William Shakespeares Sonnet 29: Critical Analysis

Introduction

This paper deals with the Sonnet XXIX, one of the 154 Sonnets the well-known English poet, playwright and actor William Shakespeare has written. The aim of my paper is to examine in how far this particular Shakespearean Sonnet fits into the pattern of a typical Shakespearean Sonnet.

Shakespeare’s sonnets are synonymous with courtly romance, but in fact many are about something quite different. [cf. Paterson 2010: online] Shakespeares Sonnets polarized and this paper also examines how love is approached in the Sonnet 29.

This project is divided into three main parts: The first part is an examination of how a typical Shakespearean Sonnet would look like. Then, a detailed analysis of the Sonnet XXIX itself follows in which the relations between external features of the poem and their significance for the underlying content are paid special attention. To conclude, I will point out the particularity of the Sonnet 29 and will illustrate in how far the features of this poem fit into the view of a typical Shakespearean Sonnet and where deviation can be found in its structure.

1. Shakespearean Sonnets

According to researchers interested in Shakespeares biography, Shakespeares total of 154 sonnets can be subdivided into two main categories concerning the addressee: Sonnets 1-126 seem to be dedicated to the mysterious Mr. W.H., a young man whose name is not divulged, and Sonnets 127-152 to an unknown dark lady, also called black mistress. In addition to that, two Cupido-sonnets (153 and 154) were written. Because this paper mainly deals with the Sonnet 29, I will focus on the characteristics of the former of these categories. All the sonnets were published by the renowned publisher Thorpe but there is evidence that Shakespeare may not have seen the volume before being published because some printing mistakes were found in the first edition and that the dedication addressing Mr. W.H. was added by Thorpe. Therefore, we do not know whether the order of the sonnets with which we are familiar now was the original one (cf. Borgmeier 2006: 177ff).

Shakespeare picked up the rhyme scheme of the English sonnet, a fourteen-line poem, applied by Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey which is commonly known as a Shakespearean Sonnet now. Apart from the concluding couplet, the sonnet consists of alternate rhymes (abab cdcd efef gg). This structure three quatrains followed by a couplet is quite effective for argumentation: In Shakespearean Sonnets, an argumentative transition can be observed and the couplet with which an English sonnet ends usually poses a punch line, sometimes used as summation or turning point, or also to challenge what has been said in the preceding quatrains (cf. Borgmeier 2006: 182f.; Schoenfeldt 2010: 7).

Usually, an iambic pentameter is applied in the sonnets of William Shakespeare. That is, the sequence of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one occurs five times within a verse so that there are five beats in each line (cf. Nünning 2016: 58ff.). Shakespeare sometimes uses phonetic irregularities which were believed to always contribute to the sonnets content and carry meaning and therefore, even the smallest metrical irregularity was investigated in detail. But in contrast to that, nowadays people seem to be sure about the fact that small deviations in rhythm are not always of particular importance but rather serve to some sort of alternation (cf. Borgmeier 2006: 184f.).

The prevalent topic in Shakespeares sonnets is love. In his sonnets, Shakespeare shows a new development of poetry and seems to have remodelled the way in which his precursors of Petrarchan poetry approached the writing of a sonnet. The ideal of a socially and intellectually superior mistress which is applied in Petrarchan poetry and towards which the lyric I talks in humbleness (platonic love) is not necessarily applied in Shakespearean sonnets. In his sonnets, there are no references to earlier poems (intertextuality) and Shakespeare seems to have remodelled existing motifs and conventions with satisfaction. While in former poetry, feelings are not expressed extensively, Shakespeare enjoys the display of such (even though they do not have to be those of the poet himself) (cf. Borgmeier 2006: 185ff.). The speakers demonstration of wholehearted adoration of the addressee is unique. Not only love and complete devotion towards the lyric thou are key issues of the sonnets but also the suffering and sorrow of the speaker which are by-products of those (cf. Schuenke 2011: 164).

