Does the Brutal Truth in Sonnet 130 Essay

Does the heavy-handed truth in Shakespe atomic number 18s praise 130 and Swifts A well-favored Young Nymph red to bottom of the inning, take away from the smasher of the two poems. Beauty and aesthetics can be defined as Nothing more than nor less, than sensitivity to the sublime and the bewitching and an aversion to the ordinary and ugly, this means that beauty can be absolutely anything which is glorious as long as it is non ugly or ordinary, this may seem harsh, much like the poems by William Shakespeare and Jonathan Swift.In both poems Sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare and A beautiful young nymph exhalation to bed by Jonathan Swift, aesthetic beauty is explored in a brutal and honest light. Shakespeares Sonnet 130 tells the story of a man describing his woman of the street intimately, yet distastefully why then her breasts are dun. Whereas in A beautiful young nymph going to bed, Swift tells the story of a low class prostitute in London in the 18th century Pride of Drury Lane, and her undressing Takes off her artificial hair.When considering beauty and aesthetics within the poems Sonnet 130 and A beautiful young nymph going to bed, it may seem im come-at-able to think of the poems as beautiful when they include such vulgarity and distaste towards the women within them Shakespeares Dark madam and Swifts work of fiction Corinna. However, the poems are written and presented beautifully, and may be considered well deserved of their place within the canon of position Literature.The worth and value of texts within the canon of English literature are chiefly characterised by interwovenity of plot, twist, language and ideas. Despite the ugliness in the poems, the way the poems are written and the complexity of them, still leave the poems as classic texts to be enjoyed and appreciated. The use of metaphors, similes and the complexity of the story within both makes them bailable for the canon of English literature, showing that a poem can sti ll be considered beautiful for the way it is written despite the contents. Sonnet 130 may initially seem harsh however it was not intended to disparage Shakespeares cyprians looks as so many commentators substantiate understood, what is meant is that she and her looks together do not require ridiculous comparisons to angels which are clearly unrealistic as her temper and the way she is, is attractive in itself. The term mistress has an ambiguous meaning, it could refer to a husbands married woman, or as defined in the Oxford English Dictionary a woman write outd and courted by a man a female sweetheart or a woman some other than his wife with whom a man has a long-lasting sexual relationship.The poem suggests the latter meaning, supposing it to be, Shakespeares so-called Dark Lady. Shakespeare wrote about the Dark Lady in many of his sonnets. Sonnets 127-152 were allegedly based on the Dark Lady so called because the poems make it clear that she has black hair and dusky skin, breasts are dun. Each of the poems demand with a highly personal theme, for example, in Sonnet 130 a relationship between a man and his mistress experiencing cognise and lust is discussed. The sonnets develop an autobiographical feel, posing the question who was Shakespeares Dark Lady?Shakespeare scholar, Dr Duncan Salkeld from the University of Chichester found evidence suggesting that she was a madam called Lucy Negro or Black Luce, who ran a disreputable brothel in Clerkenwell. He believes that she is the foremost candidate for the dubious role of the Dark Lady. Wilson Knight said when considering the relationship between Shakespeare and the Dark Lady that it appears to withstand been finer than lust and cruder than love, here he demonstrates his doubts about them being in love.He admits that they may have had strong feelings for each other but questions whether they were in love, he does however agree that their relationship went further than lust and the sexual side of th e relationship. The fact that Shakespeare kept her identity hidden, does pose the question, did he really love her and in turn support Wilsons quote about not being in love. It may seem romantic of Shakespeare to have kept his lover a secret, but we must remain aware that he did have a wife at home in Stratford upon Avon.The possible occupation of Shakespeares Dark Lady gives a contextual link to Swifts poem A Beautiful Young Nymph going away to Bed, as the role of prostitution is explored in this poem and there are suggestions that this was the role of the Dark Lady. The purpose of banter is to show what is bad or weak about something or someone through humour and exaggeration. Jonathan Swift is known as The Godfather of Satire, Swift himself defined mockery as satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybodys faces but their own.hither, Swift explains how everyone who reads his satire will see how he is mocking everyone else, aside from themselves. Th e use of satire gives A beautiful young nymph going to bed complexity when looking at the meaning, similarly to Sonnet 130, making it eligible for the canon of English Literature, as one of the requirements to be eligible is that the work has complexity. Swift published A beautiful young nymph going to bed in 1734, the poem is satirical, and it satirise womens artificiality Takes off her artificial hair and their use of the male gaze.He wrote