POEM: "SONNET 10"
Lawrence, of virtuous father virtuous son,
Now that the fields are dank, and ways are mire,
Where shall we sometimes meet, and by the fire
Help waste a sullen day; what may be won
From the hard season gaining? Time will run
On smoother, till Favonius re-inspire
The frozen earth, and clothe in fresh attire
The lily and rose, that neither sow'd nor spun.
What neat repast shall feast us, light and choice,
Of Attic taste, with wine, whence we may rise
To hear the lute well touch'd, or artful voice
Warble immortal notes and Tuscan air?
He who of those delights can judge, and spare
To interpose them oft, is not unwise.
Lawrence, of virtuous father virtuous son,
Now that the fields are dank, and ways are mire,
Where shall we sometimes meet, and by the fire
Help waste a sullen day; what may be won
From the hard season gaining? Time will run
On smoother, till Favonius re-inspire
The frozen earth, and clothe in fresh attire
The lily and rose, that neither sow'd nor spun.
What neat repast shall feast us, light and choice,
Of Attic taste, with wine, whence we may rise
To hear the lute well touch'd, or artful voice
Warble immortal notes and Tuscan air?
He who of those delights can judge, and spare
To interpose them oft, is not unwise.
ORIGINAL VERSION
"Lawrence, of virtuous father virtuous son" by John Milton is a short poem that has a deap meaning behind it. The title virtuous father virtuous son already explains what the poem is about. Lawrence is a virtuous father and also a son, by describing the lineage of Lawrence, the poem progresses onto a topic of seasons related to life. John Milton creatively describes his topic using preferences and vague words about the cycle of life. This is John Milton's twentieth sonnet and it is very similar to Shakespeare's 129th sonnet. As you may know, Milton is a big fan of Shakespeare`s work and his writings are very similar to Shakespeare`s. This sonnet if very personnel to Milton because he dedicates this to his friend Lawrence. Lawrence is described as a virtuous son and a father, also a friend. This sonnet is written in rather an unclear way that it makes the reader think what the poem is actually about and that is exactly what Milton wants. By thinking about the meaning, the reader connects his/her life to the poem, making the poem more interesting. The poem is a sonnet which means it has 14 lines and a rhyme scheme. Sonnets were created by Shakespeare and most of Milton's work are sonnets which explains itself how much Milton adores Shakespeare. The poem includes a set of literary devices such as metaphors and personification with lexical and phonological features. There are several analysis of this poem but are relatively ignored. What I like to think is that the poem expands from the description about his friend to a sequence of deeper thoughts about life in general. The poem mentions all four seasons starting off with winter and ending with what I think is the beginning of winter. This explains how Milton is trying to describe a cycle to the readers. What cycle? you may be asking yourself. What I like to believe is that Milton narrates the cycle of life. With the first line about the lineage of generations, the next line describing the miserable cold and winter, followed by a line about meeting his old friend or perhaps his father. The next line is my personnel favourite. "Help waste a sullen day; what may be won". This quote describes how Lawrence can help Milton waste another sour day and to make the most out of it. This idea can expand to life itself. Life is filled with sorrow and hardship, but at the end of the day we find a small amount of happiness which keeps us going. The line is telling us to make the most out of our life no matter how hard life can get. Life, is an eternal cycle. It simply does not die, when life ends it is passed on to the next generation. What I believe is that when we die we are reborn into something. This can mean being born as a human again or an animal, or simply a single drop of rain. The poem "Lawrence of virtuous father, virtuous son", has a message of the idea of eternal life and reincarnation. It tells us readers to make the most out of the life we have now, and when the time comes we must embrace it and accept it. John Milton touched my heart with this poem and made me think about the universal cycle that is all around us. It made me connect with other learnings such as Buddhism and Bushido. I would like to end with an quote from Bushido that is related to this poem and this topic. "There is life in every breath". |
REVISED VERSION
"Sonnet 10: Lawrence, of Virtuous Father Virtuous Son" by John Milton is a short poem with a deep meaning. The title itself explains what the poem is about. Lawrence is a virtuous father and a son, by describing the Lawrence lineage, the poem progresses onto a topic of seasons related to life. John Milton creatively describes his topic using preferences and diction about the cycle of life. Milton's twentieth sonnet, very similar to Shakespeare's 129th sonnet. As you may know, Milton is a big fan of Shakespeare`s work and his writings are very similar. This sonnet is very personal to Milton because he dedicates this to his friend Lawrence. Who is described to be a virtuous son, a father and a friend. This sonnet is written in rather an ambiguous way that it makes the reader think what the poem is actually about and that is exactly what Milton wants. By thinking about what the poem means, the reader connects his/her life to the poem, making the poem more interesting. The poem is a sonnet which means it has 14 lines and a rhyme scheme. Sonnets were created by Shakespeare and most of Milton's work are sonnets which explains itself how much Milton looks up to Shakespeare. The poem includes a set of literary devices such as metaphors and personification with lexical and phonological features. There are several analysis of this poem but are relatively ignored. What I like to think is that the poem expands from the description about his friend to a sequence of deeper thoughts about life in general. The poem mentions all four seasons, starting off with winter and ending with what I think is the beginning of