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READ THIS
The poet explains that, at times when the world seems set against him, when it appears that
fortune is abandoning him and he begins to wish that he were better off as regards to friends
and creative talents, then all he has to do is to think of his loved one and his state of mind will
instantly improve.
ABOUT THE POET
William Shakespeare is generally regarded as the greatest of all English playwrights, which is
why his plays are prescribed so relentlessly.
He was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564 and spent all his youth there. At the age of 18, he
married Anne Hathaway with whom he had three children.
At about the age of 25, he moved to London where he began a successful career in acting,
realising too his amazing talent for writing. He would eventually become the part-owner of a
company which called itself The Lord Chamberlain's Men (later referred to as the King's
Men.
He wrote a total of 38 plays as well as 154 sonnets. He also has two little known longer poems
to his name.
He would eventually return to Stratford-upon-Avon in 1613, where he would die just three years
later at the rather young age of 52. So young for someone who accomplished so much!
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:
"When, in disgrace with Fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate."
- What is the theme of this quatrain? (4)
[Need help?]
The poet feels as if he has been deserted by fate and that people appear to be scorning him.
He feels isolated and lonely, as though he has become a leper in society. Even heaven seems
to have abandoned him and does not respond to his prayers -- and so he curses the condition
in which he lives.
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- What does the poet mean when he speaks of being "in disgrace with Fortune and men's
eyes"? (4)
[Need help?]
As said already, the poet feels that he has been abandoned by fate and that people are
despising him. It is almost as if he has become a leper in society, where everything and
everyone avoids contact with him.
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"Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featur'd like him, like him with friends possess'd,
Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least."
- What is the theme of this quatrain? (4)
[Need help?]
The poet yearns to be more positive in his life, surrounded by friends. But he finds himself only
wishing for the better things of life -- like having the talent that he sees in other people -- but
at the same time finding himself most discontented with everything he personally is and does.
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- What is the purpose of the apostrophes in "featur'd" and "possess'd"?
Wouldn't it have been simpler to have written "featured" and
"possessed"? (4)
[Need help?]
The apostrophes represent contractions which reduce the number of syllables in each
word. This is important in a sonnet because each line has to have exactly ten syllables, no
more and no less. It is this which gives the distinct rhythm or beat to the sonnet. This then
provides the iambic pentameters, i.e. each line has five feet of unstressed and stressed
syllables.
If the poet had used "featured and "possessed", he would have wished us to
pronounce all the syllables: as in fea-tur-ed and
pos-sess-ed". But this would have given him extra syllables and thereby pushed him
over the limit.
And so the poet contracts these words by omitting some critical sounds -- and thereby brings
it down to the required ten syllables per line.
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"Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate."
- What is the theme of this quatrain? (4)
[Need help?]
Just when the poet is on the brink of despising himself and his thoughts, he thinks of a certain
special person and immediately his spirit begins to soar again. His life changes from one of
depression to that of rapture.
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- Comment on the imagery in "Like to the lark at break of day arising | From sullen
earth". (4)
[Need help?]
The lark is a bird which flies very high in the sky, close to heaven. Heaven has traditionally
been located somewhere in the sky, while hell is beneath us in the burning bowels of the earth.
The bird is known for its rapturous singing, dropping down from on high like angels' song falling
from heaven.
The earth, on the other hand, is presented as being "sullen" and depressing. This is
because the earth is close to hell whereas the lark flies close to heaven.
Note the heavy tone of the word "sullen" as opposed to the lightness in the words
"Like to the lark at break of day arising"
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- What is the subject of the verb "sings"? Explain carefully. (4)
[Need help?]
"My state sings hymns at heaven's gate." The poet compares his state to that of the
lark. Just as the lark sings at heaven's gate, so now does the poet's joyful state sing in
celebration.
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"For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth brings,
That then I scorn to change my state with kings."
- What is the significance of this rhyming couplet? (4)
[Need help?]
The rhyming couplet brings the sonnet to a successful conclusion. The poet has expressed
how gloomy he has been feeling but this gloom is swept aside by thoughts of this one special
person, so much so that he is now able to declare that he would not even consider swopping
places with kings.
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- Do you think that Shakespeare had a real love in mind when he wrote this
sonnet? (4)
[Need help?]
Experts have searched for years for the real person whom Shakespeare loved. The most
natural would be his wife but a theory has evolved that this was merely a marriage of
convenience to give respectability to the poet -- despite his having fathered three children with
her! One belief is that the poet refers to an unknown mistress. Another is that the poet was
in fact gay and that the real person referred to was actually a male. But modern
"experts" love to find that all famous men were in fact gay!
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- How does the imagery of the first two quatrains make us aware of the poet's feelings about
his present "state"? (5)
[Need help?]
The first two quatrains present the poet's depression, his feeling that he has been abandoned
by both fate and society. Other people appear to be wealthier and more successful than he.
And yet thoughts of his loved one make him realise that his present state is actually one of
great promise, or rapture. He realises that he is in fact very lucky and wouldn't actually like to
change his position with anything or anyone else.
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