Why Sonnets are Frustrating

Fact: Shakespearean sonnets are confusing.

Fact: The above statement is an opinion, but it is a well-grounded one.

Shakespearean sonnets are beautiful and wonderful, filled with complex wit, language and emotion. It is for that reason that they are so difficult to interpret. They are a lot like his plays: filled with puns, sexual innuendos, emotions, and humor. However, they are a lot shorter so the language is a lot deeper because of this. That is where the trouble with interpretation comes in.

Take Shakespeare’s Sonnet 78 for example. It is a member of what has been called the “Fair Youth” sequence consisting of the first 126 sonnets. They are called such due to the fact that they were addressed to an unnamed young man. The young man has never been able to be identified, though there have been many suggested possibilities. The sonnets were all dedicated to “Mr. W. H.,” who was believed to be either Henry Wriothesley, 3^rd Earl of Southampton who had once been a patron of Shakespeare, or William Herbert, 3^rd Earl of Pembroke, who was also a patron of Shakespeare.

But I digress.

In Shakespeare’s 78^th Sonnet, the speaker is writing for a young person who has been not only his inspiration, but that of countless other poets as well. In reference to this source of inspiration, the speaker says, “So oft have I invok’d thee for my Muse/ and found such fair assistance in my verse/ as every alien pen hath got my use/ and under thee their poesy disperse” (lines 1-4). This first stanza shows the pure admiration that the speaker has for the youth. The speaker shows that he often seeks the young person for inspiration and the young person has in turn guided his pen in writing poetry.

In the second stanza, the speaker says, “Thine eyes, that taught the dumb on high to sing/ and heavy ignorance aloft to fly/ have added feathers to the learned’s wing/ and given grace a double majesty” (5-8). Again, this is showing the admiration the speaker has for the youth, showing the amount of influence the youth as on more “learned” poets.

Next, the speaker reveals that the youth is the sole inspiration of his poems, saying “yet be most proud of that which I compile/ Whose influence is thine and born of thee/ In other works thou dost but mend the style/ and arts with thy sweet graces graced be” (9-12). The speaker attributes the youth entirely with the success of his works. He uses the comparison of the poem to a child being “born” to the youth. The youth is essentially a parental figure to the speaker, nurturing him into a mature poet.

This poem, at first glance seems straightforward enough. However, upon delving a little bit deeper one is able to make some interesting connections. For example, each stanza makes a reference to a writing utensil. The first one is easy to pick out: it is simply the word pen. The second one is slightly more vague but is still relatively easy: the word feather is used in reference to a quill. The third is harder: the word “style” is used, which can be taken as a reference to the word “stylus,” another writing utensil.

Additionally, key words are repeated, such as “art” and “ignorance.” The word “art” appears not only as the traditionally defined work of art, but also in the archaic form of “are” as in “thou art” or “you are.” When the speaker says “But thou art all my art” in the couplet at the end of the poem, it draws the connection of the youth not only being the inspiration for a work of art, but also being a work of art himself. As for the word “ignorance” which appears twice in the poem, its use again demonstrates how the youth has inspired the speaker. Its first use in the second stanza, which says “and heavy ignorance aloft to fly” shows that youth has lifted the burden of ignorance, in a sense allowing a writer to “fly” or be successful. The other use is in the couplet, which says “as high as learning my rude ignorance.” The speaker claims the ignorance as is own, making the first use of the word more significant as it now shows that the writer that was allowed to fly because of the youth was our speaker.

Shakespeare’s mastery of language ensures that his sonnets can be analyzed from many different angles. Each time I discover one, I come a little closer to pulling my hair out. Either way, the depth of each of Shakespeare’s fourteen-line poems is definitely something to appreciate.