Poetic form can help convey images and messages unlike any other type of literary style. William Shakespeare uses poetic form in the second quatrain in Sonnet 73 to help convey his message; without poetic form and its means of conveying images, tones and feelings Shakespeare’s dark message would be totally lost.
“I see the end of the day after the sun sets which the night replaces. Which is like death because it makes people sleep.”
When the second quatrain is translated into prose it loses all its meaning. For instance, the first line “In me thou see’st the twilight of such day” line 1, is in poetic form, it carry’s images and tones. Through Shakespeare use of poetic form we can see the dark and foreboding imagery present in the line. When comparing line 3 “Which by-and-by black night doth take away” line 3, and the prose form “which the night replaces” the sad tone and death like image can only be found in the poetic form version. Though prose form easier to understand, when a message is conveyed in such a form it loses its thought provoking qualities. Finally the last line “Death’s second self that seals up all in rest” line 4, can only be understood in its poetic form style. The images of death, sadness and the comparison between death, night and sleeping can only be grasped through the structure and image building qualities of Poetic form. Poetic form enable pieces of writing to become something more. It accomplishes in a short series of words what pose form could never match in the same amount of writing. Image creation and tone development are only possible through the structure and qualities that Poetic form enable.
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2 comments:
I agree with how the emphasis on every single word makes the word choice that much more important. I think in this stanza, one of my favorite phrases is Death's second self.
Yes, Shakespeare most certainly knows how to take advantage of the poetic form to use his colorful imagery. I agree that through poetry, writers can use tools that are not available in other types of writing. The short yet powerful forms of writing have altered literature considerably.
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