Sonnet 85 is one of
154 sonnets published by the English playwright and poet
William Shakespeare in 1609. It's part of the
Fair Youth sequence, and the eighth sonnet of the
Rival Poet
The Rival Poet is one of several characters, either fictional or real persons, featured in William Shakespeare's sonnets. The sonnets most commonly identified as the Rival Poet group exist within the Fair Youth group in sonnets 78– 86. Several ...
group.
Exegesis
This sonnet and the previous one (
Sonnet 84) expand on the idea of the poet's silence. The poet is tongue-tied observer, but recognizes the beautiful praises being expressed by a rival poet. The poet asserts that his own tacit, though inwardly felt devotion is worth even more. It is, paradoxically, a complexly eloquent sonnet supporting the superiority of unspoken love. The Muse (line 1) is holding her silence, and respectfully allowing the rival to speak. Or line 1 may be suggesting that the rival poet's flattery is rude, and it is a sense of manners that continues ("still") to maintain the poet in silence. The young man's character is being preserved (line 3) with beautiful fancy writing ("golden quill"). It was the job of the parish clerk to lead the congregation in saying aloud "amen"; an illiterate clerk might say "amen" too often (line 6). The poet's love maintains a place ahead of the others ("holds his rank before"). The couplet contextualizes the "breath" mentioned in
Sonnet 81
Sonnet 81 is one of 154 sonnets written by William Shakespeare, and published in a quarto titled ''Shakespeare's Sonnets'' in 1609. It is a part of the Fair Youth series of sonnets, and the fourth sonnet of the Rival Poet series.
Exegesis
The p ...
, and derogates words ("others for the breath of words respect") for being insubstantial as a breath, and favors the poets own silent thoughts. The effect the young man is having on the poets is placed in two extremes: The poets are either spinning out glorious words and phrases, or they are struck dumb. Both extremes are contained in the paradox of this elaborately worded sonnet that speaks in favor of silence.
[Hammond, Gerald. ''The Reader and the Young Man Sonnets''. Barnes & Noble. 1981. p. 107. ]
Structure
Sonnet 85 is an English or Shakespearean
sonnet
A sonnet is a poetic form that originated in the poetry composed at the Court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the Sicilian city of Palermo. The 13th-century poet and notary Giacomo da Lentini is credited with the sonnet's invention, ...
, which has three
quatrain
A quatrain is a type of stanza, or a complete poem, consisting of four lines.
Existing in a variety of forms, the quatrain appears in poems from the poetic traditions of various ancient civilizations including Persia, Ancient India, Ancient Greec ...
s, followed by a final rhyming
couplet
A couplet is a pair of successive lines of metre in poetry. A couplet usually consists of two successive lines that rhyme and have the same metre. A couplet may be formal (closed) or run-on (open). In a formal (or closed) couplet, each of the ...
. It follows the
rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG and is composed in
iambic pentameter, a
metre 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 1st line:
× / × / × / × / × /
My tongue-tied Muse in manners holds her still
This is followed in line 2) by a reversal of the accents in the word "richly":
× / × / × / / × × /
While comments of your praise richly compiled (85.1-2)
:/ = ''ictus'', a metrically strong syllabic position. × = ''nonictus''.
A reversal in the first foot occurs in line 9.
The meter calls for a few variant pronunciations: line 7's "spirit" can be pronounced as 1 syllable, and line 8's "refinèd" as 3.
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sonnet 085
British poems
Sonnets by William Shakespeare