Comparing two sonnets When it comes to William Shakespeare there are many works that are immediately thought of, such as Othello, Hamlet, and Romeo and Juliet.

He not only wrote plays but he also wrote poems. Of these poems there are two very famous ones called Sonnet 18 and Sonnet 130. Both of these poems are similar in in theme, nonetheless, they differ in who his subject is, the style in which they are written, and the purpose of why he wrote them. In sonnet 18 Shakespeare dedicates throughout the poem comparisons such as his opening line ” Shall I compare thee to a Summer’s day.” Sonnet 130 is written in a different style and more so is poking fun at other sonnets of the time called Blazon’s.

So one could say that this is an anti-blazon. Both poems are comparing Shakespeare’s lover to different beauties; however, in Sonnet 130 the beauties are not always a pleasing comparison. Such as “My mistress’ breath reeks compared to perfume,” which usually wouldn’t be said about ones lover. Presumptively Shakespeare’s contrasting views of his lover in Sonnet 130 was his way of trying to say beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Moreover not everyone believes that woman have to be as beautiful as spring flowers or glow like the sun to be beautiful. Nonetheless, in Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 he expresses the complete opposite idea.

In that all that is said is the comparison of the beloved man to the nature of a summer’s day. In sonnet 18 one can notice that almost every line ends on some form of punctuation, which brings the reader to a halt, and in Sonnet 130 he uses unrhymed lines.