The first sonnet I chose is, Upon the Breeze She Spread Her Golden Hair, written by Francesco Petrarch. I also chose, My Lady’s Presence Makes the Roses Red, written by Henry Constable. The connection I first noticed between these sonnets is, they are both written by, most likely, a man admiring a girl. I can tell this by in Petrarch’s sonnet he says, “her words had then a sound that simple human voices lack; a heavenly spirit, a living sun” In the sonnet written by Constable, he says, “The marigold the leaves abroad doth spread, because sun’s and her power is the same.” These are both very sweet compliments from a man of his lady. Petrarch saying, this girl that he’s admiring, her voice is beautiful and makes him happy. Petrarch also uses the sun as an analogy saying, his lady is so powerful, she too can make flowers bloom as the sun does. Along with this connection, there is the connection of using nature as an analogy and a metaphor. Constable uses the leaves, flowers, colors, blood, rain, and sun; while Petrarch uses the wind/breeze, light, air, and sun. Bother poets uses these descriptions and comparisons nicely.
A second connection 1 noticed is, the rhyme pattern. The first few stanzas in Upon the Breeze She Spread Her Golden Hair, by Francesco Petrarch follows the A BB C rhyme pattern, then finishes with not really a pattern at all, A B C E A C. In My Lady’s Presence Makes the Roses Red, by Henry Constable being with the pattern: A BB AA BB A C. Then also finishing with not so much a rhyme scheme, just a few words rhyming here and there; D E D F GG.
Part Two- Response to A Single Sonnet
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My favorite sonnet out of the reading is one that specifically assigned to be read, What Lips My Lips have Kissed, and Where, and Why, written by Edna St. Vincent Millay. 1 think I understood this, but I’m not totally sure. Of course it could, and most likely has a different meaning to me than the speaker or other readers. I liked the sadness of this poem, I felt the sadness of this poem on a personal level. The first line of this sonnet is the same as the title, followed by, “I have forgotten,” is such a sad three word statement which could be taken as the speaker hasn’t been kissed in so long she doesn’t remember who she has kissed or, how I took it; the speaker’s memory is stained with many different kisses from many different lads.
That line continues with “…and what arms have lain under my head till morning; but the rain is so full of ghost tonight…” Not only has the speaker slept with many men, not necessarily had sex with them, although may have with some, the speaker feels their absence. And just the mention of rain brings on sadness and loneliness, not just rain, but the rain that is full of ghosts, these ghost could be the ghost of lovers past, or just another lonely spirits out there, later on, the sonnet then ends with, “I only know that the summer sang in me a little while, that in me sings no more.” This is extremely sad, it leaves me feeling empty. What once filled the speaker with some kind of emotion, has left and now there is nothing left inside of them, just emptiness. I fell in love with this poem, and it has surely become my new favorite sonnet.
