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Sonnet 147 Explication


             "Sonnet 147" is richly embellished by Shakespeare's use of poetic devices. The sonnet follows the typical Shakespearian guidelines and rhyme scheme. The fourteen lines add up to 4 couplets and one quatrain. The rhyme scheme is the expected ababcdcdefefgg seen in most of Shakespeare's other sonnets. "Sonnet 147" adheres to the general format seen in Shakespeare's writing.
             The subject of "Sonnet 147" is a man disgusted with his longing for a dark woman, yet he can't resist her. He compares his love for the woman to a disease which reason that he refers to as a doctor, cannot cure. The subject is going crazy with desire for this dark lady, but he mentions how he was rejected when he told of his true feelings. The turning point of the sonnet is a negative one. He realizes that this dark woman he had previously thought was a wonderful person, is truly a cruel individual. Even though she rebuffed him, he continued his obsessive love, until he couldn't stand her dismissal of his love any longer. .
             A hyperbole is evidenced in Shakespeare's "Sonnet 147" when he describes the subject's disease: "Past cure I am, now reason is past care, and frantic mad with evermore unrest-. Love does not hamper anyone's ability to function, it's merely a feeling. Feelings can't make a person unwell, only a true disease can do so. A true disease would be the plague, or some kind of real ailment. .
             The use of a simile is clearly evidenced in the first few lines of Shakespeare's "Sonnet 147", "My love is as a fever, longing still for that which longer nurseth the disease- Shakespeare is literally comparing love to a disease, two vastly different things. The subject's unrequited love is affecting some aspects of his life, therefore it's like a malignant affliction destroying him. Emotions have no physical effects over a person. Love cannot kill, or cost someone their health, unless it's another person committing the act upon the innocent lover.


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