Seasoning the Sonnets: Shakespeare’s Use of Literary Devices

The topic of literary devices may invite eyerolls from high schoolers. But there is a good reason why we learn about similes as soon as the third grade. Writers use literary devices to hint at larger themes, ideas, and meaning in their works. Shakespeare is one writer who uses figurative language to craft the themes of his sonnets. Through the use of literary devices, Shakespeare reinforces that true love is constant and painful, while misguided love is deceptive and physical.

Shakespeare uses metaphor and personification to describe the constant nature of love. In Sonnet 116, Shakespeare uses a metaphor to show that love triumphs over any obstacle. Shakespeare compares love to a lighthouse against a thunderstorm. “O, no, it [love] is an ever-fixèd mark/That looks on tempests and is never shaken…” (Shakespeare 5-6) No matter how great the storm, sailors can always rely on the constant point of a lighthouse. Likewise, no matter how large the conflict, true love remains unshaken. By making a direct comparison, Shakespeare highlights the strength of true love in the face of adversity. In Sonnet 116, Shakespeare uses personification to illustrate that love outlasts changes in outward appearance. “Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks/Within his bending sickle’s compass come…” (Shakespeare 9-10) Shakespeare personifies Love and Time to make it easier for readers to sympathize with non-human entities. The reader can picture Time tempting Love by taking away the couple’s beauty, but Love is not at the mercy of Time. Personification clarifies that fading beauty will not affect true love. Metaphor and personification reinforce the timelessness of true love by showing that neither outside force nor aging affect it.

But the ever-lasting nature of true love is not its only characteristic. Shakespeare also highlights the pain that comes with true love through the use of repetition and contrast. In Sonnet 30, Shakespeare uses repetition to highlight the lasting pain of a past relationship. Each line in the third quatrain contains repetition to emphasize the emotional pain that comes with deeply loving someone. “Then can I grieve at grievances foregone,/And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er/The sad account of fore-bemoanèd moan,/Which I new pay as if not paid before” (Shakespeare 9-12). The repetition in “grieve at grievances,” “from woe to woe,” “fore-bemoaned moan,” and “pay as if not paid before” drags out the pain the speaker suffers through past memories. We may be tempted to assume that heartbreak is the worst right after a break-up, but the speaker argues that it continues long after that. The repetition shows that true love never really goes away, and we should expect to get spontaneously attacked with a sense of loss after separation. In Sonnet 30, Shakespeare uses contrast to show the continuous cycle of grievance. The opposition between old and new emphasizes that old memories transform into new pain. The phrases “old woes new,” “weep afresh” and “I new pay as if not paid before” show that old memories torment the speaker as they are recycled new in his mind (Shakespeare 4, 7, 12). Shakespeare uses contrast to support how the cycle of grief subsists when we develop strong feelings toward someone. Repetition and contrast solidify grief as a cost of true love, but Shakespeare hints that it is evidence that we loved with our whole heart.

From Sonnet 127, Shakespeare’s sonnets turn toward the discussion of misguided love. Using rhetorical questions and puns, Shakespeare tells us that deception and physicality make up misguided love. In Sonnet 138, Shakespeare uses rhetorical questions to highlight that the speaker and his lover willfully deceive each other. “But wherefore says she is not unjust?/And wherefore say not I am old?” (Shakespeare 9-10) The rhetorical questions draw attention to the mutual deception between the lovers by revealing why they do so. The woman does not admit to infidelity to stay in the relationship, while the speaker does not admit his age to feel young again. Shakespeare uses these questions not for the reader to answer, but rather to make a point about the superficiality of the relationship. In Sonnet 138, Shakespeare also uses a pun to explain that the relationship is based solely on sexual attraction. There is a play on the word “lie” to mean telling falsehoods and sleeping with someone. “Therefore I lie with her and she with me…” (Shakespeare 13) The pun reveals the nature of the relationship by challenging the reader to think of the various meanings of the word. The word “lie” ties together the two meanings to show that the relationship (they “lie” with each other) is built solely on falsehoods (they “lie” to each other). Despite the speaker’s claims that they both benefit from the relationship, puns make the reader question whether it is a strong foundation for one (Shakespeare 14). Rhetorical questions and puns depict the deceptive, physical aspect of misguided love.

In Shakespeare’s sonnets, literary devices solidify that true love is constant and painful, while misguided love is deceptive and physical. Writers use figurative language today to produce seminal Foreign Affairs articles and record-breaking pop songs. Foreign Affairs’ two most influential works, “The Sources of Soviet Conduct (Kennan, 1947)” and “The Clash of Civilizations? (Huntington, 1993),” use alliteration to produce a memorable effect (Funabashi 27). Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well,” the longest song to reach No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100, features a pun in “Every time you double-cross my mind” to support the overarching theme of betrayal (Pilastro). The next time we pick up a pen, perhaps we can take a lesson from Shakespeare and use a meta-four or two.

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Works Cited

Funabashi, Yoichi. What is a Think Tank?: An Era of Policy Entrepreneurship. Chuokoron-shinsha, 2019.

Pilastro, Eleonora. “Taylor Swift's 10-Minute ‘All Too Well’ Is Longest Song to Reach No.1.” Guinness World Records, Guinness World Records, 26 Nov. 2021, https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2021/11/taylor-swifts-10-minute-all-too-well-is-longest-song-to-reach-no-1-683614.

Shakespeare, William. “Sonnet 30: When to the sessions of sweet silent thought.” Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45091/sonnet-30-when-to-the-sessions-of-sweet-silent-thought.

Shakespeare, William. “Sonnet 116: Let me not to the marriage of true minds.” Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45106/sonnet-116-let-me-not-to-the-marriage-of-true-minds.

Shakespeare, William. “Sonnet 138: When my love swears that she is made of truth.” Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/50386/sonnet-138-when-my-love-swears-that-she-is-made-of-truth.