Shakespeare's Sonnets
... to come/ If it were filled with your most high deserts?”(Willen, 19). The poet wants to tell the young man that future generations will read his poetry about the man; however it will not do the man’s beauty justice. If the young man does not have a child, then the poet’s poetry will have nothing to prove it to be true. In the resolving couplet the poet tells the man that if he had a child then he would have lived twice in body, and twice in his poetry. This is representative of the duality of man, and how he can live another life through his child. “But were some childe of yours alive that time,/ You should live twise in it, and in my rime,”(Willen, 19). After this sonnet, the beginning is considered to have ended, and the middle section of the sonnet cycle began. The poet still continues to urge the young man to marry and have children; however the majority of the themes are not based on these two subjects. Themes about time are prevalent; love and death are often described as ultimate issues concerning man. The middle is considered to be roughly sonnets 18-126. This is an estimation because the cycle is not in the definite order that Shakespeare intended for them to be. This entire section still addresses the young man, however not every sonnet addresses a second person. In some sonnets the poet simply talks about his emotions regarding the world, but almost all of them have the themes of love, time, or death included. (Wilson, 55). In the middle: The relationship between the poet and the young man falls into three distinct phases,(Winny, 35). The first of the phases is happy assurance, where the poet feels content and comfortable around the young man. However, throughout this section the relationship deteriorates, as all relationships do. The poet begins to feel less secure, and with the absence of the young man the poet grows farther apart. The young man seems to be deliberately mean to the poet, and the poet accepts the attention with patience. In the third phase of their relationship, the poet seems to be apologetic for some wrong action he performed against the young man. He apologizes for his unkindness, which reminds readers of the unkindness that the young man exhibited in earlier sonnets. Where love, death, and time are prevalent in this section, other themes such as beauty and social status are also included. “Let those who are in favour of their stars/ Of public honour and proud titles boast,”(Willen, 27). This addresses the young man’s nobility, and the poet is leading the reader to believe that nobility is dismissive. Fame and royalty are mediocre issues when put in comparison with issues concerning his love for the young man. The poet tries to persuade his readers of this by the imagery of the warrior. He says that the fame of the undefeated warrior comes to an end with the warrior’s first defeat. The poet states firmly in the resolving couplet “Then happy I, that love and am beloved/ Where I may not remove, nor be removed,”(Willen, 27), which shows the young man that the simplicity of the poet’s love for him is more important than nobility and fame. Sonnet 40 describes a ripple in their friendship; some critics believe that the events surrounding this sonnet are represented as the young man stealing away the poet’s mistress. The poet tries to cope with the reality of the deception and loss he feels about the events. “Then if for my love, thou my love receivest,/ I cannot blame thee, for my love thou usest,”(Willen, 42). The poet is mature in age and knows that holding on to his anger and loss is only self destructive. The poet knows that forgiveness is the only path he can take forward. “I doe forgive thy robb’rie gentle theefe,”(Willen, 42). The trouble is that it is easy to say he forgives the friend, but more difficult to actually forgive him. The poets states that a lover’s wrong does much more damage than an enemies strike, to the heart. The resolving couplet is said to be considered weak, but that giving strength to the argument of the poet. Time is a popular theme for sonnets, and Shakespeare devotes many sonnets to this theme. Sonnet 60 actually takes a metaphor from Ovid’s Metamorphoses about the erosion of pebbles into dust to describe the passing of time (Winny, 43). “Like as the waves make towards the pibled shore,/ So do our minuites hasten to their end,”(Willen, 62). The poet continues on to make the reader feel like everything that is alive will die eventually. A sense of hopelessness and mortality is expressed from the poet. The resolving couplet declares that his poetry will outlast time, “And yet to times in hope, my verse shall stand,”(Willen, 62.) Sonnet 64 also discusses the destructive nature of time, and its eventual consumption of the young man’s beauty and charm. “Ruine hath taught me thus to ruminate/ That time will come and take my love away,”(Willen, 66). In the resolving couplet of 64, the poet concludes he must weep for his beloved’s mortality. Death is a prominent theme in this section of the sonnet cycle. In sonnet 71 the poet talks about when he, himself, dies he wishes for the young man not to think about him. This might seem odd, but the poet expresses his love for the young man by saying if his memory causes the man mental anguish, then he does not want to be in his friend’s thoughts. “No longer mourne for me when I am dead,” “If thinking on me then should make you woe,”(Willen, 73). Sonnet 74 also discusses the poet’s death; the poet is trying to offer comforting words of assurance upon his demise. “But be contented hen that fell arrest,/ With out all bayle shall carry me away,” “The earth can have but earth, which is his due,/ my spirit is thine the better part of me,”(Willen, 76). The poet claims that his love which resides in his spirit belongs to the young man. His resolving couplet declares that the body is not what is important, but what it held and created. Their relationship seems to be going in a downward spiral, the poet tries to tell himself that he does not love the young man anymore. Depression seems to grip the mentality of the poet, as he is experiencing loss and deception. In sonnet 89 he recognizes that the relationship may come to an end because the youth will abandon him. “I will acquaintance strangle and looke strange,” where the first part of the line refers to cutting off communication with the youth, and the latter part means looking like a stranger(Winny, 73). The youth’s absence provides the poet with a feeling of loss, and in the following sonnet the poet describes his insecurities with the reality of that loss. “If thou wilt leave me, do not leave me last,”(Willen, 92). The last line in sonnet 89 seems to be the precursor to the first line of sonnet 90. This is an example of the necessity to look at the sonnets preceding and following the individual sonnet. The two are connected, and the reader must be aware of this to gain the full meaning of the theme of loss the poet wants to convey. The poet still loves the young man, but the man seems to be growing apart. The poet is a firm believer that regardless of the young man’s feelings, his love for the man is constant and will never change. He expresses this in many sonnets. In sonnet 115, he seems surprised that his love for the young man still grows; he had thought that it was impossible to love him any more than he did. “Might I not then say now I love you best,/ When I was certaine ore in-certainty,”(Willen, 117). The sonnet following 115 is famous for its message about love’s constancy. The sonnet describes how lovers should not waver in the face of change. He states that love is not true love when it alters in the face of change. “Admit impediments, love is not love/ Which alters when it alteration findes,”(Willen, 118). Sonnet 117, though, describes love’s inconstancy, so these sonnets must be read together to gain a fuller meaning of them. In this sonnet the poet seems to ask for forgiveness for his negligence of the young man. The poet claims that it was a deliberate test to see the young man’s constancy. “Forgot upon your dearest love to call./ Whereto al bonds do tie me day by day,”(Willen, 119). Love is obviously a major theme in all sonnet cycles. It is almost a requirement to be in the sonnet cycle; almost all were about love. The middle ends with sonnet 126, which actually has a different rhyme scheme than the majority of his sonnets. It is a fitting end that signifies the end of his relationship with the young man. (Wilson, 75). The theme of this sonnet is time versus nature. The poet believes that with the young man’s growing age, his beauty has faded. Nature has kept him from growing ugly for as long as she could, but now she must let go. “If Nature (soveraine misters over wrack)/ As thou goest onwards still will plucke thee backe,”(Willen, 128). The ending sonnets to this cycle are considered to be sonnet...