turning dark, and a dying fire. Rhyming words that directly contribute to this theme of fading away are “cold”, “sang”, “take away”, “rest”, “lie”, and “expire”. Throughout his sonnet and in the couplet, Shakespeare acknowledges that this woman is aware of his waning love for her. The solution is that she must leave him soon. This couplet definitely provides a sense of conclusion, not only because of the solution Shakespeare writes about but also because the rhyming words “strong” and “long” in the couplet directly contrast the theme of fading away. Of course, we would naturally associate these two words with a lasting love, but Shakespeare uses them in a way that tells us quite a contrary story.