A Comparative Stylistic Analysis in

AS 19 ED ENGLISH 122

By

Wxyla Mae Benitez

Submitted in Accordance With the Requirements

for the Subject

STYLISTICS
at the

WESTERN MINDANAO STATE UNIVERSITY

IPIL-ESU

Ms. Heraclea Manaay

Instructress
 I. BODY
Comparative Analysis
A. Literary Work
Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a
summers day?
BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Shall I compare thee to a summers day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summers lease hath all too short a date;
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or natures changing course
untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owst;
Nor shall death brag thou wanderst in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growst:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Annabel Lee
BY EDGAR ALLAN POE
It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea,
But we loved with a love that was more than
love
I and my Annabel Lee
With a love that the wingd seraphs of Heaven
Coveted her and me.
And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsmen came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.
The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,
Went envying her and me
Yes!that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.
But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we
Of many far wiser than we
And neither the angels in Heaven above
Nor the demons down under the sea
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
For the moon never beams, without bringing me
dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright
eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darlingmy darlingmy life and my
bride,
In her sepulchre there by the sea
In her tomb by the sounding sea.
 B. Literary Devices
(Compare and Contrast)

Shakespeares sonnet Shall I Compare Thee to a Summers Day? and Edgar Allan
Poes poem Annabel Lee are two different and similar poems because they both use
imagery, metaphor, personification, synecdoche, rhyme, symbol, alliteration, rhythm, and
meter in different and similar ways to convey their message.

First both poems use imagery in similar ways to give you a picture of beauty. Imagery is
used to paint a picture of something and both poets use it to describe the one they love(d).
For example in line six of Summer's Day it says his gold complexion
dimmed.(Probst, Holt, Rinehart, Winston, and inc 561) In this line Shakespeare is
saying that the girl is as beautiful as the sun, but even the sun doesn't last forever. In line
eleven and twelve of Annabel lee Poe writes this winged seraphs of heaven, Coveted
her and me. (Poe) He is talking about how even the beautiful heavenly creatures envied
their love. You can see both take something that's already beautiful and use imagery to
describe the one they love.

Second, in both poems Metaphor is used differently. A metaphor compares two things
and in these poems metaphor is used differently where Shakespeare is comparing his love
to a summer day and Poe is comparing him and Annabel to children. In line two of
Summer's Day it says: Thou art more lovely and more temperate. (Probst, Holt,
Rinehart, Winston, and inc 561) Here metaphor is used to compare the girl to a wonderful
summer's day. However in line seven of Annabel Lee we read this I was a child and
she was a child. (Poe) The element of metaphor here is used to compare both themselves
to children saying that their love was as pure and innocent as children. The use of
metaphors in both poems are used differently in where one is using it to compare a
summer's day to his love while the other compares him and his love to children.

The next element they use is personification, both poets use this element to describe a
natural event in a unique way. Personification gives an inanimate object a human
characteristic, both poems use this element to describe how the wind can destroy
something beautiful. For example on line three of Summer's Day it sayeth this Rough
winds do shake the darling buds of May, (Probst, Holt, Rinehart, Winston, and inc 561)
and in line twenty-five and twenty-six of Annabel Lee we read this wind came out of
the cloud by night, Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee. (Poe) In these two quotes wind
is used by both poets to give the characteristic of destruction to wind in order to show
how beauty is destroyed. Therefor these two poems use personification in similar ways
by describing how wind destroys mortal beauty.

Next we shall talk about synecdoche, both poets use this element in similarly different
ways. Synecdoche is a figure of speech that describes a part for the whole, both poems
use it to immortalize something but at the same time they are immortalizing different
things. The synecdoche of Summer's Day on lines thirteen and fourteen beckons this:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, this gives life to thee. (Probst, Holt,
Rinehart, Winston, and inc 561) In this quote the writer describes the life of man as just
breathing and seeing to give her immortality. On line twenty-nine through thirty-one of
Annabel Lee states this Neither the angel in heaven above, nor the demons down
under the sea, can ever dissever my soul from the soul, of the beautiful Annabel Lee.
 (Poe) In this phrase Poe talks about beings that are highly contrasting but very powerful
to describe the whole world in where no one can separate the immortal love that they
have. The element synecdoche is used by both poets to make something immortal, but
these poems are immortalizing different things, and are therefor similar yet different.

