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constructions which are linked together by the initial position of the
conjunction ‘and’. This gives the second syllable
of the iambic foot the
maximum of stress. It is very important. The epithets ‘needy’, ‘purest’,
‘gilded’, ‘maiden’, ‘right’, ‘simple’ grow significant by carrying the
predicative force and consequently the most important share of the
communication. The same can be said of the adverb-epithets: ‘unhappily’,
‘shamefully’, ‘rudely’, ‘wrongfully’. They are in oppositional semantic
relations to the row of epithets enumerated above.
The whole of the sonnet can be divided vertically: there is, a pause in
each line which stands between the subject and the predicate. This pause is
indicated by the sign || and is easily perceived. Such a pattern is called dipody
and now means any breaking of the line into two parts.
Another stylistic device
worth mentioning is a slight
personification
of
the abstract notions, such as ‘desert’, ‘nothing’, ‘faith’, ‘art’, ‘folly’, ‘good’,
‘ill’. The predicates that these words are connected with enliven the abstract
notions making them almost animated objects.
It is significant to note the order in which the four sonnets by Shakespeare
were chosen for stylistic analysis. The first sonnet (21) is presented by the
poet in the traditional sonnet form. It tends to be more of an essayistic
character. The intellectual aspect predominates. The comparison of the two
types of poet reflects the author’s attitude towards art in general.
Every detail
is carefully weighed and assigned its proper place. The emotional elements,
though they are significant to the
Gestalt
of the utterance, are still
subordinate to the content, each contributing to it according to the share of
meaning it carries in the whole of the sonnet.
The second sonnet (90) presents a variant
to the ideal compositional
design. First of all it is not so clearly divided into octave and sestette. The
emotional aspect takes the upper hand from the beginning and loudly claims
its rights in the system and signs of communication. The stylistic devices
here are definitely informative. The contribution to the sense made by the
form itself is obvious.
The third sonnet (24) may be called an ode to form. It grows here into a
self-sustained means of communication. The idea can hardly elbow its way
into the sense structure. It has to be dug out from under the pile of tangled
elements of the sustained metaphor. It is only through a scrupulous stylistic
dissevering of the parts of the sonnet that the
dim light of the hidden idea
breaks through. But the idea itself justifies the choice of the compositional
design of the sonnet: if there are no feelings, if form reigns supreme, there
can be no idea. The form must be fed by the idea. If there is none, everything
is subordinated entirely to the intricacies that the form is capable of.
And finally the sonnet that comes last (66) serves as an antidote to sonnet
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24. It is so crowded with ideas that the form gives way to the content. The
compositional design is fully neglected. The
whole of the utterance is a
combination of the intellectual and the emotional. The stylistic devices used
here are not elaborate, they are mostly based on various forms of antithesis
presented in parallel constructions. And it is only at the very end of the
sonnet that the poet allows himself to be reminded that form should always
be taken into consideration. Hence the poet’s ‘best bow’ to form, the sudden
switch over from the social to the lyrical aspect of the idea.
In conclusion I would like to suggest that further
analysis of the sonnets
by Shakespeare from the point of view of the interrelation of form and
content would greatly contribute to the study of the works of the world
genius, provided that the form is regarded as capable of contributing meaning
to the utterance
.
Sonnet 33
1. Full many a glorious morning have I seen
2. Flatter the mountain-tops with sovereign eye,
3. Kissing with golden face the meadows green,
4. Gilding pale streams with
heavenly alchemy;
5. Anon permit the basest clouds to ride
6. With ugly rack on his celestial face,
7. And from the forlorn world his visage hide
8. Stealing unseen to west with this disgrace:
9. Even so my sun one early morn did shine
10.With all-triumphant splendour on my brow;
11.But, out, alack! he was but one hour mine;
12. The region cloud hath mask’d him from me now.
13.Yet him for this my
love no whit disdaineth;
14.Suns of the world may stain when heaven’s sun staineth.
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