Sonnet 104 is one of 154 sonnets written 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 ...

. It is a member of the Fair Youth sequence, in which the poet expresses his love towards a young man.

Synopsis

The youth does not seem to have grown older at all in the three years that the poet has known him. Still, age comes on imperceptibly. If so, future ages will have to know that beauty died before future ages were born. This sonnet deals with the destructive force of time as we grow older. The poet uses his friend as an example. He admires the fact that his friend has kept his youthful appearance over the time that he has known him.

Structure

Sonnet 104 is an English or Shakespearean sonnet. The English sonnet has three quatrains, followed by a final rhyming couplet. It follows the typical rhyme scheme of the form '' 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 type of poetic

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 ...

based on five pairs of metrically weak/strong syllabic positions. The 8th line exemplifies a regular iambic pentameter:

 ×     /    ×  /   ×    /      ×    /  ×     / 
Since first I saw you fresh, which yet are green. (104.8)

:/ = ''ictus'', a metrically strong syllabic position. × = ''nonictus''. The 13th line has a mid-line reversal ("hear this"):

 ×   /   ×    /     /     ×    ×  /   ×   / 
For fear of which, hear this thou age unbred: (104.13)

This is a metrical variation that is more commonly encountered at the beginning of the line, and there is one definite (line 10) and several potential (lines 3, 4, 9, 11, and 14) examples of initial reversals in the sonnet. The meter demands a two-syllable pronunciation for "dial" in line 9.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sonnet 104 British poems Sonnets by William Shakespeare