Before I start what I am going to say about this sonnet, I feel I have no right to do this. William Shakespeare is such a great author, that it is not in my place to criticize this sonnet in any way. I don’t have words to describe this sonnet whatsoever. Amazing, astounding, interesting…mundane words. Spellbinding comes slightly close to the way I want to put it.
I will describe my views about this sonnet in couplets. This one is Shakespeare’s 98th sonnet.
“From you have I been absent in the spring,
When proud-pied April, dressed in all his trim,”
Here, the author is expressing his sadness while also giving a personification to April. The author calls April proud-pied. This really makes sense because “pied” literally means multicolored. And in April, flowers bloom and leaves grow back from winter. This analogy is really beautiful as just two words: proud-pied, having such a deep meaning is just…spellbinding!
“Hath put a spirit of youth in everything,
That heavy Saturn laughed and leaped with him,”
Referring to the first line, it is quite clear that the author is saying that there is a feeling of youth in everything, that is, everything might be joyful, free, and happy. I feel the second line is talking about how even Saturn, that is so heavy and somber is even laughing and leaping with all the things that have a spirit of youth in them.
“Yet nor the lays of birds, nor the sweet smell
Of different flowers in odor and in hue,
Could make me any summer’s story tell”
This part had to be explained in threes as the whole meaning lies in the third line. This part talks about how bird eggs, or the sweet smell of flowers could make me tell this story because I have missed you so much. This is a very meaningful part of the sonnet as it adds the extra essence.
Or from their proud lap pluck them where they grew.
Nor did I wonder at the lily’s white,
Nor praise the deep vermilion in the rose;
They were but sweet, but figures of delight,
Drawn after you, you pattern of all those.
Yet seemed it winter still, and, you away,
As with your shadow I with these did play.
This last part of the sonnet cannot be split up, so I will explain it as it is. The first line confused me slightly in the beginning, but, it was clear to me during the second read. This talks about rose beds, as it says the lap in which the flowers were plucked. It is such a beautiful analogy – the lap resembling rose beds! The next four lines talks about all the beauties of nature, and how they copied the person the author misses. The last two lines are the most powerful, because they end very beautifully. It says how winter came, and you were still gone, and these beauties of nature were like your shadows, and to overcome my sadness of missing you, I played with these shadows. I could not express much of figurative language here because this poem does not how figurative language right up on the surface – it needs to be analyzed, ploughed through, and only then will the meaning be understood. But, here’s what I noticed about the poem’s figurative language:
- It contains an End Rhyme.
- I think it has an Iambic Pentameter like all sonnets do
- Metaphors were used all through the poem.
Some questions I had about this sonnet:
- How did the author come up with such deep metaphors?
- What exactly does the usage of Saturn mean in this poem?
- Who is this poem written for?
