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The Sonnets of William Shakespeare

Sonnet 18

Sonnet 130

   By William Shakespeare

   Published in The Riverside Shakespeare, 1974

In the early 1500s English poets began experimenting with the sonnet, a type of poem first used in Italy in the fourteenth century. Thomas Wyatt (c. 1503–1542) and Henry Howard (Earl of Surrey; c. 1517–1547) introduced the form to England by translating the sonnets of Italian poet Petrarch (1304–1374) and by writing sonnets of their own. Though the English language has very different sounds and rhythms than does Italian, these poets believed that their native language was creative enough to be used effectively in the sonnet form. In time the sonnet became one of the major poetic forms in English literature.

"But thy eternal summer shall not fade."

The structure of the sonnet presents several challenges to the poet. A sonnet consists of only fourteen lines, and it follows a strict rhyme scheme (the pattern of rhymes in a poem) and rhythm. Yet within these boundaries the poem expresses a completely developed thought or emotion. It also allows the poet to demonstrate his brilliance in constructing complex and witty conceits, or complex extended metaphors, that fit within the parameters of the form. The Italian or Petrarchan sonnet consists of an eight-line stanza, or group of lines that form a section of a poem, called an octet and a six-line stanza (sestet), in iambic pentameter. This means that each line contains ten syllables, with accents falling on the second syllable of each word or phrase. The octave tells a simple story or asks a question, and the sestet provides the resolution. English poets also used iambic pentameter, but they developed a sonnet form using three quatrains (four-line stanzas) followed by a rhymed couplet of two lines. Though Shakespeare was not the first to use this form, it became known as the English, or Shakespearean, sonnet.

The English sonnet also deviated from the Italian in its rhyme scheme. In the Italian sonnet, the octave rhymed abbaabba and the sestet rhymed cdecde, cdccdc, or cdedce. The English sonnet, however, followed a different pattern: abab cdcd efef gg. One significant effect of this rhyme scheme was that it accentuated the closing couplet, which acted as an epigram—a brief but pointed concluding remark—to the poem.

The sonnet was introduced into England at a time of intense literary innovation. Philip Sidney (1554–1599), for example, felt that conventional English poetry was too stiff and formal to convey passionate emotion, and he suggested that English writers should devote their energies to new themes and forms that could better convey strong feelings. In his Apology for Poetry, written during the 1580s, he defended poetry against critics who dismissed it as a less serious type of writing than history or philosophy. This work became the most influential literary essay of the Elizabethan Era, the period associated with the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603) that is often considered to be a golden age in English history. Sidney experimented with many types of poems himself, among them the sonnet.

The first sonnet sequence in English, Astrophel and Stella, was composed by Sidney in honor of a young noblewoman with whom he had fallen in love, but who had married someone else. A sonnet sequence consists of several individual poems about a general subject that are arranged in such a way that, read in order, they create a basic narrative or thematic pattern. In Astrophel and Stella, a young man, Astrophel (from the Greek words for star and lover) expresses the complexity of the feelings he holds for his beloved, Stella. Individual poems deal with such themes as the struggle between reason and passion, and the conflict between ideal love and physical desire, while the sequence as a whole traces the development and deepening of Astrophel's love. Astrophel and Stella, which circulated among London's leading young poets in manuscript form, was widely admired, and many of his contemporaries emulated Sidney by composing sonnet sequences of their own.

Primarily a writer for the stage, William Shakespeare (1564–1616) was also one of England's greatest poets. He wrote his plays in unrhymed iambic pentameter, a poetic form known as blank verse that had become popularized for the stage by playwright Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593). In addition to this dramatic verse, Shakespeare also wrote in other poetic forms. In 1593 and 1594, when city officials closed theaters because of an outbreak of plague, Shakespeare occupied himself with writing two long narrative poems, Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece. Composed for his patron, the earl of Southampton, these works confirmed Shakespeare's status as one of the leading poets of the time.

