The Writings of Shakespeare and Donne Essay Example for Free

The Writings of Shakespeare and Donne Essay The poems from William Shakespeare and John Donne that interest me are â€Å"Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day† and â€Å"The flea†. One of the main reason that I am writing about these two poems are because they are the only ones that I know of because that is what we talked about in class and I have never read poetry in my life. Poetry has always been difficult for me to read because of my mild case of dyslexia. I have to read the sentence a couple of times before I finally figure out what the writer is trying to say. Obviously I have heard of Shakespeare before and knew about his works that included Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, and Julius Caesar. What I didn’t know was how successful and influential his poetry was. But unlike William Shakespeare, I have never heard about John Donne until the lecture a few days ago. After reading the two poems I believe that there are many similarities and differences in the style that both of these poets write. In â€Å"Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day by William Shakespeare I certainly feel that the author is addressing a woman with whom he is truly in love. This is purveyed to me by the two strong opening lines, â€Å"Shall I compare thee to a summers day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate†. Shakespeare starts the sonnet off with how strongly he loves this woman and then goes on to say â€Å"Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer’s lease hath all to short a date: Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines† Shakespeare is saying that even though he loves her, she is still not perfect. Afterwards he goes on to say, â€Å"But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st† which he is saying that her youth will not fade and that her beauty will always remain with her for the rest of her life. It ends with â€Å"So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. † He is trying to say that as long as people are alive on the Earth, his feelings towards this woman will never change and will allow her to live forever. A poem we have studied and which also focuses on a similar situation to that of â€Å"Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day† is â€Å"The flea† by John Donne. In it he goes on to say that the flea has sucked both of their bloods and how they are now mingled together. He says, â€Å"This flea is you and I, and this Our marriage bed and marriage temple is† The man in the story believes that he and the woman are one with the flea and if she decides to kill the flea she would be killing the marriage between them. The poem ends with, â€Å"’Tis true; then learn how false fears be: Just so much honor, when thou yield’st to me, Will waste, as this flea’s death took life from thee. This means that if she were to sleep with him, she would lose no more honor than she lost when she killed the flea. The similarities between â€Å"The flea† and â€Å"Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day† are not quite as numerous as the differences. One of the main similarities is that both of the main characters are in love with a woman, even their love seems to be the opposite of each other. There are many differences in the way that Shakespeare and Donne write. Shakespeare is more in your face I guess you would say. He doesn’t use as much trickery as Donne does in his sonnet and is a lot easier to understand in my opinion. The tone in â€Å"Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day† seems to be more upbeat than in â€Å"The flea†. How Donne uses a flea and blood in his sonnet makes it seem more ominous. As you can see, they are many similarities and differences in the way that William Shakespeare and John Donne write in â€Å"Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day† and â€Å"The Flea†. Both of these poets had a long lasting impact upon Western Civilization and helped influence the English language all around the world. If someday I become hooked to reading poetry, I can look back and know these two poems are what got me addicted.