Next we shall speak of rhyme, both poems use it differently. Rhyme is the repetition of
similar sounds, both poets use different rhyme patterns to give their poems a different
sound. For example in Summer's Day the rhyme pattern is this abab cdcd efef gg.
The rhyme is constant throughout the poem and gives the poem a very happy sound to it.
However, in Annabel Lee the pattern is faint with every other line mostly using the words
sea, Lee, and me. (Poe) The constant repetition of these words throughout the poem
give it a sad and sorrowful tone. Therefore these poets use the element of rhyme
completely differently to set the tone of their poems.

In continuum our element for comparison is symbol, which is used in both poems
similarly. A symbol is a tactile object that is a representation of something deeper, this
element is used in both poems to symbolize beauty and amazement. As is visible in line
six of Summer's Day ...his gold complexion dimmed. (Probst, Holt, Rinehart,
Winston, and inc 561) This symbol means that means that the sun will always set and
lose its beauty. In lines eleven and twelve of Annabel Lee it says this With a love that
the winged seraphs of heaven, Coveted her and me (Poe) In this quote they talk about
how the seraphs, who symbolize perfect beauty, still covet their love. Therefore these
poems use the element of symbol similarly to show beautiful and amazing things.

In this next element for comparison we'll talk about alliteration, as Annabel Lee uses it
frequently but Summer's Day uses it rarely. Alliteration is the constant repetition of the
same sounds, Annabel Lee uses this element greatly to give the poem a very sad
feeling, whereas Summers day does not use this element very much. In Annabel Lee
on lines one through six ending with the words: ago, sea, know, Lee, thought, me.
(Poe) The constant use of the long e sound is used throughout the poem to give it a sad
tone. Whereas in Summer's Day Alliteration is used rarely because the poem already
has a strong rhyme pattern that gives it an upbeat and happy tone. The element of
alliteration is used very differently because one poem uses it frequently to emphasize
sadness, while Summer's Day does not use it nearly as much because the poem already
uses rhyme.

Next we shall cover the element of rhythm, both poems use this element differently.
Rhythm is the alternation of stressed and unstressed sounds, the rhythm of Summer's
Day is very structured whereas the rhythm of Annabel Lee is not as structured.
Summer's Day is a sonnet which is a poem consisting of fourteen lines with rhyming
structure. (Probst, Holt, Rinehart, Winston, and inc 560) Whereas Annabel Lee does not
have a specific structure but still has specific meter throughout the poem. Rhythm in both
of these poems is slightly different because one follows a specific structure while the
other does not.

Next, both poems use different types of meter. Meter is the pattern of stressed and
unstressed syllables, these two poets use different meters to set the tone of their poems.
Shakespeare mostly uses iambic pentameter as is visible in line one of Summer's Day
 shall I comPARE thee TO a SUMmer's DAY? This meter gives the poem a nice and
cheery tone. Whereas Edgar Allan Poe uses primarily anapests as is visible in line one It
was MANy and MANy a year aGO. (Englishteacherman) Which gives the poem a very
sad tone. By this evidence we extrapolate that these two poets use different meters to set
the tone of their poems differently.

By these nine body paragraphs we conclude that the poem Shall I Compare Thee to a
Summer's Day? and Annabel Lee have their own similarities and differences. First off
both poems use imagery to convey an image of beauty to their audience. Metaphor is
used by Shakespeare to show how summer's beauty is not as great as his sweetheart's
beauty, while Poe uses it to compare him and Annabel Lee to children. Both poets use
personification to give wind human characteristics. Both use synecdoche to immortalize
two different things. The rhyme schemes of both poems are different. Symbol is used in
both poems to symbolize beauty and amazement. Alliteration is used frequently by Poe
but rarely by Shakespeare in these poems. The rhythm is more structured in Summer's
Day than in Annabel Lee. And lastly both poems use completely different types of meter
to set their tone. So the next time you enter a saloon and they start discussing these poems
you will hopefully have new information on this subject which you can use to
communicate in an intelligent manner.