William Shakespeare's First 30 Sonnets Analysis: A Panacea for the Poet’s Emotional Distress

William Shakespeare's Sonnet 30 is at the center of a sequence of sonnets dealing with the narrator’s growing attachment to the fair lord and the narrator’s paralyzing inability to function without him. The sonnet begins with the image of the poet drifting off into the “remembrance of things past” – painful memories, we soon learn, that the poet has already lamented but now must lament a new. The fair lord enters the scene only in the sonnet’s closing couplet, where he is presented as a panacea for the poet’s emotional distress:

"When to the sessions of sweet silent thought 

I summon up remembrance of things past, 

I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought, 

And with old woes new wail my dear time's waste. 

Then can I drown an eye, unus'd to flow, 

For precious friends hid in death's dateless night, 

And weep afresh love's long since cancell'd woe,. 

And moan the expense of many a vanish'd sight, 

Then can I grieve at grievances foregone, 

And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er 

The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan, 

Which I new pay as if not paid before. 

But if the while I think on thee, dear friend, 

All losses are restor'd and sorrows end. "

Closely mourning his status as an outcast and failure but feels better upon thinking of his beloved is the message of  Sonnet 29. Here Shakespeare cleverly heightens the expression of his overwhelming anxiety by belaboring the theme of emotional dependence:

"When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes, 

I all alone beweep my outcast state, 

And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries, 

And look upon myself and curse my fate, 

Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, 

Featur'd like him, like him with friends possess 'd, 

Desiring this man's art and that man's scope, 

With what I most enjoy contented least ; 

Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising, 

Haply I think on thee, and then my state, 

Like to the lark at break of day arising 

From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate ; 

For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth brings 

That then I scorn to change my state with kings."

Whereas in Sonnet 29 he quits his whining after the second quatrain, in Sonnet 30 three full quatrains are devoted to the narrator’s grief, suggesting that his dependence on the fair lord is increasing. Meanwhile  Sonnet 30’s closing couplet reiterates lines 9-14 of Sonnet 29 in compact form, emphasizing that the fair lord is a necessity for the poet’s emotional well-being: the fair lord is the only thing that can bring the poet happiness.

William Shakespeare

This pinnacle of the poet’s plaintive state is beautifully conveyed through an artful use of repetition and internal rhyme. Beyond the obvious alliteration of “sessions of sweet silent thought”, note the “-nce ” assonance of “remembrance” and “grievances” to which may be added “since” and “cancelled”; the correspondence of “sigh,” “sought,” and “sight”; and the rhyme irr “foregone,” "for-bemoaned,” and “restored.” It is as through the post wishes to hammer in his hardship with the repetitive droning of his troubled soul.

Beyond its poetics,  Sonnet 30 also provides some prime examples of the poet’s recurring tendency to describe his relationship with the fair lord in financial terms. The opening lines of the sonnet remind us of being called to court. This is followed by slew of money-related terms, including “expense, grievances, account, paid and losses”. The phrase “tell o’er” in line 10 is an accounting expression (cf. the modern bank teller) and conjures up an image of the narrator reconciling a balance sheet of his former woes and likening them to debts that he can never pay off in full. The only cure for his financial hardship is the fair lord’s patronage – perhaps something to be taken literally, suggesting that the fair lord is in fact the poet’s real-world financial benefactor.

These first 30 sonnets of William Shakespeare revolve around the theme of procreation as a solution to the poet's emotional distress. The poet consistently urges the young man to have children, emphasizing the transient nature of beauty and the importance of leaving a lasting legacy. Through procreation, the poet believes that the young man's beauty can be immortalized and his essence perpetuated throughout generations, providing a panacea for the poet's emotional turmoil.

One-liner Theme of First 30 Sonnets

👉Sonnet 1: The poet urges the young man to marry and procreate to preserve his beauty and essence throughout generations.

👉Sonnet 2: The poet advises the young man to embrace love and seek a partner to ensure the continuity of his beauty and lineage.

