Sonnet 107 by Shakespeare

Shakespeare begins the sonnet with the statement that his love cannot be stopped either by his own fears or by any prophecies of disasters to come. Such prophecies were common in Elizabethan times, and love overcoming fear of disaster is a common literary theme, whether the disaster be a small one or a major cataclysm. In the Elizabethan era, the concept of the Great Chain of Being prevailed, with the human being standing at the center between heaven and earth and subject to the vagaries of the elements. Auguries provided the human being with signs as to what would happen in the future, and the relative stability of the earthly realm would be mirrored in the heavens so that dissension in the realm would be seen in storms and the like in the wider world. This is evident in this poem with the references to Elizabeth as the "mortal moon" who has "her eclipse endured," showing that she has come through a difficult time so that now any augurs of disaster are seen as mocking their own prescience, mean

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sm. It is the poet himself who is affected by the state of the world in which he lives, but he can transcend that through his poetry. John Donne in Holy Sonnet 17 considers the effects of death on the church, and he carries through a conceit in which the church becomes a loved one mourned by the poet. Donne as well immortalizes his concerns in a poem that outlasts his era and his concerns, if not the church itself. Indeed, the division of the church endures to this day, and the clash of ideas presented by Donne still have power and are still cogent to the divisions in the church. The theme of wandering is evident in certain Anglo-Saxon poems. Wandering is seen to be a difficulty and to take the hero far from his home and from familiar territory, but it is also seen as necessary for the hero to wander in order to challenge the elements, to seek danger, and to achieve more than those who stay at home. The hero often arrives in a place where he is unfamiliar and where he is seen as a stranger, and yet he makes himself part of the community through heroic actions. This is the case in Beowulf, where Beow is a hero among his people but travels to Heorot and offers his assistance in ridding the realm of its attacker. The he
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Britain Christian, Sonnets Shakespeare, Specifically Shakespeare, Holy Sonnet, Battle Maldon, Beowulf Vikings, Queen Elizabeth, William Shakespeare, British Vikings, Beowulf Beow, own fears, overcome death, elizabeth mortal moon, elizabeth mortal, death submit, mortal moon, fears prophecies, beowulf 27, hero remembered, peace proclaims, appears line,
Approximate Word count = 2156
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)