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READ THIS
The poet looks at the beauty of his "fair Friend" and decides that this beauty is ageless. Indeed,
he has known this "Friend" for three years now and believes that she is quite as beautiful as when
he first met her.
Later in the sonnet he does appear to have some hesitation about the lasting impact of aging, but then
concludes rather outrageously that the beauty of this "fair Friend" is beyond even Beauty herself.
ABOUT THE POET
William Shakespeare, commonly known simply as "The Bard", was born in April 1564. Although
he lived a mere 52 years, he has won himself the reputation of being the greatest of all English poets and
playwrights.
He grew up in Stratford-upon-Avon where, at the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway with whom he had
three children. Modern scholars love to question whether or not he was actually gay -- but such is the
energy-sapping research of these scholars.
The Bard established a most successful career for himself in acting and in writing for the stage. Ultimately
he became the part-owner of The Lord Chamberlain's Men, a theatrical company which eventually
came to be known as The King's Men.
In his early years in theatrics, Shakespeare focussed his attention on writing comedies and histories. Only
later did he produce a series of tragedies such as Hamlet, Macbeth and King
Lear, the works for which he is preeminently known.
Although he wrote two lengthy narrative poems as well as several other shorter poems, his reputation as
a poet was established through his amazing collection of sonnets -- 154 in all.
Indeed, his particular style of sonnet, commonly known as the Elizabethan form, is also referred to simply
as "the Shakespearian sonnet".
In about 1613, he returned to Stratford-upon-Avon and died there in April 1616.
Scholars would later come to question not only his sexual stance but also whether or not it was he who
actually wrote all the work attributed to him.
Have you looked at the questions
in the right column?
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TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer
the following questions:
WARNING: RUN THESE IDEAS PAST YOUR TEACHER BEFORE PLACING THEM AS ANSWERS TO
YOUR EXAM PAPER!
In an earlier worksheet, it seemed acceptable to speak of the "fair Friend" as being, perhaps, a
lover or someone whom the poet admires greatly. When one thinks carefully about this, however, one
finds several problems with such an interpretation.
- Examining the sonnet as a whole, can you identify these problems? (10)
[Need help?]
The major problem is that the poet claims that his "fair Friend" will never age -- "you never can
be old". Now this is impossible even in the wildest imaginings.
The poet says that, although he has already known his "fair Friend" for three years, he has not yet
detected any change in her beauty -- "For as you were when first your eye I eyed | Such seems your
beauty still".
Finally, the Bard states that beauty did not exist before his "fair Friend" was born -- "Ere you
were born, was beauty's summer dead".
Now all of this is quite impossible if Shakespeare had a person in mind. Indeed, his other sonnets make
it perfectly clear that time, aging and the loss of physical beauty were all part and parcel of life.
If Shakespeare therefore did not have a person in mind, he must have been thinking of something else.
But what?
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- If one were to conclude, then, that the "fair Friend" was not a person whom the poet ardently
admires, what then could this "Friend" be? (2)
[Need help?]
It was a common thing in Shakespeare's day for the poet to personify his own work. In other words, could
his "fair Friend" in fact be a sonnet which himself wrote some three years previously?
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"To me, fair Friend, you never can be old,
For as you were when first your eye I eyed
Such seems your beauty still."
- If the poet is indeed speaking of some earlier sonnet which he had written, then in what way could this
fair Friend "never . . . be old"? (2)
[Need help?]
Once a poem exists, it takes on an existence of its own. It exists in words but these very words do not
age. The sonnet that Shakespeare wrote in 1600 is still the same sonnet which we read today. It hasn't
lost any of its beauty.
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- What then would the poet mean when he says, "As you were when first your eye I
eyed"? (2)
[Need help?]
One could rewrite this line as, "As you existed when first I wrote you!"
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- And in what way would "Such [seem to be] your beauty still"? (2)
[Need help?]
The poet would mean that you [the poem] are still just as beautiful as when I first wrote you.
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"Ah! yet doth beauty, like a dial-hand,
Steal from his figure, and no pace perceived;
So your sweet hue, which methinks still doth stand,
Hath motion, and mine eye may be deceived."
- Accepting that the poet is probably thinking of an earlier poem as being his pride and joy, how then
could beauty "steal from his figure"? (4)
[Need help?]
The poet would surely have in mind the fact that, although a poem would age very slowly -- "steal from
his figure" -- nevertheless the very passing of time might detract from its quality.
Indeed, future ages might not appreciate his poetry as much as he himself did when the poems were
written. Consider, for instance, how the modern generation struggles to understand what Shakespeare
means in his poetry or in his plays.
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- In this context, then, what does the poet mean when he says, "So your sweet hue, which methinks
still doth stand, hath motion, and mine eye may be deceived"? (4)
[Need help?]
It is possible that the poet means this:
'Although I personally think that the poem as it exists right at this moment is so very beautiful, yet I might
be deceived. In time things might change -- "So your sweet hue . . . hath motion" -- and I might
be deceived in thinking that what I write now will last forever -- "mine eye may be deceived".'
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"For fear of which, hear this, thou age unbred, --
Ere you were born, was beauty's summer dead."
- In the context of the "fair Friend" not being a person but a poem he had written some three
years earlier, how then would you explain this outrageous exaggeration by which he concludes his
sonnet? (4)
[Need help?]
The poet is being uncommonly egotistical! Not only does he say that he likes what he writes but also that
beauty did not even exist before he personally started writing poetry!
He certainly did not go to humility school!
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