Despite popular belief, William Shakespeare was considered a great poet before a
great playwright. He accomplished writing at least 154 sonnets and other poems
of love. In this paper, I will analyze one of his greatest sonnets. One of the
most famous of his sonnets is number XXIX. This sonnet is one long sentence, but
it still follows the usual Shakespearean pattern of three quatrains (four line
sections) and a couplet. It also follows the traditional rhyme scheme for
Shakespearian sonnets: ababcdcdefefgg. The first quatrain tells how the narrator
is feeling. From reading these four lines, you sense his loneliness and sense of
abandonment by fate, G-d, love, and other men. I believe the key line in this
quatrain is line 3 (When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,). Here I feel
Shakespeare is saying that this person who is very depressed, is crying out for
help to others, but he is such an outcast that not even "deaf heaven,"
meaning God and the angels of heaven or listening to his cries. The second
quatrain starts off with a line that shows the narrator wishes to be more
optimistic. He realizes that in order to achieve his goals, he must believe in
himself first and stop being so depressed. The second half of the quatrain shows
he is envious of other men’s possessions and riches when he says, “Desiring
this man's art and that man's scope, With what I most enjoy contented least.”
Moving into the third quatrain, you see that the speaker begins to reflect on
himself and starts to compare himself with his friends. You know this when
“Haply I think on thee, and then my state,” is said. Just as you start to
think the speaker is going back into a state of self-pity, you realize the
speaker’s inspired sprits are rising like “the lark at break of day”.
Sonnet XXIX ends with a couplet that has an uplifting message. One the speaker
remembers the love of his friend and what great things he has, it makes him
happy with his life. So happy he wouldn’t even consider swapping his place
with a king.