Shakespeare's Sonnets

Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets. Of those, he wrote 150 to a specific person (like a lover) or a spiritual entity (such as the muse, or time). He only wrote four without a named subject or recipient, and so the content of these may reveal something different than the other 150. The first two, sonnet 5 and 94, analyze beauty and the merits of inner versus outer beauty, while the latter two, 116 and 129, discuss love in a completely contradictory manner. From both pairs, a stark comparison can be drawn; in each example, the earlier sonnet is a happier interpretation of either beauty or love, and the later one conveys a darker sentiment towards the same concept. The juxtaposition of sonnets 5 and 94 reflect upon Shakespeare’s life and how it, in turn, affected his work: comedy and tragedy, and the never ending balance of “comfort and despair” that seemingly plagued the bard.

In his 5th sonnet, Shakespeare argues that time undoes, or “will unfair” that “which fairly doth excel” (5.4), and, as the focus here is entirely on beauty, it is important to understand the beauty that Shakespeare peruses in his fifth sonnet: he discusses beauty as both possessed and possessing in earlier sonnets; “thy beauty lies” (2.5), “thy beauty’s use” (2.9) and because of this it is hard to realize that his fifth sonnet is in complete disconnect with any personal reference whatsoever. It is about beauty itself, not the beauty possessed by someone. This becomes instrumental when analyzed next to sonnet 94, in which Shakespeare explores the possibility of someone’s false beauty.

Time is a powerful motif and theme idea in the fifth sonnet. It drives the entire poem along, herding it into place and giving it sense. The first line mentions “those hours”, the ...

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...with bubonic plague, and also joyfully broadcasts his excitement and happiness with his accomplishments. These two extraordinarily antonymous sentiments are greatly reminiscent of the divide between his tragedies and his comedies, no?

Not only does Shakespeare elaborate on his feelings and thoughts in his pointed juxtaposition of sonnets 5 and 94, he also develops a very interesting idea about his life, expressed through his imagery and themes of the flower, the “base”, stone, and time. Using these two sonnets, Shakespeare also gives his readers insight into the emotions he put into his plays that produced such different works as his tragedies are from his comedies. Needless to say, these two sonnets are incredibly important in understanding Shakespeare’s odd cycle of good and bad that persisted throughout his life, something that shaped him, and shaped his writing.