Sonnet 129 - Reflection

The Dark Lady. The ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GG rule in this poem, I believe, says a lot about this poem. If you look at the last word in every line they tell a story.

Shame - Blame

Lust - Trust

Straight - Bait

Had - Mad

So -Woe

Extreme - Dream

Well- Hell

Shame and blame come after the lust and the lack of trust. The speaker had her and continued to be mad when it didn't work out. Their relationship is an extremely elaborate dream when in reality it comes close to a personal hell for the speaker. There is so many emotional ups and downs and crazy feelings for the dark lady. The speaker never rests in his actions and he doesn't seem to feel better about his decision. He loves how she makes him feel but hates how she doesn't feel the same. He's chasing her and she's only giving in because it pleases her to use him. The alternate tenses say a lot about his alternate feelings.

Sonnet 116 - Reflection

No reason not to marry, even when a lover is unfaithful. Sea storms never lose courage, love does not alter with measures of time. At the beginning of these sonnets the boy was immortal and now love is immortal. True love is never shaken. Was the speaker talking about what love should be or was he saying that this is the type of love he has? I believe that no one knows true love until they're in it. Otherwise they are watching other people and basing their opinion of love off of someone else's energy. It seems to me that the speaker is fighting for the boy in this sonnet. Are they losing love? There isn't a reason for them not to get married, love is love. There is so much convincing in this poem. The light house reference says it all for me. The speaker loves this boy, he believes that they are standing on solid ground. The Biblical reference could mean anything. Could it be that the speaker believes that God approves their relationship? So many possibilities in this poem, so much truth about love.

Sonnet 99 - Reflection

This was my sonnet to present and it was so interesting to find out the true meaning. A lot of questions were asked and some of them haven't been answered yet and they may never be. One questions was: Is the young man as beautiful as they made him seem? The violets, roses, and lilies stole their beauty from him. If this true, in the speakers mind, why does he have to tell him/remind him of this? This sonnet is so beautifully written and so complicated at the same time. This was all based on the flowers and the young man's beauty. The sonnets have turned away from convincing him to have children and instead have told him, going forward, that he is so beautiful nothing, not even the violets, can compare because he is the original. Was this a warning to the boy? "Pride gained by greed and thievery ends up in fear, shame, despair, and ultimately to death by worms." While the violets stole your beauty, pride will take you over.

Sonnet 87 - Reflection

"Farewell, though art to dear for my possessing,". There is such a pity party happening here. The speaker is opening our eyes to his insecurities in this poem. He is realizing all of the reasons why the two of them will not work out. This boy is such a treasure, a gift. Letting go of the boy seems too difficult for the speaker. This is where the sonnets take a turn. What ever happened to the sonnets about boy having children? Now they are in a relationship that is centered solely on how beautiful the boy is and how the speaker does not deserve him. If I look at this as a pity party I begin to change my view on the speaker and the young man. I start to wonder if this is all about getting the young man's attention. If I look at it in a different sense, like wealth, it is more acceptable. There are over 13 references to wealth, money, and gifts, in this poem. Is money one of the reasons they aren't together? Is the young man more well off than the speaker is? Is that complicating their relationship?

Sonnet 55 - Reflection

Sonnet 55 is a love poem, as are most sonnets, but this one doesn't seem as hard to dissect. This poem clearly stares "You live in this, and dwell in lovers' eyes". I want to comment on the validity of that statement. I believe that the speaker really meant that about the boy. This young man will live on forever in a literal and hypothetical way. These poems are in writing; they can be kept and taken care of and eventually translated. While I understand the meaning of it I am curious about why this boy needs to hear these words. You'll live on and no one can stop you through the letters of a poem. Memorials and monuments may fade but only a poem will live on. Why was the speaker so insistent on him living on? Aren't the parents insisting that it will happen through a child? Does the speaker believe that the young man wants/will have children or is this, the poem, where he stops? Does the boy only last through the poems?

