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What is the poet's state of mind in "Sonnet 29"?

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In "Sonnet 29," the poet initially experiences a despondent state of mind, feeling disgraced and envious of others' talents and fortunes. He laments his situation and feels ignored by God. However, his mood transforms when he thinks of his beloved, whose love uplifts him and makes him feel wealthy and content. This shift in perspective leads him to cherish his life and reject any desire to change places with others, even kings.

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The speaker is in a pretty despondent state for most of the poem, and no wonder: Everything seems to be going wrong in his life. The men whom he meets in society despise him, and fortune's wheel appears to have turned decisively against him. To make matters worse, he's eaten up by envy, desiring "this man's art and that man's scope." How the speaker wishes he could be just like them!

Venting his frustration doesn't do any good, either. The speaker's "bootless cries" are habitually ignored by God, who does not listen to his requests. The only thing that finally makes a difference is thinking about his lover, whose sweet love brings the speaker such unspeakable wealth that he now realizes he wouldn't change places with anyone, not even a king.

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The speaker in this sonnet is in a low state of mind to begin with. His attitude to life is to "beweep" whatever has led to his "disgrace" in the eyes of both fortune and other people; he is cursing his own existence and envying others' "art" and "scope" which, he feels, prevent them from "despising" themselves as he does in this moment. However, the speaker's state of mind does not stay like this for long, because he has discovered a means of elevating it to something happier. The poet describes how thoughts of his beloved cause his mental state to rise "like a lark" ascending. When he thinks of his beloved, the thought of him and the relationship they have causes the speaker's attitude to change entirely. Where before, he had been cursing himself and his existence, looking at all around him and wishing he could be them instead, now he feels rich in himself and in his existence. Indeed, once he has thought about his beloved, the speaker would not even exchange his lot in life with that of "kings," knowing that his beloved exists in the world.

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