What is seen as the independence from contemporarily existing standards and an original reinvention of existing models (cf. Borgmeier 2006: 186f.), meets with criticism from the other side: Especially the couplets are frequently criticised nowadays because of their predictability and alleged banality. Guiseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa considers the concluding couplets as a superfluous finish when comparing it to Petrarchan poetry. According to him, the last two verses appear to have been glued on in the end as if they were the morale of the story. Even though this and some other judgements appear harsh, it cannot be dismissed that most of the subsequent English sonnet poets follow the Petrarchan pattern (cf. Borgmeier 2006: 183).

The question of whether Shakespeares sonnets are autobiographical in some way has been highly discussed, especially because of the absence of proper names (cf. Schalkwyk 2002: 240). Some speculate on William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke (1580-1630), being the real-life reference and addressee of the Sonnets 1-126 but no tangible evidence has been found so far (cf. Borgmeier 2006: 178).

Typically, the sonnets of William Shakespeare ignore the possibility of eternal life via religious salvation and do not show any belief in an afterlife where anything that has been lost or done wrong in this world turns out good in the afterworld (cf. Schoenfeldt 2010: 83). Schuenke (cf. 2011: 163) refers to Shakespeare as someone living in excess, conscious of humanitys mortality but also of the words immortality.

2. Analysis of the Sonnet 29

Consisting of 14 lines and subdivided into three quatrains and one concluding heroic couplet, Shakespeares Sonnet 29 fits perfectly into the model of a typical Shakespearean sonnet. Rhythmically it is compounded by an iambic pentameter meaning that an unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed one five times in each line (cf. Mabillard 2000, online).

In the poem, a clearly identifiable narrator frequently refers to himself in the first person singular and is talking about his innermost feelings (explicit subjectivity). In this sonnet, the lyric persona firstly describes and commiserates with itself on its outcast state, not being accepted by other people and also not accepting himself. This changes as the lyric I remembers the love of the lyric thou, to which it is speaking (cf. Borgmeier 2006: 188).

In the first stanza, the lyric persona describes its personal feelings: It is sad about being expulsed by the society and comments on its low self esteem. In the second quatrain a comparison to other men follows in which the lyric I points out which qualities it admires on them: it wishes on hope, friendship, success and talent which are qualities it actually estimates but does not dispose of itself. For the first time in the sonnet, the lyric thou is addressed in the third quatrain: By the time the lyric I thinks of the lyric thou, a sudden mood swing is observable (this will be further explained in the following) (cf. Frank 2006: 137; Shakespeare. Sonnet XXIX). In the couplet, which is often a pithy statement, the mood swing is expressed directly and the lyric I reveals that not even for all the things it had previously admired, it would change the love of the lyric thou (Shakespeare. Sonnet XXIX).

Even though the dominating meter in the sonnet is an iambic pentameter, there are some deviations observable. If it were a rigid pentameter which was applied in the sonnet, when in the first verse would be unstressed, while in would be stressed syllables. Therefore, an inversion of stress was carried out. (cf. Nearing 1962: 17)

/ x x / x / x / x /

When, in disgrace with fortune and mens eyes,

In the third line, another deviation can be found. In order to give trouble the stress which its meaning seems to require, the second foot does not fall on deaf but rather on the first syllable of heaven because there is no reason why the adjective should be emphasised rather than its substantive. The rhythm of the second quatrain reflects an increasing restlessness. The first two lines of this quatrain start out with trochaic substitutions which usually tend to accelerate the speed because the speaker has to catch up with the normal metrical pattern of the iamb. In this case, the caesuras in the second to the fourth line strengthen the restlessness created by the deviations in rhythm and contrast from the general smoothness of the first quatrain (cf. Nearing 1962: 18).

