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Sonnet 130: The Most Inauthentic Sonnets Of The Elizabethan Era

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One of the most inauthentic sonnets of the Elizabethan Era is that of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130. “My Mistress’s eyes,” fails to provide an accurate portrayal of love and the unencumbered passion that is typically seen in many of the traditional sonnets of his time, such as that of Sonnet 18. Unlike Sonnet 18 which testifies a beauty which transcends the heavens, Sonnet 130 merely satirizes the unequivocal devotion to one’s love, as well as love itself, found in many traditional sonnets during the Elizabethan Era.

The sharply contrasted styles of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 and Sonnet 130 are exemplified within the opening lines, where Shakespeare opens both sonnets with a traditional comparison. However while Sonnet 18 begins by comparing his love to that of a …show more content…

Rather than glide about gracefully, Shakespeare’s lover in Sonnet 130 clumsily stomps about . His tone takes on that of a more condescending manner rather than the sincere tone presented in Sonnet 18.

While both Sonnet 130 and Sonnet 18 proclaim a love and beauty beyond compare, Sonnet 18 in the only authentic sonnet of the two, as it attests and supports the notion of romantic love. Utilizing the theme of an ideal, incomparable love and beauty, Sonnet 130 merely satirizes this incomparable love through mockery, parody, and tone. While some may argue that it is Sonnet 18 that is the parody, Shakespeare's depiction of an incomparable love transcending that of the heavens is the perfect representation of a traditional love sonnet, while Sonnet 130 fails to support this notion through the implementation of

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