Although young people may profess to love life, no one can truly understand the journey from birth to death as much as one who is nearing their conclusion of it. Both Robert Burns’ “John Anderson, My Jo” and Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 73” convey the idea that aging brings forth an appreciation for life and love while also holding a realistic view that death is inescapable. In “Sonnet 73,” aging strengthens the love between a couple, while in “John Anderson, My Jo” age is accepted by an elderly couple and used as a symbol of their love for one another.
As both speakers age and near death, a newfound respect for love is found through the realization that love is not merely a physical emotion. Though the speakers deal with the decay of their youth in different ways, both works find a common theme by discussing partners in a relationship dealing with the aging of their loved ones. Both of these partners also come to terms with age in the works, accepting it as a natural and inevitable process.
The refusals of the lovers to let the physical diminishments of growing older create a gap between them results in a stronger bond while adding importance to the fading aspect of youth. The use of natural metaphors is a powerful presence in both works. Though the metaphors are used to describe the speaker’s journey away from youth and towards death, the atmosphere and tone they present are almost entirely opposite.
In “Sonnet 73”, the speaker compares his state to the twilight of a day, his light being slowly stripped away by the black night. This imagery presents a mood of darkness and loneliness, in which the speaker feels isolated because he is undertaking the experience of becoming old alone. Although his lover remains faithful to him despite his age, there is a lack of understanding between the two because the lover cannot relate to what the speaker is going through due to their difference in age and maturity.
The Essay on Garden Of Love Speaker Life One
William Blake's "Garden of Love" In William Blake's Garden of Love, published in 1794, the speaker shows that from day one of any persons life, nothing remains uniform. That life is always in a state of change, disarray, and inconsistency. The speaker tries to do this by bringing you to a state of being and realization of the church, nature, and sentimental meaning. He accomplishes this task ...
On the other hand, in “John Anderson, My Jo” the speaker uses a symbolic hill to talk about a journey with John Anderson through the life that they have had together. The descent of the hill, where the speaker and John Anderson “totter down” and then “sleep thegither at the foot,” is the falling action and ending of their story. The mood here is entirely different, because both of the lovers approach this death together, “hand in hand,” and this unity in the face of death is what strengthens their love.
Though the speaker in “Sonnet 73” feels joyful that his lover still stands by him through his age, he will never have the connection with his lover that John Anderson and his jo do. Though the two works differ in this aspect, the way they view life and death as well as the importance of love they find through aging is essentially the same. In “John Anderson, My Jo,” the speaker remarks that though John Anderson’s hair has turned from “like the raven” to “like the snow,” it has not affected her love for him at all.
She comes to an important understanding that love is not a factor determined by what color John Anderson’s hair is, or how many wrinkles he has in his brow. Love is powerful enough to overcome aging. Even when John Anderson and his jo are dead, they will sleep together at the bottom of their hill forever. The speaker in “Sonnet 73” views his relationship similarly. As the speaker approaches death and his glowing embers sputter out, the love that he shares with his partner transcends the physical realm and becomes something much deeper and more meaningful.
Through this shared message, “John Anderson, My Jo” and “Sonnet 73” are both masterful works that deliver the message of age as it relates to love and the understanding of love. Though age may seem to be a process to dread and despise, both of the works show one of the important lessons learned only through experiencing age and accepting the reality of death as a part of life. Both of the couples are seen to have a love that will outshine even death, because they have not only stood the test of time, but have actually grown stronger through it.
The Term Paper on Ignorance Is Bliss: Hawthorne And Atwood On Love And Death
Margaret Atwood’s “Happy Endings” and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark” are distinctly different stories, divergent in plot, style, structure, and setting. Hawthorne’s piece, written in 1843, addresses a desire for perfection in a time when perfection felt feasible. On the contrary “Happy Endings”, as Atwood cleverly titled the story in 1983, explores the basic woes of love after the sexual ...