the poem in the 18th century, when approximately 63,000 prostitutes were working in London, a terrible time, as prostitutes became more popular and more common, sexually transmitted diseases spread rapidly. Although in his poem, he looks down upon Corinna and efficaciously the women who were also in her position, he also intends to satirize the wealthy men who use prostitutes and in turn cause this problem. The male voice of narration in this poem is judgemental and snobbish. This voice effectively mocks the upper classes who most likely use prostitution as they could afford it.The voice insults those upper classes who use and abuse Corinna, demonstrating the first step between the classes in society at the time. Much like Swift, Shakespeares Sonnet 130 has a separate motive, other than writing a love poem to his mistress. On another level, the poem might suggest that the metaphors and language that sonneteers traditionally use are often hyperbolic beyond reality. Sonnet 130 mocks the fanciful conventions of romantic poetry by subverting the conventions of Petrarchan sonnets, which wrote about idealised beauty.This poem is about Shakespeares relationship with the dark lady and he speaks of her realistically but harshly posing the question is it better to be attractive with no personality or plain with a good personality? Here Shakespeare chooses the latter and is brutally honest, rather than being complimentary. The vocabulary he uses is harsh and cold reeks Here Shakespeare comments on his mistresss breath, he seems r ude and offensive. The import here is that when he goes to kiss her, he is not thinking of her, but of her bad breath and this is unkind.However, this may be merely a reflection of Elizabethan dental hygiene. Shakespeare writes that Coral is far more red, which is a clever simile, comparing her lips to coral is slightly over the top, as for lips to be that bright, they would have had to have been painted on and this is the type of fakery that Shakespeare is mocking. Shakespeare focuses on all of the things that would make you look at a woman sensually, her eyes, lips, breasts, skin and hair. However, in this poem these features are not appealing which is different to a conventional sonnet.A sonnet would traditionally have 14 lines, 3 quatrains and a final rhyming couplet love as rare and false compare, which conserves an abab rhyme scheme, Sonnet 130 follows these conventions but, a sonnet is also conventionally romantic and flattering, and this sonnet does not follow this conventi on at all. Undeniably, the form of a sonnet is presented charmingly and despite the harsh content, still leaves the poem to be enjoyed. He comments that he thinks his love as rare, however, the fact that he kept this dark ladys identity secret shows a lack of respect and a hint of perplexity as he did not reveal the truth.This lack of respect correlates with Swifts A beautiful young nymph going to bed as he is rude, sarcastic and brutal about the fictional Corinna Pride of Drury Lane. Swift tells the ref that Corinna is unpopular, Never did Covent Garden boast and that no one is concerned in her as she returns home at the Midnight Hour. At the time Covent Garden and Drury Lane would both have been heavily populated by prostitutes. Swift is repel by women like Corinna and is not shy about showing it in this poem.He describes Corinna as offensively and nastily as he can, telling the reader about her flabby dugs Swift links lines inside the poems to further insult Corinna slips th e Bolsters and Ruins. Must evry morn her limbs unite she has to rebuild herself and reconstruct her beauty every morning. Ruins are what is left of an ancient building when the structure is lost, Corinna is compared to a building when Swift says and off she slips the Bolsters that supply her hips. implying that, like a building she has a structure and without it, she becomes the Ruins of the Night. Swift criticises artificial beauty and fakery, which has links to famous fairy tales, such as Snow White or Sleeping Beauty. In these stories the women are beautiful for being natural skin as white as snowunlike Corinna. This suggests that pale and natural skin is attractive, which links to the women of the 18th century, when the paler you were, the more beautiful you were.Corinna objectifies the opposite of 18th century beauty The brutal truth within Sonnet 130 does not take away the beauty from the poem. The beauty of Sonnet 130 is continued by the composite way it has been written and the ambiguous meanings and reasons for being written these are what make the poem seem complex as it is filled with different ideas. The poem could be a confession of love as believed, a slightly sarcastic joke about his mistress or a complex exploration of the conventions of sonnets. The brutal truth within the poem hides Shakespeares true feelings for the Dark Lady.In Jonathan Swifts A beautiful young nymph going to bed the appeal of the poem is continued, despite the brutal truth of the contents, by the strong concept of satire within the poem. Swift has very cleverly turned what appears to be a misogynistic attack on women to become an attack on the people who have caused this for her. The brutal truth about Corinna hides the underlying meaning and it is this complexity within the meaning and plot, which keeps the reader interested and allows Swift to broadcast his message subtly but with clarity.