IJCH 2016 Vol.2(3): 113-116 ISSN: 2382-6177
doi: 10.18178/ijch.2016.2.3.048

Mimesis in William Shakespeare’s Sonnets

Roselyn Tundag-Bustos
Abstract—William Shakespeare is considered as one of the greatest Rennaisance poets, writers, and playwrights. He presents on his works vivid impressions of human temperament that are timeless and universal. Using qualitative- descriptive discourse analysis, this study determines mimetically the realities depicted in Shakespeare’s selected sonnets. It also delves into an in- depth analysis of the language used to paint concrete impressions of human activities through the formalistic critical analysis. After a thorough investigation, it is found out that Shakespeare’s selected sonnets reveal universal themes of admiration, rejection, unconditional love, longing, desire, and unrequited love-- unleashed through the figurative language used such as metaphor, simile, personification, symbol, hyperbaton, hyperbole, oxymoron and metonymy. From these vision or themes, life’s realities are extracted. With these findings, it is concluded that William Shakespeare’s sonnets reveal mimetic signification of reality.

Index Terms—Figurative, mimetic, realities, signification, and temperament.

Roselyn Tundag-Bustos is with the Cebu Technological University, Philippines (e-mail: dzmj143@yahoo.com).

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Cite: Roselyn Tundag-Bustos, "Mimesis in William Shakespeare’s Sonnets," International Journal of Culture and History vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 113-116, 2016.

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