Shall I Compare Thee to a Shakespearean Sonnet?

"My only love sprung from my only hate!" His plays, yawn. His sonnets, WOW!

HANNAH PATTENDEN praises the out-of-the-blue masterpieces which appeared, "Neuer before Imprinted", many "summer’s days" ago in 1609.

         Romeo & Juliet, cry me a river!

Twelfth Night, Macbeth, Othello. Most will say, Shakespeare surely ought to give himself a pat on the back for all of them.

         I, however, pray that they were predominantly satire.

But credit where credit’s due - by these plays, I found the sonnets.

         What is to be said about the lyrical, the beautiful, the short but sweet sonnets of Shakespeare? Certainly, little in comparison to his script work. After all, he was famous by the time his sonnets were first discovered. He had already written most of his biggest plays. But clearly, Shakespeare had much more to say. And yet, his poems are often passed by.

The Rhyme

         Linger on them a little longer and I think you will find that these precious poems encapsulate, in 14 lines, themes which his plays take hours to convey.

         Every sonnet stands as a lone stanza (that’s all he needs). Most are written in iambic pentameter which are ten alternating unstressed and stressed syllables. They are structured in three quatrains (four lines) rhyming the first and third line and the second and fourth (ABAB). The finishing touch – a rhyming couplet with a twist (or a ‘volta’ if you want to get fancy).

         If you can stick to all those rules and still articulate thought provoking and beautiful poetry, perhaps you’ve got something important to say. My hope is that you’ll read a line or a piece of analysis in this blog which makes you think ‘Fair dos. That was clever, Shakespeare.’

“[F]or restful death I cry”

         Yes, I know. You hear the word ‘poem’, and you sigh and say, “I don’t want to read any airy-fairy crap”. Ever thought a poem could be just a good old rant? I give you (well, Shakespeare gives you) Sonnet 66 (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Sonnet 66

         The world is cruel, dark and unforgiving. People lie and cheat. It sucks just to be here sometimes. And right when you think that feeling is unique to you, Shakespeare says it sucked in the 1600s too.

         This sonnet is essentially a list. You can see it in the repetition of ‘And’ at the beginning of lines 2-12 (an ‘anaphora’). You might get tired of his list banging on and if you do, mission accomplished for Shakespeare! You feel now like you’re in a never-ending loop – how the speaker feels in the very sonnet you’re reading. It’s a list of complaints – just like the list of headlines delivering bad news every day. And no, I’m not talking about the sight of poorly embroidered waistcoats.

         But if you care about the less fortunate, those taken advantage of. If you care about politics and restrictions on art. If you care about loyalty, betrayal and wrongful portrayal then you might relate to Sonnet 66. You might care about ‘captive good attending captain ill,’ or rather, all the good of the world being overcome by the evil. Enough to get you and even Shakespeare down in the dumps.

         A change. A new perspective. Shakespeare does what he so often does, and he concludes his sonnet with a volta in a rhyming couplet: “Save that, to die, I leave my love alone.” In all these reasons to give up there is the reason to stay. This dark and depressing sonnet is brighter somehow. A disastrous world is inferior to the love of the speaker for its reader.

“Love’s not Time’s fool”

         Many have spoken on love. Few have moved us or proved to us that they’ve got it figured out. Sonnet 116 captures the evergreen nature of true, pure love (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Sonnet 116

         Shakespeare believes “the marriage of true minds” or rather, the union of two souls truly in love, should not be prevented. Advice I’m sure you wish he’d wrote into the minds of the Montagues and Capulets. But Sonnet 116 expresses a truth which I feel Romeo & Juliet fails to convey – the realest, strongest form of love is eternal and continues even after death. No person or concept can stand in the way. The ongoing personified presence of Time in Shakespeare’s sonnets holds power but “Love alters not”.

         How many ways can a person say that ‘Love’s not Time’s fool’? Let’s walk through the sonnet. What is Shakespeare actually telling us?:

• It isn’t “love which alters / When it alteration finds”. Love sees through adversity when it’s met on the doorstep.

• “Or bends with the remover to remove.” Immovable against opposition, love is steadfast in holding onto the souls who home it. Both initial bullet points are examples of ‘polyptoton’ – a literary device where words of the same root are used in one sentence. More poetic, more intelligent, is it not?

• Love “is an ever-fixèd mark”. An immortal legacy. It is constant and true – forever in one place. A mark which is indelible.

• Love “looks on tempests and is never shaken”. Stable in the storm. True love is anchored and faces challenges with courage. Are we not being taught at this point?  

         So, what is this sonnet? A pretty poem? Well, it is certainly that. But it’s a lesson in life as well as a lesson in love. And most importantly, it is a masterful piece of writing with poetic techniques which at least once, I bet made you think ‘Fair dos. That was clever, Shakespeare.’

The Reason

          Not a word is wasted.

         Not a word is meaningless.

         Sonnets of concepts and wisdom. His plays capture love, hate – true. But I believe that the most powerful words of his plays are the words of the poet, William Shakespeare rather than, the playwright. The pillars and marks of love in his sonnets are more than just written-in reveries – they are “ever-fixèd”.

         You might have studied Romeo. You might know Romeo’s role and you might even play it immaculately, but he remains just that – a role. The sonnets capture the beauty. The mystery of reading poems written by a centuries old guy and seeing truth, life and vulnerability. That’s what separates entertainment from greatness.

         Greatness written in 14 lines.

 Written by HANNAH PATTENDEN (Creative Writing and English Literature student, University of Chester, UK)