19 pages • 38 minutes read
William ShakespeareSonnet 55
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1609A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Literary Context: The Fair Youth
Shakespeare’s sonnets are usually grouped into two main sections: the fair youth sonnets and the dark lady sonnets. The fair youth sonnets are comprised of sonnets 1-126.
In these poems, Shakespeare spends a lot of time describing the beauty and actions of the fair youth, and it becomes clear that the poet greatly admires the youth as he urges him to marry and have children. There has been constant speculation about the relationship between poet and subject, with some critics believing the relationship to be a romantic one while others arguing that it's solely platonic.
Eventually, the fair youth and the poet both end up with the dark lady, and the poet struggles with this change.
The sonnets to the fair youth are often analyzed on their own without the context of the sequence. While this is fine, it has led to a lot of the most famous lines from the sonnets being taken out of context, as is the case with many of Shakespeare’s famous lines from his plays. For “Sonnet 55,” knowing the difference between the fair youth sequence and the dark lady sequence is important because the poem juxtaposes the beauty of the man to feminine time, which Shakespeare compares to forgetfulness, war, and death.
Critical Context: The Shakespearean Love Sonnet
There are many different kinds of sonnet forms in different languages, but the English sonnet is the one Shakespeare is known for. However, before Shakespeare, the sonnet was most well known in its Italian form, called the Petrarchan sonnet, which has a different rhyme scheme than Shakespeare’s sonnet form.
While Shakespeare is the most famous English sonnet poet, he did not invent the form. In fact, the form had been popular for about 200 years before Shakespeare wrote his poems. Traditionally, poets wrote sonnets about beautiful, goddess-like figures that were unattainable.
However, Shakespeare’s sonnets are notable for their departure from this tradition. In Shakespeare’s sonnets, he writes for a man, not a woman, and his sonnets don’t always glorify the subject. Some of his sonnets criticize, some of his subjects are ugly, and his sonnets are filled with other emotions besides idealized or unrequited love. There is also a sense of self-awareness in Shakespeare’s sonnets and in the sonnets that he included in his plays. Some of this self-awareness is critical of the sonnet tradition, and some of it is more complex. For example, in Romeo and Juliet, the two lovers complete a sonnet when they first meet, and as the play and their love progress, Romeo’s sonnets grow stronger and more complex. The meaning of this is tricky because the progression seems to stem from their love, but they are bound to die at the same time. This is one example of how Shakespeare used the sonnet form in his poems to add complexity to his themes and characters.
“Sonnet 55” is unique because it both follows the traditions of the sonnet and seems to undermine them. While Shakespeare glorifies his subject’s beauty, he does not describe it much. While Shakespeare indicates a great love, he does not speak about it in detail. And while Shakespeare focuses on the fair youth’s loveliness, he contrasts it with ugly images of death, disease, and war.
Related Titles
By William Shakespeare
