Another First Undergraduate Essay: The Psychological Theme in Drayton's Sonnet 61

Here's the first essay from my first English class in college. It's dated September 28th, and, as you'll see, it's not filled with discussions of Foucault, Saussure, Barthes, and Greenblatt. And Falstaff was not there to inspire me. Instead, I followed a random piece of advice that had been imparted to me by my English teacher during my senior year of high school: when writing about poetry, analyze both form and content. And so I did. In a five-paragraph essay, of course. And without any witty boasting of brilliance. But with lots of passive voice, repetitious sentences, and plodding nominalizations. One facet of a literary work's relative quality can be determined by how well its form and content are combined. Masterpieces usually have a blending of form and content which not only serves to heighten their own power, but also forges successful criteria for analyzing other works. Michael Drayton's sixty-first sonnet, "Since there's no help, come let us kiss and part;" can be judged based on this criteria. The striking characteristic of this poem is its psychological theme. It is about a man who ends his relationship with his lover and must endure the tragic reality that doing so virtually kills him; his fate is then left in the hands of his lover who can save him from death. The first eight lines of the sonnet create a vivid picture of the speaker's state of mind through his almost boastful indifference. The last six lines then confirm the reader's assumption that he was lying about his detachment and relate how he actually felt. In addition, the psychological focus of the poem is supported through Drayton's use of form. It increases the meaning of certain passages and, hence, the poem itself. The specific aspects of form and content which enhance the psychological them of "Since there's no help, come let us kiss and part;" are its meter, its diction, and the stylistic difference between its octet and sestet. One technique in Drayton's sonnet which strengthens its psychological focus is its meter. Although the poem is basically written in iambic pentameter, it also possesses significant metrical shifts which support the psychological ideas behind the words. Line five, for example, begins with the words "Shake hands..." Both of these words are accented, consequently forming a spondaic foot. Moreover, the feeling conveyed by the sound of these words is one of abruptness and finality. This is exactly the idea the speaker is trying to communicate to his lover. Additionally, the second foot in line eight, "one jot," is spondaic. It, too, indicates finality, especially since it is in the last line of the speaker's monologue. In each of these cases, the conclusiveness of the words obviously exaggerate the speaker's actual emotions; one would not expect it to be so easy for him to end the relationship. Lines nine and ten echo this sentiment and reinforce the image of the speaker's imminent mental, or physical, death. The ninth line begins with three unaccented syllables in a row, "Now at the," followed by four accented syllables which are spliced by one unaccented syllable, "last/gasp of/love's lat/est...." If one equates the sounds of these words with breathing, he obtains a sense of easy breathing (three unaccented syllabes) interrupted by two forceful gasps for air (four accented syllables divided by an unaccented syllable). Drayton extends this concept in the next line by following two unaccented syllable with two accented ones, "When his/pulse fail/ing...." As a result, the metrical variations imitate the psychological trauma the speaker is undergoing, amplifying those very emotions and his psychological state. Another element in "Since there's no help, come let us kiss and part;" which augments its psychological theme is Drayton's choice of words, or diction. [...] The psychological focus of the poem is further emphasized through the stylistic differences between the sonnet's octet and sestet. [...] The distinct characteristic of Michael Drayton's sonnet, "Since there's no help, come let us kiss and part;" is its psychological theme. Its meter, Drayton's choice of words, and the stylistic difference between its octet and sestet all contribute to this theme. The sonnet's metrical shifts create sounds that imitate the meanings of the words, increasing their psychological impact. The poet's diction also allows certain phrases to be interpreted in at least two ways, one of which usually reveals the speaker's true psychological state. Additionally, the stylistic difference between the octet and sestet strenghtens the poem's psychological theme through their changes in voice, speech patterns, and the relative truthfulness of the speaker's emotions. Thus, "Since this there's no help, come let us kiss and part;" accomplishes a blending of form and content which supports its essential theme. For a poem to be considered successful, this subtle blending must occur. As a result, one can consider Drayton's sixty-first sonnet a significant achievement, even a masterpiece. In fact, some critics have referred to it as the greatest sonnet ever written. Although it would be difficult to successfully defend such a statement, it is not difficult to support the claim that its psychological theme is artfully supported through form and content. And so the circle is complete. The essay begins by talking about masterpieces and it ends with more thoughts on masterpieces. In between, there are some airy speculations about breathing and then a final claim that "some critics" call this "the greatest sonnet ever written" (do they? anyone else heard this)? It might be worth adding that, when I wrote this essay, I was dating a not very nice girl from high school, a mistake I kept up until the end of my freshman year (actually, until she broke up with me during final exams). The feeling of being tortured by "a lover" (yick) was one I could very much relate to--the poem spoke to me, as anything having to do with "love" did that year. The final essay I wrote for this course: "The Theme of Love in Shakespeare's and Donne's Poetry." Its opening sentences: "One goal of many poets is for their poems to make people remember emotions, thoughts, and experiences in their own lives. As a result, the genre of poetry is marked by the recurrence of certain [...wait for it...] universal themes and emotions which all, or most, people undergo." I love that "or most." When I added it, was I thinking of my eighteen-year-old girlfriend then cheating on me with a thirty-year-old guy with three kids? I'd like to think so, even though I almost surely wasn't; but if so, it's easily the funniest thing I wrote that year.