essay Flashcards
intro
‘Sonnet 29’ by William Shakespeare is a sonnet that goes into thoughtful detail about the experience of a character. Shakespearean sonnets were written during the Renaissance, a time of great artistic development. They almost always followed rules in terms of meter, rhyme scheme and the subject of love and the rewarding ways it makes us feel. However, sonnet 29 in many ways breaks with these conventions in order to highlight the depth of the narrators experience. Through effective use of poetic features such as volts, synecdoche, word choice, imagery and repetition, Shakespeare engages the reader in the experience of the narrator and teaches a timeless lesson about the redemptive qualities of true love.
para 1 - ‘when in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes’
The sonnet begins with a situation of considerable despair, self pity and isolation for the narrator.
The sonnet begins with a situation of considerable despair, self pity and isolation for the narrator. Shakespeare lets the reader know that the narrator’s luck has turned bad and that they are being judged by society when he writes the first line; ‘When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,’ By opening the poem with the conditional structure ‘when,’ Shakespeare lets the reader know that the next seven lines, a cascade of repetitive complaints, isn’t in response to a specific event but that the narrator is reflecting upon something which they often suffer from. This suggests they often feel like an outcast, and often feel judged by society. Shakespeare uses synecdoche to bring the judgment of other people into the sonnet. When he mentions ‘men’s eyes,’ he is not only saying that people are looking at the narrator contemptuously, but the eyes also stand in for the fact they are being judged. This shows an awareness of social pressure accompanied by intense feelings of paranoia and anxiety. Just as the eyes imply that there is some intelligent being making critical judgements of their value and who they are as a person, so too does the phrase ‘in disgrace with fortune’ suggest that fortune itself is judging them. Renaissance writers often played on the Roman religious belief that fortune was a goddess of luck by addressing fortune as if they were talking to someone that controlled their lives. This concept is present here; the narrator is not ‘in disgrace’ or suffering a financial loss, but they are ‘in disgrace with fortune,’ meaning fortune has power over their life – the power to give, and then withdraw grace. Shakespeare expresses the melancholy and the lack of control the narrator has by giving ‘fortune’ and ‘eyes’ their own intelligence, and thus the capacity to negatively affect the narrators life.
para 2 - ‘and trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,’
Furthermore, Shakespeare intensifies the extremity of the narrator’s situation by exploring their separation from religion, and God himself.
Furthermore, Shakespeare intensifies the extremity of the narrator’s situation by exploring their separation from religion, and God himself. The narrator, in their despair, prays to heaven for relief, however, their prayers are useless; ‘And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,’ In poetry, heaven is both a literal and symbolic place. In this sonnet, Shakespeare is referring to the Christian paradise. The word choice ‘deaf’ gives intelligence to heaven, letting the reader know that the heavens could listen to them but have lost the respect and patience to pay attention to them. To further intensify their rejection by a powerful being, Shakespeare not only uses the word heaven in reference to the Christian paradise, but it is also used as a metonym for God himself. The word choice ‘bootless’ is a reference to a now mostly archaic use of the word ‘boot’ which connotes something profitable and useful. However, this is referring to atonement – seeking forgiveness for one’s sins – as Shakespeare often uses the word in a religious context to suggest failed prayers. This shows the narrator no longer has hopes for the promised relief the afterlife will bring and feeling rejected by God.
para 3 - ‘wishing me like to one more rich in hope,’
Importantly, each of the complaints the narrator has lets the reader know that the narrator’s social status, wealth, appearance and skill has great control over them and that perhaps defining themselves in relation to these aspects of life is what results in their self pity and melancholy.