During this same period Shakespeare also began work on his sonnet sequence, which was published in 1609. Its 154 poems form an extended dialogue between the poet and two mysterious characters. Many of the poems in the first group of 126 sonnets address a young male friend to whom the poet feels a close attraction, while the later group addresses a "dark lady." Though the sequence does not create an actual narrative, it does show that the poet cares deeply about the youth and may even be sexually attracted to him. But the author is also jealous of the young man's attentions to another poet, and is upset that the youth is having an affair with the author's mistress. The later poems in the sequence suggest that this mistress is the dark lady.

Scholars are not certain whether Shakespeare intended these poems to be autobiographical. Many believe that he received a commission from a rich patron to write a series of poems to the patron's son, urging the young man to settle down, marry, and father children. Indeed, seventeen of the early poems in the sequence focus directly on this theme. But in the view of many scholars, the sonnets express such deep and intimate feelings that they could not have been merely a paid assignment for a writer who needed additional income. Even if Shakespeare had accepted a commission, the resulting sonnets, in the opinion of many scholars, must also have had a more personal inspiration.

When the sonnets were published, the book included a dedication to "Mr. W. H.," the "onlie begetter" of the poems. The identity of Mr. W. H. has not been proven, but many believe it was Shakespeare's patron, Henry Wriothesley (Earl of Southampton; 1573–1624). Many of those who consider the sonnet sequence autobiographical believe that Wriothesley was the beautiful youth to whom many of the sonnets are addressed. Others speculate that the poems were written to the young courtier William Herbert, who later became the earl of Pembroke. (A courtier is a person who serves or participates in the royal court or household as the king's or queen's advisor, officer, or attendant.) Herbert's father had been an important supporter of the theater, and the younger Herbert later became Shakespeare's patron. Some scholars believe it likely that Shakespeare was sexually attracted to the young man of the sonnets; the poems, they point out, use erotic language and sexual imagery. But other scholars disagree, arguing that such language was commonly used in Elizabethan times to express close friendships that did not necessarily have a sexual nature.

Various theories about the identity of the dark lady have also been suggested. One candidate, according to Michael Wood's Shakespeare, is Emilia Lanier, daughter of a famous family of royal musicians originally from Venice. Another possibility is Mary Fitton, a maid of honor to Elizabeth I (1533–1603) who became Herbert's mistress. It is not known whether Shakespeare did in fact have a mistress. He had married at age eighteen and fathered three children, but he lived in London apart from his wife for most of his adult life. If the poet did have an adulterous affair, scholars have pointed out, the troubled feelings he expressed in the late sonnets indicate that the relationship caused him some guilt and shame in addition to happiness.

Whether the sonnets were autobiographical or fictional, they gave Shakespeare the opportunity to work in a more intimate literary form than did drama, which was meant for public performance. In his sonnets Shakespeare was able to expand the possibilities of this form by experimenting with, and also making fun of, the basic conventions of love poetry. Traditionally sonnets explored the theme of unrequited love. Poets demonstrated the depth of their feelings through the creation of a witty conceit. In many ways the sonnet was as much about the cleverness of the poet as it was about his devotion to his beloved.

Shakespeare was well aware of these traditions, which he utilized himself but also questioned. Sonnets 18 and 130, for example, both use the poetic strategy of comparing the loved one to the ideal beauty of nature. But in Sonnet 18, Shakespeare gently mocks this type of comparison by showing that it is inadequate. The beauty of his beloved, he says, far surpasses anything in nature, which is always changeable. The poem begins by trying out the conventions of love poetry, then goes on to demonstrate the limits of these conventions.

Sonnet 130 is even more direct in its challenge of standard poetic devices. Instead of presenting his mistress's beauty in the usual ideal terms, Shakespeare writes that her features are anything but ideal. Elizabethan tastes considered fair skin, rosy cheeks, red lips, blue eyes, and blond hair as the ideal of beauty. But the poet's beloved is dark with wiry hair, dark eyes, and pale lips. Instead of a melodious voice, she speaks like a normal woman; instead of floating along as gracefully as a goddess, she walks on the plain ground. Yet despite the fact that his beloved is nothing like the perfect women described in conventional love poems, Shakespeare writes that she is still more rare, or beautiful, than women whose charms are exaggerated falsely by other poets. Shakespeare shows how brilliantly he could make this convention work while simultaneously demonstrating its shortcomings.