/ x x / x / x / x /

Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,

/ x x / II x / x / x /

Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,

x / x / x / II x / x /

Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope,

x x / x / II x / x /

With what I most enjoy contented least

The emotional stimulation of the second quatrain turns into cheer bursting the metrical frame through an enjambement between line 11 and 12 and through the feminine rhyme in line 9 which extends the metrical pattern for an additional syllable. According to Nearing (1962: 18ff.), sound and sense of the poem reach a climax together in the third quatrain, while the couplet expresses a return to equanimity.

Even though many commemorators refer to Shakespearean Sonnets having uniform rhyme scheme (abab cdcd efef gg), there actually are some slight divergences observable in a few sonnets, for example in Sonnet XXIX. Apart from the heroic couplet, Shakespeares sonnets work with continuing alternate rhymes throughout the whole poem but refuse to use the same rhyme twice. Interestingly, in this poem the words in line 2 and 4 not only rhyme with each other but also with the end rhymes of line 10 and 12 so that the rhyme scheme looks as follows: abab cdcd ebeb ff. The function of this pattern seems to serve the linking of the first and the third quatrain through the b rhyme. This structure somehow makes the Sonnet 29 non-Shakespearean as it seems to separate the poem into 2 parts whose formal classification shows similarities to the Petrarchan sonnet: The first eight lines deal with the state of the lyric I before it has thought of the lyric thou, being followed by six verse lines describing the state after having thought of his beloved (cf. McGuire 1987: 304ff.).

Because the choosing of words and expressions is done very carefully and thought-out in poetry, a further analysis of the meaning of occurring words and expressions is to be done. Because the expression my state is repeated three times in the entire poem, further attention is to be drawn to it. When looking at it more in detail, a metamorphosis can be observed: In the first occurrence (line 2), the outcast state of the speaker is described with which the lyric I refers to its position in society and also that it is not gifted with much luck. When the utterance is repeated in line 10, the negatively afflicted expression my state relates to the mindset of the lyric I. At the end of the sonnet the state somehow gets a political meaning because the state of the speaker is compared to that of a monarch (cf. Frank 2006: 137). In the couplet the lyric I expresses that it would not even want to change the position of someone in power because thy sweet love suffuses the lyric I with such joy and happiness that it prefers this to the state and qualities of someone it admired in preceding lines (Shakespeare. Sonnet XXIX: line 13).

The Sonnet XXIX contains plenty of rhetoric figures: On the phonological level, a number of alliterations can be found throughout the whole sonnet (e.g. all alone (line 2), these thoughts (line 9), etc.). In addition to that, the first quatrain contains an anaphora (line 3/4) which adds to the coherence of the sonnet (Shakespeare. Sonnet XXIX).

In the second quatrain, repetition occurs at the end and the beginning of a clause, respectively (Featured like him, like him with friends possessed (Shakespeare. Sonnet XXIX: line 6). This phenomenon is called Anadiplosis and is extremely effective in terms of emphasis on a morphological level. In this case, it stresses that the lyric I compares itself to others which it seems to admire. In the same line, the syntax does not follow the normal word order (like him with friends possessed) which is an example for inversion (Shakespeare. Sonnet XXIX: line 6).

In the third quatrain (line 10), the lyric I relates its own state, which has been associated with rather negative thoughts earlier in the sonnet, with the happiness and positive thoughts dedicated to the lyric thou by using the expression then in the same line directly after having mentioned thinking on thee. This precedes a simile which further points out the joy with which the lyric I is fulfilled when thinking of the lyric thou. In this case, it becomes clear that the speaker does not necessarily talk about the singing of a lark to refer to himself but rather to express the mood swing he experiences (cf. Frank 2006: 137). Here, the vehicle of the simile (donor field) is the larks singing in the morning whose characteristics are projected onto the state of the lyric I (tenor, recipient field).