Importantly, each of the complaints the narrator has lets the reader know that the narrator’s social status, wealth, appearance and skill has great control over them and that perhaps defining themselves in relation to these aspects of life is what results in their self pity and melancholy. When Shakespeare writes, in the second stanza; ‘Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,’ he lets the reader know the narrator is comparing themselves to their peers and is envious of their positive attitudes towards their futures. The word choice ‘hope’ connotes two concepts here. In one sense, Shakespeare is referring to someone with happy expectations of a bright future and the narrator is envious of their ability to be so positive. However, it also refers to wealth. This reference is very old-fashioned and during the Renaissance one would refer to someone who is expected to inherit a lot of money when his father dies as someone with ‘hopes’. Here the word choice ‘hope’ links with the financial language used throughout the sonnet. The narrator’s envy shows they feel their future is bleak and don’t see their situation improving.
para 4 - ‘(like to the lark at break of day arising’
However, Sonnet 29 is not only a sonnet about despair and isolation; it is also about love and the way that it soothes and repairs the troubles we experience.
However, Sonnet 29 is not only a sonnet about despair and isolation; it is also about love and the way that it soothes and repairs the troubles we experience. In the third stanza, we see a significant change in the narrator’s previous bitter attitude. When they reflect upon the love they share with their beloved, their general wellbeing is improved. Shakespeare describes an ecstatic experience for the narrator; ‘(Like to the lark at break of day arising’. Shakespeare refers to more than 60 species of bird in his completed works. Birds frequently symbolise the beauty and musicality of poetry, however the species of bird matters too. In sonnet 29, the lark mentioned is a morning bird, and Shakespeare often uses it as a time-keeper, a bird whose habits help humans be organised in the absence of global time-keeping devices. Thus by comparing the narrator to a lark in sonnet 29, he is suggesting that they have achieved a sense of organization and standards of society which they lack and feel pressured by in the first eight lines. Shakespeare is also using the lark as a symbol of prayer as its song seems to rise into the heavens. (This links forward to ‘sings hymns at heavens gates’). The use of this simile is proverbial and although sonnet 29 is unique from other sonnets, it is striking that Shakespeare turned to such a traditional, almost cliched symbol. This shows that to express the narrator’s euphoric bliss, he did not mind accepting the symbolic resources of his culture. When thinking of this young man, Shakespeare ompares the narrator’s mood to an exalted, religious song that rises to the heavens above. This contrasts with their previous ‘bootless cries’ and shows that this love has the power to compensate for the narrator’s imperfections, insults, and separation from god. They may not be in the social position they wish to be in or have the wealth they desire and their prayers may not be heard by god, but for them, this love offers a different kind of riches.
para 5 - rhyme and structure
Aside from use of word choice, synecdoche, metonym and imagery, Shakespeare creates variation in the rhythm of the sonnet using trochee and structure.
Aside from use of word choice, synecdoche, metonym and imagery, Shakespeare creates variation in the rhythm of the sonnet using trochee and structure. These techniques are effective in portraying the narrators intense negative emotions. In the first stanza, the use of trochee; ‘deaf heaven,’ creates a variation in the established rhythm which draws out the despair of his rejection by god. Losing ones faith at this time in history was seen as a very serious thing; this means the narrator feels they have lost their place in heaven which would lead to an intense fear of death. This shows that they are so hopeless in their abandonment that even the promised relief from worldly struggles of afterlife doesn’t bring any comfort to them. The use of trochee here intensifies the narrator’s loneliness and misery in their abandonment. In addition, Shakespeare is usually very careful with how he organise his poems so that when a unit of rhyme ends a grammatical unit also ends. However, Sonnet 29 is one long sentence and embodies an anxious, obsessive energy and thus breaks with the conventional structure of the Shakespearean sonnet. This suggests the narrator is so upset and disturbed that they have lost control of themselves and their language and are rambling anxiously.
conclusion
Shakespearean sonnets are among the most celebrated sequences of poems in English language, and Sonnet 29 provides various significant illustrations of why this is. Shakespeare makes effective use of poetic features to explore the sonnet’s central concern. We have seen how an unconventional structure and variation in rhythm, for example, the trochee in the first quatrain and the absence of grammatical breaks, have a powerful impact in portraying the negative emotions felt by the narrator. And the archetypal ‘turn’ that Shakespeare establishes in the third quatrain allows him to convey a classic lesson about the redemptive qualities of love, transforming a melancholy lament on the overwhelming pressures of social status and wealth into a glorious celebration of the sonnet itself.
