March 19, 1999: Shakespeare's Sonnets
 This is a paper I wrote for my English class the other day. I had a lot of trouble finding stuff online about the sonnets, so I put this up so that it might help people. Good luck.
Shakespeare's Sonnets Were a Product of His Time But Were Also Atypical of the Time
Shakespeare's Sonnets were written near the end of the sixteenth century in the middle of the Elizabethan Age. In many regards they fit perfectly in this time period; however, they are also vastly different from most sonnets which were written at the time. For the most part Shakespeare's Sonnets have themes and styles that differ from most sonnets of the age while still sharing some language, style, and organization.
A most obvious indication of the Sonnets' time period is the fact that they are sonnets. The 1590s were the great time for English sonnets (Cruttwell 2). In 1591 Sidney's Astrophel and Stella was published, and writing sonnets quickly became very popular (Keach 152). At the time it was very fashionable to write sonnet sequences dedicated to prospective patrons in order to win their favor, much like Shakespeare did. Shakespeare may also have seen the popularity of the sonnet sequence as a chance to gain some respectability in the court and nobility beyond his patron. The theaters were not very respected at this time, and neither were their actors and playwrights. Perhaps by writing sonnets and distributing them among the upper castes Shakespeare thought he could overcome their disregard for his associations with the theaters (Cruttwell 4).
The language used in the sonnets is also typical of the time. Many of the individual words are typical of the time period, with hidden meanings sometimes lost on us. During the Elizabethan Age there were also many metaphors and comparisons used repeatedly by different sonneteers. These included describing the object of the sonneteer's devotion as having "gold wires" for hair, "roses" in her cheeks, and "cherries" for lips, making comparisons to the sun, the planets and the moon, and referencing many other objects in nature (Keach 152). These stock comparisons can be seen throughout Shakespeare's Sonnets. A good example of this is Sonnet 18, which compares the object of Shakespeare's affection favorably to a summer's day. This kind of comparison is typical of sonnets of the time. Many of the earlier sonnets in Shakespeare's sequence also have a simplicity and smoothness of language as well as an overabundance of words for few ideas, both of which are common in sonnets of the age (Cruttwell 6).
However, beyond the early sonnets this stylistic similarity ends. As the sequence progresses, the sonnets become more and more complex (Cruttwell 6). The language grows darker and more bawdy. The format of the sonnets is also corrupted somewhat. In normal English sonnets of the time, the ending couplet would sum up and confirm the main point of the poem. However, as Shakespeare's sequence proceeds, this tends to be the case less and less. Often the main thrust of the sonnets can be found in the body of the piece with the final couplet weakly rebutting the rest of the poem. Sonnet 29, for example, heavily emphasizes the failures of the writer but the couplet merely adds the afterthought that this failure is softened only by the young man's love for the writer (Cruttwell 8).
As the sonnets grow more complex, they also grow deeply introspective, pessimistic, bitter and disgusted. This differs from most sonnets of the time which tended to be lighter and more superficial (Cruttwell 6). As Shakespeare's sequence progresses, the themes change rapidly and abruptly. They deal with Shakespeare's self contempt at being involved in the theater, fear of growing old, envy of other, more current and educated, writers, his anger and disillusionment with society, as well as his disgust of love and sex (Cruttwell 3). These were vastly different areas than the themes of love and obsession that other sonneteers of the time were exploring.
Traditional sonnet sequences were based around the poet courting an elusive female. Despite the pain her many rejections cause, he continues to pursue her honorably, and longs for her well after her death (Ricks 75). Shakespeare's sequence does have a semblance of a story running through it, simply not this traditional one. The first half of the sequence is addressed to a young man. Much of this portion is in praise of the young man. However, there are several sonnets which imply that the writer and young man have had an argument which is later reconciled. There's also a rival poet who competes for the attention of the young man. The second half of the sequence focuses around a dark lady who becomes the writer's mistress and later the young man's mistress, which embitters them towards each other.
The dark lady is the opposite of women in conventional sonnets of the time, another difference of Shakespeare's sonnets. Physically she's different: she has black hair instead of blonde hair and her complexion is much paler than usual (Ricks 75). More important is the lady's wanton sexuality, which is diametrically opposed to the chaste love expressed in most sonnets. The dark lady in many ways seems to represent pure lust (stk9619). The writer is physically attracted to the dark lady while at the same time morally and mentally repulsed by her. For example, Sonnet 130 portrays absolute disgust with the lady, while at the same time admitting the writer's almost involuntary attraction to her. Using the dark lady, Shakespeare expresses his disgust of sex and love. He feels that sexual love leads to enslavement and disappointment (stk9619). This is demonstrated by showing that the writer's love of the young man is satisfying because it is not physical, whereas the extremely physical love of the dark lady is completely unsatisfying (Ricks 77).
The sequence ends rather abruptly with nothing resolved between the young man, writer and dark lady. Perhaps this was done intentionally so that we would see the writer in a more human nature than most sonneteers. Traditional sonnets express the writer as being satisfied with their chaste love, purified by the pain caused by their lady's rejections. Their positions are clearly defined and not confusing. In Shakespeare's we instead see the writer in a relationship he will never be completely satisfied with and caught in a tangled web of lust, love, and disgust. He comes across as being more realistically human, someone with whom everyone can relate (Ricks 77).
It is the unconventional nature of Shakespeare's Sonnets that has made them more well known than others of his time. Instead of only writing about love and obsession, he touches on many more timeless areas, including death, change, lust, time, and beauty. In the process, he made them relevant to people in all time periods (stk9619).
Works Cited
Cruttwell, Patrick. The Shakespearean Moment and Its Place in the Poetry of the 17th Century.
London: Chatto and Windus, 1970.
Keach, William, John Richetti, and Bruce Robbins, eds. "The Sonnet." Adventures in English
Literature. Orlando: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1989.
Ricks, Christopher. English Poetry and Prose 1540-1674. London: Penguin, 1993.
[email protected]. "A Closer Look at Sonnet 37 and the Sonnets as a Whole" n. pag.
Online. Internet. March 17, 1999. Available http://loki.stockton.edu/~stk9619/shakes.htm
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