Explication Of Sonnet 30, From Amoretti Essay, Research Paper
Carlo A.
Devices such as paradoxes and the use of connotations, and conceits are tools in which a
poet can create a certain ambiance. Sonnet 30, from Amoretti is such an example which use
these literary devices. Sonnet 30, which structure is a Spenserian that has a rhyme scheme of abab bcbc cdcd ee, is about the speaker’s (Spencer’s) unrequited love for his love who is rumored to be Elizabeth Boyle. Being one of 89 sonnets which view the speaker’s feeling of this
unrequited love towards a women, it creates an atmosphere of sex and romanticism. Using
paradoxes and connotations which relate to sex, the speaker shows his true feelings.
Understanding the certain devices used such as metaphors, figurative language and connotations
the atmosphere that is created by Amoretti can be exposed.
Figurative language and paradoxes are such devices one can utilize to move an audience
to analyze the truer meaning of certain lines. The use of hot and cold, ice and fire, are examples in which the poet uses to describe his emotions. Line 1 states, “My love is like to ice, and I to fire:” describes the speakers love as that of ice which connotes a certain barrier or wall and his desire is fire, which can be wild and apparent to others or can describe his increase in body temperature. The statement, “How comes it then that this her cold so great is not dissolved through my so hot desire.”( L3 illustrates this relationship between the two. The last line in the first quatrain uses figurative language by also saying ; “But harder grows the more I her entreat?”(L4)is witty in that it uses a paradox that is his flames grow in her cold presence, but actually the statement has sexual connotations of the bodily functions of a man that is aroused. T
Within the second quatrain the speaker states “Or how comes it that my exceeding heat /
Is not allayed by her heart-frozen cold,” creates the feeling of intensity of this desire and the use of more paradoxes of his heat exceeding in the midst of the cold. The phrase of “heart frozen cold” is a metaphor that illustrates the absense of desire or heat within.
In the sestet the speaker further uses a paradox to decribe his situation and metaphors, but can create a new meaning by the use of a couplet. The line that states; “What more miraculous thing may be told, / That fire, which all things melts, should harden ice,”(LL9,10 shows the speakers amazement on how his hot desire can make his love create more of a barrier and displays his fasination of this paradox. The description of this ice in line 11,” And ice, which is congealed with senseless cold,” afirms the negative connotations of cold as being senseless. Line 12 is paradoxial in that his flames of desire are kindled by the cold; “Should kindle fire by wonderful device?.” The final two lines change the meaning of the sonnet and make it have positive conotations. The literary device of a couplet, which is commonly used in Spencerian sonnets, creates a newer ambiance. The statment “Such is the power of love in gentle mind, / That it can alter all the course of kind(LL13,14) gives the sonnet new meaning in that it makes this desire positive. The couplet and paradoxial language create atmosphere.
Through literary devices the a poet can create atmosphere. Meanings are exposed with the analyzation of such devices . The use of paradoxes with metaphors display many connotations. Sonnet 30 is such good example of the use of the devices to create an ideal ambiance and to display emotions of the speaker.