winter. This explains how Milton is trying to describe a cycle to the readers. I like to believe that Milton narrates the cycle of life. With the first line about the lineage of generations, the next line describing the miserable cold and winter, followed by a line about meeting his old friend or perhaps his father. The next line is my personal favourite, "Help waste a sullen day; what may be won". The quote relates how Lawrence can help Milton waste another sour day and to make the most out of it. This idea can expand to life itself. Life is filled with sorrow and hardship, but at the end of the day we find a small amount of happiness which keeps us moving forward. Telling us to make the most out of our life no matter how hard it can get. Life, is an eternal cycle. It simply does not die, when life ends, it is passed on to the next generation. What I believe is that when we die we are reborn into something. This can mean being born as a human again or an animal, or a mere raindrop. The poem "Lawrence of Virtuous Father, Virtuous Son", exposes the idea of eternal life and reincarnation. It tells us readers to make the most of the life we have now, and when the end comes, we must embrace it and accept it. John Milton touched my heart with this poem and made me think about the universal cycle that is all around us. It made me connect with other learnings such as Buddhism and Bushido. A famous quote related to this poem from the teachings of Bushido, "There is life in every breath". |
MY COMPARE-AND-CONTRAST ESSAY
Nothing is ever perfect, things just gets better and better. There is always room for more improvement. I think everybody has different opinions on what ‘exemplary work’ means; I chose Max’s work, and I improvised and learned while doing so. I also thought that instead of choosing someone’s real good and near perfect work, I’ll choose something that’s more fun to revise for myself.
For me, what I really like in a work is how much one can weave their own personality into the writing. As if It’s not something a human robot could’ve written. Even if it’s a work full of information, you can understand what kind of person the writer is. Sentence construction, word choices, thesis, and little details like that. Max puts in a lot of reflection on his poem, like, “What I like to think is that...” and other I’s, me’s, and my’s. It creates character in the work. I think this is exemplary because people are slowly losing their touch, it becomes more and more technical without much of a their identity.
We live in a world that’s constantly changing: new initiatives, new work qualities, new technology improvements, new ways to stay ahead of the competition, new everything. All these come together to force continuing revisions from the way you eat to the way you live your life. Change is inevitable, change helps improvement. I re-evaluated Max’s work, and surpassed the original. I changed his mistakes of spelling errors and grammar, and replaced simple words with a more specific and efficient one. All while restructuring sentence style and length. By doing so, the work is a more interesting piece to read.
Learning from others, our project, is not only to revise work, but also so we can literally learn from others. What I learnt from Max’s analysis essay is that not only having your personality is important, but content, veracity, and information is important as well. Having spilled your personality in your work is fun to read, but if it doesn’t contain much of what is wanted, it may backfire. It’s also more amusing to read as it isn’t the basic orthodox answer from the internet.
Max’s essay has an impeccable amount of his own tenacity, you may call it as a perfect original of his. But it doesn’t have the necessary content of information and analysis of the poem in his essay, Sonnet 10. Although, he does write about his perspective on the poem, and it was interesting as I was able to connect with a lot of the ideas. The analysis essay has “Max” written and labeled all over it, but he could’ve tried and done better.
For me, what I really like in a work is how much one can weave their own personality into the writing. As if It’s not something a human robot could’ve written. Even if it’s a work full of information, you can understand what kind of person the writer is. Sentence construction, word choices, thesis, and little details like that. Max puts in a lot of reflection on his poem, like, “What I like to think is that...” and other I’s, me’s, and my’s. It creates character in the work. I think this is exemplary because people are slowly losing their touch, it becomes more and more technical without much of a their identity.
We live in a world that’s constantly changing: new initiatives, new work qualities, new technology improvements, new ways to stay ahead of the competition, new everything. All these come together to force continuing revisions from the way you eat to the way you live your life. Change is inevitable, change helps improvement. I re-evaluated Max’s work, and surpassed the original. I changed his mistakes of spelling errors and grammar, and replaced simple words with a more specific and efficient one. All while restructuring sentence style and length. By doing so, the work is a more interesting piece to read.
Learning from others, our project, is not only to revise work, but also so we can literally learn from others. What I learnt from Max’s analysis essay is that not only having your personality is important, but content, veracity, and information is important as well. Having spilled your personality in your work is fun to read, but if it doesn’t contain much of what is wanted, it may backfire. It’s also more amusing to read as it isn’t the basic orthodox answer from the internet.
Max’s essay has an impeccable amount of his own tenacity, you may call it as a perfect original of his. But it doesn’t have the necessary content of information and analysis of the poem in his essay, Sonnet 10. Although, he does write about his perspective on the poem, and it was interesting as I was able to connect with a lot of the ideas. The analysis essay has “Max” written and labeled all over it, but he could’ve tried and done better.