Abstract
Most sonnets are love poems, but a vast array of subjects can be embedded in sonnets. Silence can be considered a fascinating subject in both British and American Poetry as it is usually associated with philosophy and can arouse intense emotions in readers. In poetry, silence is subtly portrayed despite its negative impact on the moods of some poets. This study attempts to explore how silence is seen from different perspectives in relation to selected sonnets. Concepts of love, loss, death, solitude and nature are disclosed via the vivid portrayal of silence which is subject to both favourable and unfavourable contexts provided in poetry. The reign of silence has a profound impact on troubled mind, blissful solitude, pleasant moments and changes in attitudes. Through silence, poets reveal their innermost thoughts and feelings in three sonnets. This study aims to raise readers’ awareness of blessings and curses of silence, which can make them thought-provoking in analyzing forms of sonnets and figuring out meanings of silence via denotation and connotation. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were deployed in order to find out similarities and differences of three sonnets in terms of denotation and connotation. Based on the results, the most significant proportion of connotation was employed in ‘Sonnet-Silence’. Silence is twofold in each sonnet in that it serves as perfect harmony, sheer bliss or intense grief. Denotative meaning is misleading; it often contradicts connotative meaning. It was found that silence has different layers of meaning indeed. All the poets employ silence as a powerful tool in order to convey interesting messages to readers.
Highlights
The nature of silence and its impact on human mind are discussed in three sonnets namely, ‘Silence’, ‘Sonnet-Silence’ and ‘Silent Noon’ written by Thomas Hood, Edgar Allan Poe and Dante Gabriel Rossetti respectively
The aim of this study is to explore the nature of silence and its influence on the mind of each poet
Silence is portrayed in interesting ways in each sonnet which attempts to reveal the nature and uniqueness of silence
Summary
The nature of silence and its impact on human mind are discussed in three sonnets namely, ‘Silence’, ‘Sonnet-Silence’ and ‘Silent Noon’ written by Thomas Hood, Edgar Allan Poe and Dante Gabriel Rossetti respectively. Thomas Hood (1799-1845) was a gifted punster and professional man of letters [1] He was an English poet famous for comic verse which appeared at times to be almost a reflex action, serving as a defense against painful emotion [2]. His great love for silence related to nature is expressed in his poem titled ‘Silence.’ When he was young, he was destined to move away from the city to live with his relatives in Scotland. He had a close contact with nature related to silence which serves as a shelter from noise pollution common in cities
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