External Form: A Sonnet Is a Moment's Monument

This poem caught my eye due to the work we are currently doing. Shakespeare is the "master" of sonnets and solely by the title alone I quickly understood the poem. A sonnet can be about anything and simply explains a point, opinion or life experience from the narrator or poet's point of view. A sonnet never fades. For example, Shakespeare and John Donne's sonnets have not outrun time nor have they failed to impress or ignite the reader. You feel something when you read a sonnet. It is not like a regular poem, because it makes you think and observe what the person is saying. "Shall I compare thee to a summers day?". While reading that line alone, the reader questions and contemplates what is going to be expressed in these fourteen lines written in iambic pentameter. A sonnet is like a coin, because it states what the poet is saying and reveals what the poet is thinking. It is as if you are having a conversation with the poet or hearing a soliloquy. A sonnet makes you choose a side, similar to a coin. You can go against what is being said or agree with it no matter what is stated. I enjoyed this piece and loved that Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the writer, wrote the poem as a sonnet to further explain the point.