Identify the allusions Judith Viorst uses in "A Wedding Sonnet For the Next Generation." What is the purpose of using these allusions, and what...

In Judith Viorst's poem, "A Wedding Sonnet For the Next
Generation," the author alludes to several famous sonnets, writing some of her lines to
mirror those of poets Shakespeare, Yeats and Elizabeth Barrett
Browning.

Viorst's first line, "He might compare you to a
summer's day" alludes to Sonnet 18, by William Shakespeare who
writes:

Shall
I compare thee to a summer's
day?

In the third and fourth
lines of Viorst's poem, she has written:

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She might, with depth and breadth and many
sighs,

Count all the ways she loves you, way by
way.

These lines mirror
another famous poet and her sonnet: Elizabeth Barrett Browning's
Sonnet 43. Browning's poem reads:

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How do I love thee? Let me count the
ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and
height...

Finally, lines five
and six of Judith Viorst's poem are:

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He might sit when you're old and full of
sleep

He'll cherish still the pilgrim soul in
you.

These lines
are very similar to William Butler Yeats' poem entitled, "When You
Are Old." The lines he has written
are:

When you
are old and grey and full of sleep,

But one man loved the
pilgrim soul in you...

Viorst
uses these allusions to draw a comparison between the sonnets of the "old masters" to a
new kind of poem "for the next generation" of lovers. I would infer from her poem's
conclusion that "your mother or father's sonnets" won't do for a more modern audience.
The concept of romance has changed over time. Words of undying devotion may not be what
lovers are looking for today. Viorst makes it clear that instead of words that praise
one's beauty or attest to undying devotion, the modern-day poem (for she
doesnot write a sonnet) should include "plainer" words
like:

Respect.
Trust. Comfort. Home.

In a
more modern context, these are important elements to a more realistic relationship:
these are the promises that members of today's generation looks for from a sweetheart or
lover. Their importance, as seen by the author, is shown in the presentation of each
word: capitalized and followed by a period. They are not part of a one-size-fits-all
package: each element stands on its own, each one equally
important.

The only dangerous assumption that
Viorst makes in using these allusions is that her audience will be familiar with the
sonnets she is alluding to. If Viorst's audience
does not know the sonnets she has
referred to, they may well miss her point. In that case, the reader will simply read a
poem with a regular  href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhyme_scheme">rhyme
scheme: ABBA,ABBA, ABBA,
which is written in  href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iambic_pentameter">iambic pentameter.
However, he/she may well not understand the concept
of change that is demonstrated by
comparing a timeless sonnet to a modern poem in hopes of having the reader understand
that things are different than they were during Shakespeare, Yeats or Browning's
time—that rapturous poems with promises of love in "days of old," may not win the heart
of one in love today.