Discussion Topic
The audience and dedication of Sonnet 29
Summary:
In "Sonnet 29," the audience is likely a young man to whom Shakespeare addresses many of his sonnets. The dedication is to this same individual, expressing the poet's feelings of despair and envy but ultimately finding solace and joy in the thought of the young man's love.
Who is the audience in Sonnet 29?
The audience in this sonnet is the speaker's lover, though the thoughts are penned in solitude rather than spoken to the lovers' face.
It is not until line 10 that we see redemption for the troubled speaker. In the opening lines, he is miserable: 'When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes/I will all alone beweep my outcast state."
Continuing on in this self-deprecating vein, he wishes (line 5-8) to be "...one more rich in hope/Feathered like him, like him with friends possessed,/Desiring this man's art, that man's scope." Here, the speaker feels envious of people with better prospects.
But when things look most dim, "Happly, I think on thee..". When he thinks of the lover, he feels that he could not "change my state with kings."
Who is Sonnet 29 dedicated to?
Sonnet 29 is not officially dedicated to any particular person. However, traditionally, Sonnet 29 is perceived as being unofficially dedicated to...
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the "Fair Youth," a young and handsome male. The Fair Youth is addressed by the speaker in Sonnets 1–126. The identity of the Fair Youth remains a mystery, though this has not stopped scholars from spinning their own theories (some have even argued the Fair Youth might have been Shakespeare's nephew). The most common debate around the Fair Youth is whether or not the speaker's regard for him is platonic or homoerotic in nature; however, this inquiry does not necessarily apply to Sonnet 29, which focuses more on the speaker's inner demons than on the comfort provided by the object of his adoration.
Sonnet 29 concerns the speaker's strong feelings of alienation and despair over his state in life. He feels he has become an outcast, so much so that even heaven has turned away from him. The sonnet emphasizes the speaker's comparing himself with those he considers more fortunate, which only makes his sadness all the worse. The sonnet finally resolves with the speaker sharing that the Fair Youth's love for him cancels this pain out, so much so that he would not trade his state with kings.
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