Line By Line Analysis Flashcards
‘When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,’
The first line introduces a situation of considerable despair, self pity and isolation for the narrator of the poem.
Shakespeare uses synecdoche to bring the judgment of other people into the sonnet. When he mention’s ‘men’s eyes’ in the first line, he is not only saying that people are looking at the narrator contemptuously, but the eyes also stand in for the fact that they are being judged. This shows an awareness of social pressure and feelings of intense paranoia and anxiety.
Just as the eyes imply that there is some intelligent being making critical judgments of their value and who they are as a person, so too the phrase ‘in disgrace with fortune’ suggests that fortune itself is judging them. Rennaissance writers often played on the Roman religious belief that fortune was a goddess of luck by addressing fortune as if they were speaking to someone that controlled their lives. This concept is present here; the narrator is not only ‘in disgrace’ or suffering from 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.
‘Fortune’ and ‘eyes’ have their own intelligence and thus have the capacity to negatively affect the narrator’s life, which is expressed in the next seven lines of the sonnet.
‘I all alone beweep my outcast state,’
The narrator weeps over their isolated condition.
Word choice ‘I’ by itself shows isolation and ‘all alone’ further highlights this.
The use of intensifier ‘all’ shows how extreme their emotional state and loneliness is.
‘Outcast’ shows they are rejected by society, a pariah.
‘State’ refers to his condition. This links to other parts of the sonnet where Shakespeare repeats this word to show a contrasting shift in the narrator’s emotions.
‘And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,’
The narrator prays to heaven for relief, however their prayers are useless.
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 is feeling hopeless and is losing faith.
‘And look upon myself and curse my fate,’
The narrator is reflecting upon themselves and feels the outcome of their life is so dissapointing that they are cursing it.
‘Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,’
They are comparing themselves and would rather have someone else’s life.
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.
‘Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope,’
Shakespeare uses the diacope of the word ‘man’ to express strong emotion and draw attention to this word. This sonnet is thought to have been written to a male love interest.
‘With what I most enjoy contented least,’
Here the narrator shows symtpoms of depression. Thye hate everything they used to enjoy and are unable to feel pleasure. A pleasurable distraction could offer some relief from their troubles, however their negative feelings go too deep to be intervened.
Shakespeare often uses the word ‘contented’ in contexts where his narrator’s traditional comforts and pleasures have failed them and are reflecting on it with nostalgia.
‘Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,’
‘Yet’ is the moment of the volta. This has a note of hope and suggests there is a turning point, an end to the darkness.
‘Almost’ is the second note of hope. To despise onesel is the ultimate self hatred, however with the thought of his loved one it is suggested there is a possibility he can be okay.
‘These thoughts’ link to the previous sad reflections. This also shows they have been obsessively immersed in their thoughts.
‘Haply I think on thee and then my state,’
This is a significant change in contrast with their previous attitude.
‘State’ is a linked rhyme and shows a juxtaposition of previous misery with deep joy and happiness.
‘I think on thee’ shows when they think of their loved ones they escape from their horrible thoughts. Links back to and contrasts with how they were immersed in their negative thoughts - ‘in these thoughts’.
‘(Like to the lark at break of day arising’
Use of imagery – simile comparing the narrator to a bird.
‘Break of day’ symbolises hope. Could also symbolise ressurection.
‘Arising’ shows they are getting up from a low point, suggests the end of their depressive episode.
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 he lacks and feels 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 show the narrators euphoric bliss, he did not mind accepting the symbolic resources of his culture.
‘From sullen Earth) sings hymns at heavens gates,’
The gloomy earth full of pain has been left behind. Their previous loss of heaven has been restored. Suggests a newfound faith in god, or that they have found peace without god but with a human.
Unlike in line two, where the narrators’ prayers are ‘bootless’, the second mention of ‘heaven’ has a more literal sense to it, where the lark ‘sings hymns at heaven’s gate’. This suggests that through the power of love, the narrator’s prayers are heard in the second half of the poem and that the quality of his relationship with the christian god depends on the remembrance and thought of his love.
‘For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings,’
The narrator may not have the social status or wealth he desires, however their love offers them a different form of riches. This line echoes a complaint earlier in the poem where the narrator wishes themselves ‘like to one more rich in hope.’ Although ‘rich’ is used in a metaphorical sense in the earlier line, the resonance between ‘rich’ and ‘wealth’ suggests they feel there is a strong difference between the kind of wealth love brings and money itself.
‘That then I scorn to change my state with kings.’
The narrator is so content and satisfied with the almost ecstatic state his love brings him to that he wouldn’t even give him up to be a king – a position with very high social status and rich in wealth. Their contentment here contrasts with their desire to be someone else and the envy of those with more hopes, money and beauty than them.