Things to remember while reading The Sonnets of William Shakespeare:

• The sonnet is a type of poem that originated in fourteenth-century Italy. It was introduced into English literature in the early 1500s.
• Shakespeare's sonnet sequence contains 154 poems. Many of the early ones express the poet's affection for a young man, while the later poems address a dark lady.
• Many scholars believe that the sonnets are autobiographical. It is not certain, however, whether this is the case.

Sonnet 18

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date;
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall Death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st.
  So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
  So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Sonnet 130

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun [dull brown];
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks,
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go,
My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.
  And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
  As any she belied [contradicted] with false compare.

What happened next …

Shakespeare's innovations greatly expanded the possibilities in the sonnet form. Sonnets written by previous poets had been more rigid and formal. They followed patterns of expression that emphasized the cleverness of the poet, but that could seem elaborately artificial. By challenging these conventions, Shakespeare showed that the sonnet could be a more highly energized form while still conforming to the same basic structure.

Several poets in the 1600s used the sonnet to explore religious themes. These included John Donne (c. 1572–1631), whose famous sonnet "Death Be Not Proud" is still widely read; George Herbert (1593–1633); and John Milton (1608–1674). Later in the seventeenth century, interest in the sonnet form faded. But it was revived in the nineteenth century by such poets as John Keats (1795–1821), William Wordsworth (1770–1850), and Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861). Though less common in the modern era, the sonnet remains an important poetic form in English literature.

Did you know …

• Italian poet Dante Aligheri (1265–1321) is considered the first composer of a sonnet sequence. His La Vita Nuova, written between 1292 and 1300, contained several sonnets about his feelings for his ideal love, Beatrice. It included prose (non-poetry) pieces as well.
• During the Elizabethan Era, more than three hundred thousand sonnets were written in England and western Europe.
• Shakespeare placed several sonnets within his play about young love, Romeo and Juliet. For example, the lines in Act 1, Scene 5 that begin "If I profane with my unworthiest hand," in which Romeo says that he is a pilgrim worshiping at Juliet's shrine, form a sonnet spoken by the alternating voices of the two main characters.

Consider the following …

• Modern poetry in English has generally abandoned rigid forms. But some poets in recent years have devoted significant attention to writing sonnets. Why might they be attracted to this poetic form today?
• If you were the person to whom Shakespeare addressed Sonnet 130, would you be flattered or insulted? Write a letter to the poet in response, explaining how the poem made you feel.
• Try your hand at writing a sonnet of your own. You may wish to take one of Shakespeare's sonnets as a model.

For More Information

BOOKS

Evans, G. Blakemore, ed. The Riverside Shakespeare. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1974.

Greenblatt, Stephen. Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare. New York: W.W. Norton, 2004.

Honan, Park. Shakespeare: A Life. Oxford, England and New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.

Vendler, Helen. The Art of Shakespeare's Sonnets. Cambridge, MA and London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1998.

Wells, Stanley. Shakespeare for All Time. Oxford, England and New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.

Wood, Michael. Shakespeare. New York: Basic Books, 2003.

WEB SITES

Delahoyde, Michael. "Shakespeare's Sonnets." http://www.wsu.edu/∼delahoyd/shakespeare/sonnets.html (accessed on July 24, 2006).

"Poetic Form: Sonnet." Academy of American Poets. http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5791 (accessed on July 24, 2006).

"Shakespeare's Dark Lady of the Sonnets." London Walks. http://www.london-walks.co.uk/64/shakespeares-dark-lady-of.shtml (accessed on July 24, 2006).

Shakespeare's Sonnets. http://www.handprint.com/SC/SHK/sonnets.html (accessed on July 24, 2006).

Shakespeare's Sonnets. http://www.shakespeares-sonnets.com/ (accessed on July 24, 2006).

Tait, Simon. "Unmasked: The Identity of Shakespeare's Dark Lady." Independent Online, December 7, 2003. http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/books/news/article81490.ece (accessed on July 24, 2006).