Sonnet 79 is one of 154 sonnets published by the English playwright and poet

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

in 1609. It is part of the Fair Youth sequence, and the second sonnet of the Rival Poet sequence.

Exegesis

This sonnet continues the discussion of the previous sonnet, Sonnet 78, regarding other poets who also write poems dedicated to the fair youth. Sonnet 79 argues that the other poet deserves no thanks, because the quality of his writing derives from the quality of his subject. The poet (line 2) claims that earlier he had exclusively had the young man's patronage, or that his verse had exclusively been devoted to the young man's virtue or honor. But now those of his verses that benefited from the young man's grace ("gracious numbers"), are "decayed" because the youth's favors are being spread out and because the muse is not healthy ("sick muse"), which is a strange description considering the first line of Sonnet 78: "So oft have I invoked thee for my Muse". The muse (line 4) makes room for another poet, or another muse. When the speaker desperately and unexpectedly refers (line 7) to the rival poet as "thy poet", it is clear that loyalties have shifted. The sestet turns the rival poet's effort to find appropriate metaphors into a materialistic endeavor ("He robs thee … he lends … he stole …") regarding merely skin-deep attractiveness ("found it in thy cheek”). The poet suggests a poem by a rival that has little to add, but proclaims the youth is as virtuous as his virtue, his cheek is as lovely as his cheek, and requires no “thanks".Hammond, Gerald. ''The Reader and the Young Man Sonnets''. Barnes & Noble. 1981. p. 99-100.

Structure

Sonnet 79 is an English or Shakespearean sonnet, which has three quatrains, followed by a final rhyming couplet. It follows the

rhyme scheme A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhymes at the end of each line of a poem or song. It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme; lines designated with the same letter all rhyme with each other. An example of the ABAB r ...

ABAB CDCD EFEF GG, and is composed in

iambic pentameter Iambic pentameter () is a type of metric line used in traditional English poetry and verse drama. The term describes the rhythm, or meter, established by the words in that line; rhythm is measured in small groups of syllables called " feet". "Iam ...

, a

metre The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its prefi ...

of five feet per line, with two syllables in each foot accented weak/strong. Most of the lines are examples of regular iambic pentameter, including the 2nd line:

 ×   /    ×  /  ×   /   ×   /  ×    / 
My verse alone had all thy gentle grace; (79.2)

:/ = ''ictus'', a metrically strong syllabic position. × = ''nonictus''. The 4th line may be scanned with a rightward movement of the first ictus (the resulting four-position figure, × × / /, is sometimes referred to as a ''minor ionic''):

×    ×  /    /    ×    /    × / ×    / 
And my sick Muse doth give another place. (79.4)

The meter calls for a 2-syllable pronunciation of "worthier" in the 6th line.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sonnet 079 British poems Sonnets by William Shakespeare