Analysis Sonnet

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partner and his partner shines brighter than lyrical I does (see II.9-12). The heroic couplet, which finishes the sonnet, is about the partner leaving the speaker as soon as he becomes more self-confident and doesn't need the lyrical I anymore. The lyrical I realizes that his love for his partner will hurt him a lot, when his partner leaves (see II. 13-14). The content and the structure of the sonnet do back up each other, because the quatrains correspond to certain units of meaning, which become obvious to the reader. The heroic couplet functions as a conclusion making clear that the love, which seemed good at the beginning, is not good for the lyrical I. Furthermore, it is important to note that the sonnet has a cross rhyme as a rhyme scheme. The cross rhyme underlines the difference between the more positive description of love at the beginning and the negative ending of the sonnet. This rhyme scheme is additional to that very typical for a sonnet written by Shakespeare. The rhythm is an iambic pentameter, also a characteristic of Shakespeare's sonnets. This regular rhythm supports the fact that all the different quatrains and the heroic couplet, making units of meaning, still all belong to the same sonnet. The rhythm connects all the quatrains and the couplet at the end to one sonnet. There are no unexpected changes in rhyme scheme or rhythm. But it has to be noted that some words only look like they rhyme on paper, but don't actually rhyme when you read the poem out loud. But this can be due to different pronunciations in Shakespeare's times. Now taking a look at the punctuation and sentence structure. As usually most of the lines are ended with a comma. In this sonnet there are a few exceptions. The first one can be found in the last line of the first quatrain: "speaking of your fame!". Here the author ends the line with an exclamation mark, because he wants to stress that he is really speechless when talking about his partner, because he is so amazed by him. This emphasizes the main message of the first quatrain. The second exception is at the end of the second quatrain, where the line ends with a dot. This is just there to show that this unit of meaning and the quatrain ends after this line. The third quatrain is a little more conspicuous when looking at the punctuation. The second line of the quatrain ends with a semicolon: "deep doth ride;" (I. 10). Here the author tries to show that in the two lines before he was talking about how he is when he is with his partner and his partner helps him. In the two lines following he describes what happens to him when his partner is not there anymore. The third line of the quatrain ends with a comma, but also has two commas before the end of the line: "Or, being wreck'd, I am a worthless boat," (1. 11). These commas in the line symbolise the chaos the speaker would be in, if his partner left him. It underlines the big changes in the lyrical I's life without his partner. The last line of the quatrain then ends with a colon (see I. 12) to introduce the heroic couplet. The first line of the heroic couple ends with a comma, as the ones before did as well. In the second line there is a semicolon in the middle of the line: "the worst was this; my love was my decay."(I. 14). This semicolon emphasizes the importance of the last few words of the sonnet, because these words contain the central message of the sonnet. The point at the end of the last line also underlines the importance of the last line and shows that this is the end of the sonnet. All in all the end-stopped lines dominate in this sonnet since there is not a single enjambement to be found. This has the effect that the units of meaning can be identified very easily and it also separates the part at the beginning from the ending. During the sonnet the author uses various stylistic devices to emphasize the central message and to show the reader through imagery how he thinks about his partner. The first stylistic device can be found in the first line: "when I of you do write" (1.1). This is an inversion showing the confusion the partner causes in the speaker's feelings. He irritates him so much that he is speechless and even faints, which is emphasized by this inversion. Moreover, there is an exaggeration in the first quatrain as well: "in the praise thereof spends all his might" (I. 3). This underlines that the speaker is not the only one admiring his partner and that someone even more important is amazed by him too. In the last line of the quatrain, you can find a metaphor: "make me tongue-tied" (1.4). This makes the speechlessness of the speaker clear and creates an image in the reader's head so he can imagine this better. The second quatrain begins with a simile: "your worth, wide as the ocean is" (1.5). This simile shows the reader how important the partner ist for the lyrical I and how much he is worth to him. This makes it easier for the reader to understand the feelings the speaker has for his spouse. The next line contains an exaggeration in combination with a metaphor: "proudest sail doth bear" (1. 