Sonnet 29 Group

Question:

mitaricha
mitaricha
Student
Community / Jr. College

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

SONNET 29 OF SHAKESPEARE...

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Posted by mitaricha on Saturday August 15, 2009 at 7:14 AM and tagged with analysis, design, literature, mood, shakespeare, sonnets.

Answers:

  1. mwestwood
    mwestwood Teacher
    Community / Jr. College

    eNotes Editor

    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.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/sonnet-29

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    Posted by mwestwood on Saturday August 15, 2009 at 9:51 AM