McRae (cf. 1987: 7f.) writes about to the texts punctuation and syntax and points out one of the texts ambiguities with regards to that. In the third quatrain, the punctuation may mislead the reader into thinking that the lark was the only riser and the state the only singer (from sullen earth). But both the 0 punctuation and the line-end pause between arising and From carry a syntactically blurred image of the speaker(s state) sending hymns aloft from earth, sending hymns up to heaven. (cf. McRae 1987: 7) He points out that the relationship between the speaker and the state can be understood metonymic and focusing on the syntax enables an understanding of why the simile serves as a parenthesis. Even though the simile is an interesting supplement to the text, it is not essential to the statement. But if the simile was removed, the b-rhyme lines would turn out as a couplet and doing the same with their rhyming echoes in the first stanza, a deepened understanding of the sonnet is enabled and they form a poem within a poem (cf. McRae 1987: 7f.).

I all alone beweep my outcast state,

And look upon myself and curse my fate,

Haply I think on thee, and then my state,

From sullen earth sings hymns at heavens gate;

2.1 Particularity of the Sonnet 29

In Shakespeares Sonnet XXIX, there are two main abnormalities observable which are not usually found in English Sonnets. First, a uniquely occurring deviation in the when/then structure and secondly as I have already mentioned in the former chapter, the rhyme scheme differs from a typical English sonnet. (cf. McRae 1987: 6) Both of the two structures contribute to a great extent to the poems content and cohesion.

Regarding the when/then structure, one can note that in any of the other sonnets (2, 12, 15, 30, 43, 64, 88, 106, 138) the temporal logic of this pattern is adhered on and the when statement is closed with a subsequent then. However, Shakespeares 29th sonnet does obey this pattern: The speaker starts out with the when statement in the first line of the poem and continues the statement up to the end of the second quatrain. Even though the sentence is not ended by then, the when statement is broken down by the interjection starting in the subsequent line. By that, the lyric I stops its self-assessment and turns towards considering the almost religious nature of his beloved (cf. Mc.Rae 1987:6f.). The then statement is completely omitted even though the normal structure would make the reader expect the following sestet to turn out as such and give further information about the consequences of the speakers self-contempt. Instead, the lyric persona continues with describing a change in mood when thinking of the lyric thou by which it rigorously draws attention to the mood swing it experiences. A strong contrast between the mindset of the lyric persona is pointed out by applying this structure and omitting the then statement (cf. McRae 1987: 6f.).

When the lyric I reveals that the thought about the lyric thou enhances its mood dramatically to the better, the applied structure of omitting the then statement seems to divide the sonnet into an octave and a sestet. In contrast to this, the deviation in rhyme scheme seems to pull the poem together again. (cf. McRae 1987: 7)

Furthermore, the punctuation of the Sonnet 29 is interesting to consider. The fact that the sentence started in the first line is not clearly ended and marked by a full stop until the end of the poem, creates some sort of restlessness. This seems to be a good example in which the relation between external structure of the poem and its significance for the content can be identified. The restlessness created by punctuation could relate to the mental restlessness the lyric I seems to have until it finally realizes that it has not lost its most valuable possession: the love of the lyric thou (Shakespeare. Sonnet XXIX). In addition to that, while the sonnets division of the content into an octave and a sestet seems to contrast them from each other and disjoin them in some way, the relation between the first and the third quatrain brings about exactly the opposite (cf. McRae 1987: 7f.). This could also reflect the lyric personas restlessness which ends by the end of the third quatrain.

