Sonnet Analysis

Analysis

Calla and I decided to write a sonnet on something that we both could agree on and had some relation to Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, so we used the theme first love. We made the setting in spring and used the perspective of a man talking about his love to express the feelings of first love. In our sonnet, we were trying to capture the moment in where love's immaturity and passion is revealed to this man.
In the opening lines of our sonnet, "The world is kind to you and I, my dear," it is saying how the world is giving them its approval to love each other. Instead of something such as in Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream where a conflict between Hermia and her father Egeus forbade her to be with her true love, Lysander because he didn't agree with her and Lysander marrying and wanted her to marry the man of his choice, Demetrius. The lines "The newly sprung green sapling looks like we," suggests that their love is very fragile and young in a sense that when you look at a newly sprung sapling, it is very delicate. Anything can destroy it; storms, droughts, manmade objects. Similar to a newly sprung sapling, a relationship is very fragile in a way that you can also destroy it with anything; harming it yourself, conflicts between each other, and dirty rumors. In the lines, "Their moving leaves make music sweet to hear," and, "The melody leads all to dance with glee," it has a romantic feeling to it. It gives me visions of spring, where everything is so beautiful, especially when winds blow through the leaves of the trees, making the leaves rustle, creating soothing sounds. These lines were intended to express how beautiful his love for her is depicting in the springtime.
In the lines, "As bees are drawn to apple blossoms fast," he indicates his attraction to her beauty through an analogy. As bees are drawn to apple blossoms, he is drawn to her. The apple blossom also represents her beauty in a way that apple blossoms are exquisite and stunning as she is. The lines, "You mesmerize me with your sweet, sweet smile," also describe how beautiful and attractive his girl is. It also gives you a feeling that he will do anything for her because her beauty blinds him, and again, it shows how his attraction towards her. "And love for you sees me o'er seas vast," indicates his devotion towards her. Also, "seas" could be a metaphoric term for any obstacles stopping him from seeing her, so he is trying to express that he will do anything, go through anything to get to her. The lines, "To me you are the sun and flower isle," refers back to the analogy of the bees and the flowers, but has the sun added to it adding warmth and light to the sonnet.
Tying with the previous lines of, "To me you are the sun and flower isle," the lines, "Your fresh petals to bloom during this spring," suggests that she will have become even more beautiful during the spring, for spring is the peak of the growth of plants and flowers, and that is when she, the flower, has been fully replenished and ready to bloom her beauty to the world. Also, adding to the previous suggestion of light and warmth, the line, "My soul longs for the warm and verdant growth," states that he wants to be part of the isle that she is described as and wants to be in her "light", in her presence. "Relief from thee eternal winter bring," basically says that he will save her from the endless winter and keep her company. Also, if you looked at "thee," as, "the," instead, then the line would also say that she alleviates him from the endless winter. Finally expressing his total feelings for her he, says, "Without you, dear, I will not plight my troth," meaning that he will not marry anyone else but her.
And lastly, the heart-rending ending, adds a twist to this love sonnet. "But human's penchant for much pain will lead me to extend this frost until I'm dead," indicates that even though he may love her, he will not be with her, and will extend the endless winter to an eternity. It is sad, by any case, because in the way he describes her so elegantly and brings out his devotion for her, and then abruptly says these horrible lines tells you of some irony in this sonnet.
Although, love is beautiful, breath taking, and blinding, there are still some obstacles, in which this case was "the human's penchant for pain." However, how we described his love, passion, and devotion to her, was incredibly clever, because we tied it into spring and Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, which also had its fair share of love problems.