👉Sonnet 3: Shakespeare emphasizes the importance of procreation, highlighting that beauty fades with time, but offspring can immortalize the young man's legacy.

👉Sonnet 4: Shakespeare urges the young man to have children and emphasizes that his beauty is a gift that should be shared and perpetuated.

👉Sonnet 5: Shakespeare advises the young man to procreate as an act of defiance against Time, ensuring his beauty will live on beyond his mortal existence.

👉Sonnet 6: The poet suggests that the young man's beauty will diminish with age, but his offspring can be a mirror of his former self, perpetuating his essence.

👉Sonnet 7: The poet compares the young man's beauty to a flower and urges him to procreate, as flowers reproduce to ensure their existence.

👉Sonnet 8: The poet describes the beauty of the young man and advises him to share his virtues by having children to extend his legacy.

👉Sonnet 9: Shakespeare warns the young man that without offspring, his beauty will be forgotten and lost to Time's relentless passage.

👉Sonnet 10: The poet encourages the young man to defy Time's destructive force by procreating and creating a lasting impact through his children.

👉Sonnet 11: The poet suggests that the young man's beauty is divine and should be preserved through progeny, akin to the immortality of angels.

👉Sonnet 12: Shakespeare explores the transient nature of beauty and suggests that the young man's offspring can compensate for this impermanence.

👉Sonnet 13: The poet highlights the fleeting nature of youth and beauty, urging the young man to procreate and ensure his legacy survives beyond his own mortality.

👉Sonnet 14: The poet encourages the young man to have children and immortalize his beauty through them, defying the destructive power of Time.

👉Sonnet 15: The poet contemplates the passage of time and advises the young man to have children to preserve his beauty in the face of mortality.

👉Sonnet 16: The poet suggests that the young man's beauty can surpass Time's grasp through offspring, defying the natural cycle of life and death.

👉Sonnet 17: Shakespeare promises to immortalize the young man's beauty through his poetry, but also urges him to have children for a tangible legacy.

👉Sonnet 18: The renowned "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" sonnet, where the poet immortalizes the young man's beauty through verse.

👉Sonnet 19: The poet expresses his desire to preserve the young man's beauty by creating offspring that will inherit and perpetuate his virtues.

👉Sonnet 20: Shakespeare reveals his affection for the young man, despite societal conventions, and acknowledges the beauty that lies within him.

👉Sonnet 21: The poet speaker emphasizes the young man's attractiveness and urges him to procreate, lest his beauty fades away with the passage of time.

👉Sonnet 22: The poet compares the young man's beauty to the sun and encourages him to create a new sun through progeny to defy Time's shadow.

👉Sonnet 23: The poet longs to have the ability to procreate with the young man, expressing his desire to unite their beauty and create a lasting legacy together.

👉Sonnet 24: The poet reflects on the young man's beauty and laments that it will eventually fade, but encourages him to have children to preserve his essence.

👉Sonnet 25: The poet acknowledges the young man's exceptional beauty and suggests that through procreation, his virtues can be passed on to future generations.

👉Sonnet 26: The poet contemplates the power of his words in immortalizing the young man's beauty, while urging him to have children as a physical representation of his legacy.

👉Sonnet 27: The poet yearns for the young man's love and affection, desiring to have his beauty and essence perpetuated through a shared bond.

👉Sonnet 28: The poet praises the young man's beauty and suggests that through love and procreation, his virtues can be preserved and carried forward.

👉Sonnet 29: The poet expresses feelings of inadequacy and despair, but finds solace in the thought of the young man's beauty and the potential for a shared future.

👉Sonnet 30: The poet reflects on past sorrows and finds comfort in the memory of the young man, whose beauty serves as a source of emotional healing and rejuvenation.

Ardhendu De

References

1. Shakespeare’s Sonnets : Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive. (n.d.). Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/Shakespearessonn01shak_201303