Organizational Aspects of Shakespeare's Sonnets

Shakespeare organizes his sonnets in many unique ways. By looking at a sonnet one can usually tell that Shakespeare wrote it. Through the use of metaphors and stanzas, Shakespeare’s sonnets contain themes such as love and beauty, which were common at that point of time in history. Through many different avenues, Shakespeare communicates his thoughts and ideas through metaphors. His use of iambic pentameter, Sonnet pattern, and metaphors is what makes his Sonnets unique as well as comparable to essays.

In the Shakespearean Sonnet, a certain pattern is followed. The first three parts of the Sonnet are quatrains, which are four lines long each. The last part of the Sonnet is called a couplet, which consists of two lines at the end of the Sonnet. These factors are part of the reason why Shakespeare’s Sonnet’s are similar to essays, in that there is a format that is followed.
Shakespeare’s sonnets utilize metaphors for many things. There is usually one in each quatrain. In sonnet 147, for example, Shakespeare is comparing love to a disease: “My love is as a fever, longing still/For that which longer nurseth the disease”. Shakespeare is telling us that his love is comparable to a symptom of a disease, and that the symptom, love, feeds the disease, which may be a relationship. Sonnet 18, one of the more famous poems by Shakespeare, clearly illustrates the use of metaphors in poems. The opening line, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day”? shows us a mockery of comparison. He continues with, “Thou art more lovely and more temperate:/ Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May”. By Shakespeare saying this, he means that he will not compare this person to summer because summer is not always a good thing. He explains that it is not a good thing because “Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shine”. This means that it is too hot. Through these few lines, he is making a mockery of comparisons to people and nature.