English before final Essay

Poetry about love Love is the most powerful feeling of emotion in all kinds of relationships such as a father to his son or a lover to his mistress. The poem † My Papa’s Waltz† by Theodore Roethke and â€Å"Sonnet 130† by William Shakespeare focus on a similar theme which is love. The speaker in â€Å"My Papa’s Waltz†, and the speaker in sonnet 130 describe loving someone more than yourself. In Roethke’s poem, the speaker is a young boy who remembers his childhood relationship with his father. In sonnet 130, a speaker is a man who loves his mistress by celebrating the love for her. Theodore Roethke and William Shakespeare demonstrate the theme of love through using simile, metaphor, and tone to show the importance of love in their poems. Both poets use the device of simile as to express their love. William Shakespeare uses simile as regarding the appearance of his mistress who he loves the most. He compares the look of his mistress to give an idea to his readers about the appearance of his mistress. Such as, it is written in the poem â€Å"My mistress’s eyes are nothing like the sun† (line 1). By this line, he means that his mistress’ eyes are not at all beautiful like a sun. On the other hand, Roethke uses simile as though the son got hurt by his father but the son still loves him. In his poem, â€Å"My Papa’s Waltz†, he writes, â€Å"hung on like death† (line 3). This line of simile means that the son is denying to leave his drunken father even if he is having trouble holding his drunk father. The reason is the son is so desperate for spending time with his father, which shows the son loves his father a lot. The two poets use metaphor to enhance the importance of their love. Roethke uses metaphor as describing that it’s not easy to dance between loving and being scared of his father. Such as, he writes in his poem â€Å"Such waltzing was not easy â€Å"(line 4). By using this metaphor, he means that it is not easy for a little boy to enjoy dancing and taking care of his drunk father at the same time. In other words, it means that the relationship between a little boy and his drunk father is not such as easy and simple it seems like since it is hard and difficult. On the other hand, Shakespeare uses metaphor as comparing wires and her hair. Such as, he writes â€Å"If hairs are wires, black wires grow on her head† (line 4). By this line, the speaker makes the comparison of his mistress’s hair with wires which means his mistress’s hair is not soft or smooth. In other words, it means the speaker describe the reality of his mistress’ hair by emphasizing t hat his mistress is imperfect. Both poets use the device tone of in their poems. â€Å"My Papa’s Waltz† has a tone of accepting and realistic by the fact that her mistress is not beautiful, but he still loves her.† You beat time on my head / Still clinging to your shirt† (last stanza). This metaphor sentence means even though his father is beating his son’s head, but the little boy does not let his father’s shirt since he loves his father unconditionally. In addition, it means the love of little boy does not change even though he got hurt by his drunk father. The †Sonnet 130 † has a tone of love and pain at the same time. † And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare /As any, she belied with false compare† (line 13, 14). By this line, the speaker means that the appearance of his mistress will not him stop loving his mistress less since he loves her no matter the appearance. In another word, it means that the speaker sti ll loves his mistress with all imperfection appearance that his mistress has it. The reason is that the speaker loves his mistress inner beauty than outer beauty. Ultimately, in the poem of Roethke and Willam Shakespeare, the main topic is loving someone else unconditionally. The poem † My Papa’s Waltz† by Theodore Roethke talks about a childhood memory of a young boy with his father. The poem † Sonnet 130† by William Shakespeare talks about a man who loves his mistress with all her flaws. The two poets write about the topic of love with the help of simile, metaphor, and tone. These two poems teach us that a bad action or imperfection of our loved ones will not stop us loving them. Work Cited Roethke, Theodore. â€Å"My Papa’s Waltz.† Literature: Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama, edited by Robert DiYanni, (2nd edition) McGraw Hill, 2008, Page 505 Shakespeare, William. † Sonnet 130.† Literature: Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama, edited by Stephen Orgel, with an introduction by John Hollander, 1609, page 134