TEXTUAL ANALYSIS SONNET 20

In this text i’m going to analyze sonnet 20 by William Shakespeare.

Considering the lay-out, the reader can see that the poem is arranged in three quatrain and a rhyming couplet. Following the Elisabethan model. It is gave by the scheme: abab cdcd efef gg.

In the first stanza the poet is exalting the feature of the protagonist. The speaker begins by presenting a series of images that confuse whether or not he is speaking about a man or a woman, through the phrase: master-mistress. Here there’s the theme of nature in the first line to underline the beauty.

The protagonist as you can see in lines 2 and 3 has a woman’s heart, meaning he is gentle, but he is less fickle. He doesn’t cheat as a woman would.

In the second quatrain, the speaker goes on to say that the listener has eyes that are more beautiful than a woman’s. But, as he stated before, this listener is “less false in rolling” than women. He is less inclined to cheat. His eyes “Gild,” or cover in gold, everything that they gaze at. This is a beautiful metaphor that is used to say that everything is improved or blessed by the young man’s gaze. 

The seventh and eight lines allude to the young person’s beauty once more but also suggest that beauty appeals to both men and women. 

The first 8 lines, an octet, set the scene, describing the female characteristics of the young man, the surface appearance so to speak. The next four lines, the quatrain, deal with more fundamental issues like sex and sexuality. This is the poetic turn.

In this stanza The speaker states boldly that the youth was first created for a woman (as a woman), that is, anatomically he had all the organs of a female. But nature in the process of making him, fell in love, which means to uncritically adore someone.

In the third and final quatrain the speaker says that for “a woman” this person was created, alluding to their male gender. Nature made this person, (an example of personification) but she went farther than she intended to. This is a sexual allusion related biologically make organs that the speaker, a man, does not have any use for. It is “one thing to [his] purpose nothing”. 

The sonnet concludes with the speaker saying that nature made “thee” for women but that he’ll keep the young man’s love. The women can have his body. 

Shakespeare makes use of several poetic techniques. These include but are not limited to alliteration, personification, and metaphor. For example, “master-mistress” in line two and “false” and “fashion” in line four, Is an alliteration.

In line six there’s a metaphor where the speaker compares the young man’s gaze to “gilding”. It turns everything it touches to gold. This is a lovely way of saying that he blesses the world with his sight.