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 natio ...
's Sonnet 34 is included in what is referred to as the
Fair Youth sequence, and it is the second of a briefer sequence (
Sonnet 33 through
Sonnet 36) concerned with a betrayal of the poet committed by the young man, who is addressed as a personification of the sun.
Structure
Sonnet 34 is an English or Shakespearean sonnet, composed of three
quatrains and a final
couplet. It follows the form's typical
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. It is written 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. Line 12 exemplifies a regular iambic pentameter:
× / × / × / × / × /
To him that bears the strong offence's loss.
:/ = ''ictus'', a metrically strong syllabic position. × = ''nonictus''.
It is possible that for Shakespeare the couplet embodied a true rhyme (as indicated by the Quarto spelling: ''sheeds/deeds'') even though seemingly the singular ''shed'' would not have made a true rhyme with ''deed''.
Source and analysis
Following Horace Davis,
Stephen Booth notes the similarity of this poem in theme and imagery to
Sonnet 120.
Gerald Massey
Gerald Massey (; 29 May 1828 – 29 October 1907) was an English poet and writer on Spiritualism and Ancient Egypt.
Early life
Massey was born near Tring, Hertfordshire in England to poor parents. When little more than a child, he was made t ...
finds an analogue to lines 7–8 in ''
The Faerie Queene
''The Faerie Queene'' is an English epic poem by Edmund Spenser. Books IIII were first published in 1590, then republished in 1596 together with books IVVI. ''The Faerie Queene'' is notable for its form: at over 36,000 lines and over 4,000 sta ...
'', 2.1.20.
In 1768,
Edward Capell
Edward Capell (11 June 171324 February 1781) was an English Shakespearian critic.
Biography
He was born at Troston Hall () in Suffolk.
Through the influence of the Duke of Grafton he was appointed to the office of deputy-inspector of plays ...
altered line ten by replacing the word "loss" with the word "cross". This alteration was followed by
Edmond Malone
Edmond Malone (4 October 174125 May 1812) was an Irish Shakespearean scholar and editor of the works of William Shakespeare.
Assured of an income after the death of his father in 1774, Malone was able to give up his law practice for at first p ...
in 1783, and was generally accepted in the 19th and 20th Centuries. More recent editors do not favor this as a speculation that introduces a metaphor of the young man as a Christ figure, something that Shakespeare did not do here or elsewhere; the idea, as it would be portrayed by the young man in the context of this sonnet, does not fit well with Gospel accounts.
Booth considers that the repetition of the word suggests the persistence of "loss".
Interpretations
*
Robert Lindsay, for the 2002
compilation album, ''
When Love Speaks
''When Love Speaks'' is a compilation album that features interpretations of William Shakespeare's sonnets – some spoken, some set to music – and excerpts from his plays by famous actors and musicians, released under EMI Classics in April ...
'' (
EMI Classics
EMI Classics was a record label founded by Thorn EMI in 1990 to reduce the need to create country-specific packaging and catalogues for internationally distributed classical music releases. After Thorn EMI demerged in 1996, its recorded mus ...
)
Notes
References
*Baldwin, T. W. (1950). ''On the Literary Genetics of Shakspeare's Sonnets''. University of Illinois Press, Urbana.
*Fineman, Joel (1984). ''Shakespeare's Perjur'd Eye: Representations''. pp. 59–86.
*Hubler, Edwin (1952). ''The Sense of Shakespeare's Sonnets''. Princeton University Press, Princeton.
*Schoenfeldt, Michael (2007). ''The Sonnets: The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare's Poetry''. Patrick Cheney, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
External links
*
Paraphrase and analysis (Shakespeare-online)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sonnet 034
British poems
Sonnets by William Shakespeare