Even though in most of Shakespeares sonnets, religious salvation is not incorporated or shown belief in, a few spiritual aspects can be observed in the Sonnet 29. Shakespeare applies the subject of redemption not through religious salvation in the afterworld but rather through the thoughts of the beloved. In the first line, the lyric I is In disgrace with fortune and mens eyes but the sudden mood swing described in the former paragraph can be seen as some sort of redemption (cf. Schoenfeld 2010: 83). Deaf heaven in line 3 may refer to God not hearing the lyric personas bootless cries (Shakespeare. Sonnet XXIX: line 3). The earth is described as dismal but the lyric I seems to escape from this state of despair in the third quatrain. Heavens gate operates as a metaphor for the mood swing evoking positivity and joy in the lyric personas mind (Schoenfeld 2010: 83). In this sonnet, Shakespeare seems to have incorporated three biblical virtutes which are faith, hope and love and apparently backs its argumentation with the famous 1 Corinthians 13.13 passage (And now abideth faith, hope & love, even these thre; but the chiefest of these is love) (cf. Watson 1986: 12f.). Just like in the bible, love is portrayed as the most important of the three biblical virtutes because for the love of the lyric thou, material wealth (and by that anything that is earthly) is discounted by the lyric persona. While the speaker seems to have lost hope and faith of others (or they may at least be present only relatively weak), he still possesses the lyric thous love which restores faith (cf. Watson 1986: 13).

3. Conclusion

It is observable that also in this sonnet, the couplet is a punch line: The lyric persona embraces that it discards everything it expressed its regrets about earlier in the sonnet and the speaker shows a change in mindset. However, this change in mindset already starts out in the third quatrain when the lyric thou is mentioned for the first time. Apart from a few deviations in metre, the sonnet 29 of William Shakespeare follows that of most English sonnets which is a iambic pentameter. The rhythmic composition of the sonnet supports its expressiveness and highlights what is transmitted with language.

Unique among Shakespearean sonnets is the uncommonly unfinished when/then structure which adds to the poems meaning because it contrasts the feelings of the lyric I before and after it has thought about the lyric thou.

In addition to that, deviations in rhyme scheme (abab cdcd ebeb ff) are usually not found in English sonnets and therefore special about this poem. While some consider this a serious technical blemish (cf. McGuire 1987: 305), this aims at linking the first quatrain to the third quatrain in terms of content because the rhyming word state plays a major role throughout the whole sonnet. By linking the first and the third quatrain, the happy feelings with which the lyric persona is fulfilled when thinking of the lyric thou are projected on the formerly negatively afflicted state of the lyric I. Such deviations from the normal rhyme scheme are very rare in Shakespearean sonnets but they show how external structure and content are in interplay (cf. McGuire 1987: 305ff.).

4. Bibliography

Borgmeier, Raimund, and Michael Hanke (2006). William Shakespeare: The Sonnets. Stuttgart: Philipp Reclam jun. GmbH &Co.
McRae, Murdo William (1987). Shakespeare’s Sonnet 29. The Explicator, 46.1: 6-8
Nearing, Homer (1962). Shakespeare as a Nondramatic Poet: Sonnet XXIX. Shakespeare Quarterly, 13.1: 15-20
Nünning, Vera und Ansgar (2016). An introduction to the Study of English and American Literature. Stuttgart: Klett Lerntraining, c/o PONS GmbH.
Schalkwyk, David (2002). Speech and Performance in Shakespeare’s Sonnets and Plays. Cambridge: CUP
Schoenfeldt, Michael (2010). The Cambridge Introduction to Shakespeares Poetry. Cambridge: CUP
Schuenke, Christa (2011). Shakespeares Sonette. München: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag
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Mabillard, Amanda (2000). Shakespearean Sonnet Basics: Iambic Pentameter and the English Sonnet Style. Shakespeare Online. http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/sonnetstyle.html [29.12.18]
McGuire, Philip C (1987). Shakespeare’s Non-Shakespearean Sonnets. Shakespeare Quarterly, 38.3: 304319 www.jstor.org/stable/2870505 [20.01.19]
Paterson, Don (2010). Shakespeare’s sonnets by Don Paterson. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/oct/16/shakespeare-sonnets-don-paterson [04.02.19]
Watson, Thomas Ramey (1986). Shakespeares Sonnet 29, The Explicator, 45.1: 12-13, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00144940.1986.11483952 [27.01.19]