Sonnet 39 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.
Structure
Sonnet 39 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, ...
, composed of 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 and 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 ...
for a total of fourteen lines. 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 rh ...
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". "Iambi ...
, 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 pref ...
based on five pairs of syllables accented weak/strong. The second line is one example of a line of regular iambic pentameter:
× / × / × / × / × /
O, how thy worth with manners may I sing
:/ = ''ictus'', a metrically strong syllabic position. × = ''nonictus''.
The fifth line can be
scanned with an initial reversal:
/ × × / x / × / × /
Even for this, let us divided live, (39.5)
Themes
Sonnet 39 continues with sonnets 35–37 the theme of the poet and the young man being united in love as one person and the suggestion of being separated (twain): “How can I praise you properly when we are so combined? I would be praising, in a sense, myself.” The poet suggests that a separation will help him praise the young man while thinking of his admirable aspects in absence. Beginning with line 9 the poet addresses not the youth, but “absence”: “Oh absence, you would be torment, except that you provide a pleasant opportunity to think on love, and, absence, you teach ''one'' to be not solitary but to be ''two,'' by praising the young man where I am, though he continues to be elsewhere (hence).”
[Shakespeare, William. Duncan-Jones, Katherine. ''Shakespeare’s Sonnets''. Bloomsbury Arden 2010. p. 188 .]
Notes
Further reading
External links
Analysis
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sonnet 039
British poems
Sonnets by William Shakespeare