Sonnet I Poem by Sir John Suckling

Many of us have had the experience of being a slave to our passion for someone. Yet some passions burn themselves out, and after a while one wonders why we ever were passionate about him or her, though their looks have not changed. The answer to his riddle is that he did not love her! A perfect poem.

A magisterial comment on one of the mysteries of beauty. People we now think beautiful remain the same, and so do we, yet the attraction they have for us fails. The poem makes us stand in the poet's place and see and feel what he does.

What is Suckling's persona in Sonnet I? Is he wearing the mask of the ardent lover or the worldly skeptic? Remember that a poet chooses which mask he will wear as the speaker (persona) of his poem. What does the speaker say about the subject of the poem? It doesn't seem to me that Suckling is making a magisterial comment about beauty in the abstract. The speaker (who is an artifice devised by the poet) - is not in the poem as Sir John Suckling himself, but as a rather cynical man who no longer appreciates the 'red and white'-the woman's make-up no longer attracts him though she remains physically much the same as before! One might as well try to read the future of a great nation in the daily doings of its citizens! There seems to be no reason why our romantic feelings wane and die, or flare up again with the attraction of another woman enticing in 'red and white'!

Not bad. I don't share the theme, but like the style.

Interesting title, considering this is not a sonnet. My guess is with Mr. Harmon's; the title is in reference to something - perhaps a dislike of conventionality, or something similar. If anybody knows why this poem is titles Sonnet, please share. Otherwise, I like the style and idea behind this poem - I never thought of writing a poem about something like this.

beauty's empires, Have certain periods set, and hidden fates Fantastic conclusion. Thanks for sharing.

A typical classic... though am reading Sir John for the first time. Am not sure about the meter or the rhyme, it seems a little haywire but the meaning is fine, and the depth surfaces after a few reads. Interesting poem on refuted love and lost desires.

Have certain periods set.... thanks for sharing....

But mark the fate of faces; The red and white works now no more on me Than if it could not charm, or I not see. Beautiful, stylish, enjoyable. Thanks

Beauty is not all in life....more than that character and conduct are essential....good concept for a poem.. what kind of a sonnet is this? .....good work