Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Describe the point at which the poet changes mood in Shakespeare's "Sonnet 29".

In Shakespeare's Sonnet 29, the poet is despondent through the first two quatrains (groups of 4 lines).  Whether he is now "in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes" is not clear; the poet may simply be reflecting upon this condition.  At any rate, he sets up the condition as one which causes him a feeling of alienation and despair.  In this state, the poet declares that he is envious of the prosperity and companionship and talents of others in lines 5-8.


However, this despondency is broken in the third quatrain of this sonnet as he asserts, "Haply I think on thee,-and then my state...sings hymns at heaven's gate."  For, the love of one person can make all the difference to a person. In the ending couplet which sums up the meaning of the sonnet, the poet states,



For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth brings,/That then I scorn to change my state of being.



Having the this love, the poet considers himself rich and is content with his state in life.

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