Discussion Topic
Expressions of the poet's woes in Shakespeare's Sonnet 30
Summary:
In "Sonnet 30," Shakespeare expresses the poet's woes through reflective and sorrowful language, lamenting past losses, unfulfilled desires, and wasted time. The poet revisits old griefs and mourns friends who have died, showcasing a deep sense of melancholy and regret. However, the sonnet concludes with a note of solace, finding comfort in the thought of a dear friend.
How does the poet express his woes in Sonnet 30?
According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, a woe is "a condition of deep suffering from misfortune, affliction, or grief." In Sonnet 30, the poet Shakespeare expresses his woes in a number of ways, but it's important to keep in mind that he does it as a counterpoint to his conclusion at the end: that when he thinks about his beloved friend, his sorrows all go away.
When the poet mentions "the lack of many a thing I sought," he is sorrowful over things that he failed to achieve in his life. In the next line, he is sad about his "dear time's waste," emphasizing that the time that a person is given in life is precious, but he has wasted so much of it. He weeps for friends "in death's dateless night"—in other words, friends who have died and no longer live in the limited time of this world. He...
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also cries over "cancell'd woe," or sorrows that have already passed and are already healed. He laments over "the expense of many a vanish'd sight," referring to people or things that he could see in the past but can no longer see.
The poet then repeats that he is remembering past sorrows: "grievances foregone," "woe to woe tell o'er," and "fore-bemoaned moan." These are all different ways of saying that he is not contemplating present sorrows but rather sorrows of the past. In the end, the thought of his friend takes all these woes away.
What is the speaker "bewailing" in Shakespeare's Sonnet 30?
In this sonnet by William Shakespeare, the speaker "bewails" (mourns or shows great regret for) his past and present. Looking back, the speaker summons "up remembrance of things past" and regrets that he was unable to achieve the many things he wished for. According to the speaker, he wasted time that he cannot get back: "And with old woes new wail my dear time's waste." The speaker goes on to mourn the lives of his friends who were lost in "death's dateless night." He continues to weep because remembering them has brought the pain to the surface.
Therefore, the speaker bewails a life that did not come to be as promising or fulfilling as he had hoped. He was unable to do everything that he wished to do, and now he finds that it is too late. Looking back on his losses only makes the speaker feel the losses again.