Why is Memorizing the Sonnet harder than Memorizing Beowulf

Today my recitation did not go as smooth as I thought it would. I immediately thought that memorizing the sonnet is harder than memorizing Beowulf after trying to memorizing the first four lines of Sonnet 18. One of the reason is that Shakespeare uses a lot if unusual grammatical structures. For example, Shakespeare may alternate the usual structure of subject plus a verb to a clause that starts with a conjunction or a preposition. He used this to gain parallelism of the sentence structures. Another reason is the usage of really formal or old-fashioned words. I need to spend more time trying to define the words and apply it to the general meaning of the whole sonnet.I think it is harder for me to understand without the basic and direct sentence structure. Another reason is the lack of a story plot or story line. For Beowulf, other than the quite straightforward language, there is a story line that conveys its details in order. Conversely, in Sonnet 18, there is generally no story line that I can make it into a continuous “slideshow” of images in my head. It really helps me memorize. I think that a reason for me to do not as smoothly is my lack of sleep. Sleep can really determine the efficiency and amount a person can memorize. In conclusion, I think the many grammar and rhetoric usages combined with formal English words is the reason why it is harder than the relatively modern-day English Beowulf.