Sonnet 73 - Reflection

So many questions come from these sonnets and the mystery behind it all. Maybe we'll never find the truth but I wouldn't discredit the brilliance of the word play Shakespeare uses. This sonnet kicks off Autumn with a conundrum. This young man's life is on the decline and before the winter comes, for it is Autumn, he must have children. After the sunset fades in this season, there wont be anymore time. As we know, the boy wont be beautiful for much longer. My mind ran away with the couplet in this sonnet. If the speaker is William Shakespeare could it be that boy isn't having children because he loves the speaker, a man? It seems out of place because of the many times the speaker has suggested that the boy have children. Could this all be a ruse to satisfy the parents? Is the speaker a man? Is Shakespeare writing for a girl to the young man? It's a hard question to answer with what little clues we have regarding the young boy and his situation.

Sonnet 12 - Reflection

Shakespeare talks a lot about winter in his sonnets, this one in particular. The first line creating the sound of a ticking clock is a warning sign for me. If the boy doesn’t have children he will grow old and watch “the brave day sunk in hideous night”. It is clear that old age wasn’t considered pretty in that time. The parents of this young man are going out of their way to prevent him from ever getting old. In the literal sense that may not be possible but if you think about it, it is. They have a live in poet who reads these poems to their son, convincing him to have children. Desperate calls for desperate measures. If he has children he won’t ever enter old age because of his looks, maybe even his personality, will be in the child and therefore he will never truly grow old. A young face, similar to his own, might ease the minds of his parents.  Is that what this is all about? The idea of the young man pro-creating gives them a knowing that their son will live another 40 years.

Sonnet 18 - Reflection

This young man is laid out in front of us and we are left with the idea that everything good comes to an end. I tried to put myself in the place of the young man. To have these things said about me in such a descriptive and yet so opaque way is unthinkable. As I think about the meaning of this poem I think of how the boy felt when he hears the bible reference and then in the very next line all attention is on him and his “eternal lines”. While the young man’s “eternal summer shall not fade” they ask him in such a subtle (or not subtle) way to continue his lineage. If he has a child and the child isn’t as beautiful as he is, what will happen?

If I think about the speaker having an attraction to the boy I am able to handle these poems, otherwise it just seems cruel. If the speaker doesn’t believe in what he’s saying, the boy has to wonder if any of it is true.

Sonnet 2 - Reflection

Sonnet 2 is a step above the talk of sonnet 1. Convincing this young man of having children is one thing I wonder about. Youth only lasts for so long, agreed, but what about his inner beauty. That line is so cliché and possibly overused but there is a lot of talk about the physical appearance in these poems. Does he have inner beauty? Is it that in this time, old age is a bad thing and not acceptable if you do not have children? Why are they pushing this boy so hard to have children? We only know what Shakespeare gives us. Shouldn’t the idea of kids be a natural thing? Or is it that he doesn’t like kids? This poem is quite a conundrum to me. Not because of the words that are used but because of the possibilities that lie within it. Shakespeare isn’t telling us everything we want to know and even though I find it incredibly frustrating I also see it as a good mystery.

Sonnet 1 - Reflection

Shakespeare begins his sonnets with a lovely interpretation of beauty. The poet’s feeling towards the boy is unclear at this point, I believe. If the parents of this young man have asked Shakespeare to write poems about the "fairest creatures" beauty coming to an end, Shakespeare’s feelings could potentially be irrelevant. It is beautifully explained that people want more of what is beautiful, and one way to make more beauty is to pro-create and pass on the genes of good looks. Opposing images and oxymorons are being used fluently in this sonnet. It is hard, for me, to tell if the man is convincing him to pro-create or telling him that he won’t be beautiful forever. Are both points included in the theme, together, or is it deeper than that? Does Shakespeare believe in the beauty the young man has or is it only passed on, through writing, because of the parents?

The beautiful rose is going to die...have children.