Compare and contrast William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 and Liz Lochhead’s “I

Wouldn’t Thank You for a Valentine”.

The conventional love poem exaggerates their lover’s natural beauty to express their
love. However Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 and Liz Lochhead’s “I Wouldn’t Thank You
For A Valentine” are poems which do not abide by the love poem criteria. They are
the antithesis of typical romance poems, this makes the poem unconventional and
unromantic. Shakespeare goes in great detail to explain that his lover is not as perfect
as the beauty of nature, as Petrarch, a love poet at that time, compares his lover to all
the extensive love of nature. Similarly, Lochhead prefers to be told that her lover is in
complete love with her rather than him indulging in buying typical Valentine gifts and
sweets. The poems have basically the same meaning, which is to promote sincere
declarations of love to their lover.
During the 16th century a well acknowledged poet by the name of Petrarch was writing
poems which exaggerated the beauty of women, his poems dominated others in that
era and it became known as the Petrarchan sonnet. In the typical Petrarchan sonnet,
the language used were often about spiritual beings such as angels and extraordinary
things which were “not of this world” He also went as far as comparing then to the
extensive beauty of nature and claimed that his lover was better than nature. People
respected Petrarch’s ideals and took him as a role model in writing love poems. This
outraged Shakespeare because he realised that men often do not love their wife as
much as they express their love in poems, therefore he found out that the only way to
state his opinion was to satirise Petrarch’s poetry. In his poem he replicates the
comparison to natures and angels but to satirise the poem he shows that his mistress is
nothing compared to the beauty of nature and the exquisiteness of angels. Shakespeare
is trying to convey the fact that men make false convictions of love by making
elaborate claims.
Liz Lochhead feels that the commercial Valentine’s Day has gone too far in just
money, she is probably addressing that the Valentine tradition and custom has been
ruined. Liz Lochhead’s opinions were similar to Shakespeare’s because she thinks
men do not love their wives truthfully and Shakespeare thinks men do not love their
wives but they buy them gifts just for show. Shakespeare’s mistress is not as attractive
as she could be. This is confirmed in the phrases “If snow be white, why then her
breasts are dun” and “If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head”. In
Shakespearean times being very white and having blonde hair is were thought of as
being attractive; in the first phrase Shakespeare is saying that her mistress is not as
white as she could be and in the second phrase he is implying that she does not have
blonde hair and theoretically she would be unattractive without these feature; however
he does say that he loves her dearly regardless of her features. In the two poems, there
are elements of facts that suggest that Liz Lochhead and Shakespeare’s mistress are
not youthful and beautiful, we can tell this because they both seem to “keep out of
fashion”. Shakespeare’s mistress does not have white skin and she also so does not
have glorious blonde hair that typical young women do. In Liz Lochhead’s example
she seems to have experience the Valentine’s Gift and charms received every year and
now cannot be bothered to reply the continuous gestures and remarks that she
receives. Another clue of her age is in the sentence “I wouldn’t be eighteen again for
anything. And I’m glad I’m past it.” It would seem that she has had enough of her
teenage years. Liz Lochhead refuses to behave like a modern woman because she
prefers her lover to make his statement and verify it by saying how much he likes her
rather than using the consistent modern method of buying Valentine gifts and sweets.
She basically likes to be truthful and she believes that buying sweets does not prove
that her lover in is complete love with her.
Throughout the whole sonnet, Shakespeare compares his mistress to undesirable
things which would discourage his mistress if she read the sonnet. Shakespeare does
mention two sentences which summarises the whole sonnet. The phrases “And yet, by
heaven, I think my love as rare” and “As any belied with false compare.” These two
end lines mean that Shakespeare loves his mistress dearly even when he knows that
she is not as perfect as other beautiful creatures. He also knows that his love is
different to others and prefers it that way because it is sincere and makes truthful love
declaration. The word “My” at the beginning of each stanza in Shakespeare’s sonnet
suggest that Shakespeare loves his wife and he classifies her as his mistress, this
makes Shakespeare’s mistress seem like she is a possessive personal property. Liz
Lochhead’s tone gradually starts to become more vicious along the whole sonnet as
she mocks yet another typical and tedious Valentine’s gift. Near the end of the poem,
the words seem more straight forward of her expectations on a Valentine’s Day, she
makes a last comment at the end which means that she wouldn’t thank anyone for a
Valentine, on the contrary she would be displeased and distressed.
Liz Lochhead’s use of the word “you” in the poem suggest that she is referring to
someone, but I think she is probably targeting all males to advise them of the
commercial nature of the Valentine’s Day. Liz Lochhead would probably be seeking a
man such as Shakespeare because he is sincere in love and does not want to attribute
his love to his mistress’ beauty. Shakespeare is ideal for Liz Lochhead because he is
simple and does exactly what Liz Lochhead wants.