6). Shakespeare utilizes this metaphor to exaggerate the strength of the partner. The lyrical I sees his partner as unbelievably strong and thinks nothing can bring him down. But the speaker thinks differently about himself, which can be seen in the contrast in the following line: "My saucy bark, inferior far to his" (1.7). Here it becomes clear that the lyrical I doesn't think as highly of himself as he does of his partner. He puts his partner on a podest and idealizes him as well as admires him. Quatrain number three starts with a metaphor at the beginning: "hold me up afloat" (1. 9). The metaphor is used to clarify that the speaker needs his partner to feel good and to get through his day okay. Again it becomes clear that the speaker is very in love with his partner and might even be depending on him a little too much to a point where he can't be alone anymore. Furthermore there is an alliteration in the third quatrain: "deep doth" (1.10). With this alliteration the author wants to emphasize that the partner is not depending on the speaker as much. He can be alone as well and has no problem with that. This is in contrast to the line before, where the speaker described himself depending on his partner. In the next line the speaker describes what will happen to him, when his partner leaves him. To underline this feelings there is a metaphor and a simile used. First comes the metaphor: "being wreck'd" (1.11). With this metaphor the speaker is compared to a ship that got wrecked and is now lost in the ocean, just like the speaker is desperate when his partner leaves him. The simile following emphasizes that again: "I am a worthless boat" (1.11). Again the lyrical I is compared to a boat or ship and this time it is described with worthless" showing again how little the speaker thinks of himself. This whole line stands in contrast to the last line of the quatrain: "He of tall building and of goodly pride" (1.12). Here the speaker describes his partner again very good and positively. He described himself in the previous lines as desperate and more negatively, which contrasts his idea of his partner. To accentuate the main message expressed in the heroic couplet, the author used two metaphors, a contrast and a repetition in the last two lines. The heroic couplet begins with a metaphor: "if he thrive" (1.13). What he means here is that his partner evolves and gains self-confidence and maybe even gets a better job, so he becomes a better person and more happy. Right after that there is another metaphor: "I be cast away" (1.13). Now the speaker explains what consequences this evolvement of his partner will have for him: his partner will leave him, because he doesn't need him anymore. These metaphors create a contrast, because the positive evolvement of the partner has sad and destructive consequences for the speaker and he is very afraid of that. In the last line of the sonnet a repetition can be found: "my love was my decay" (1. 14). The author conveys the main message here, which is why he emphasizes this part of the heroic couplet again by repeating the word my. All in all it can be said that the sonnet 80 contains many stylistic devices in order to convey the main message, which is so important that it is even directly said in the end. The author wants to underline that the speaker is depending on his partner too much and might have lost himself in their relationship. The relationship is now only good for the partner and not for the lyrical I anymore, but the lyrical I didn't realize that until it was too late. The sonnet has a sad effect on me, because it makes me feel like the partner is using the speaker a little bit to gain self-confidence and to develop personally and he will let him go as soon as he can be alone without a problem. The fact that the speaker didn't realize that until it is too late, makes the whole love seem sad and maybe even a little bit toxic. This experience is universal, because this can happen to anyone. It doesn't matter how old you are, where you live or how much money you earn you can lose yourself in a relationship and be heartbroken when your partner leaves you. The fact that this problem is universal makes this sonnet appealing to everyone no matter which status they have. It makes this sonnet something everyone can relate to and identify with, even if it didn't happen to him personally. The problem that is described here is still important today, because people are still used by other people, people still lose themselves in relationships, especially young people and people are still heartbroken by their partners today. Shakespeare talks about feelings in this sonnet and feelings are universal and timeless. People still feel the same feelings as they did in Elizabethan England so that Shakespeare's sonnet is still topical today, which makes it easier to relate to the speaker's feelings and situation.