Page 221 - DENG405_BRITISH_POETRY

British Poetry

Notes Sonnet 57, along with the following sonnet, reveal the fair lord to be abusive of the poet’s undying
devotion. In addressing this cruelty here, the speaker obviously recognizes it and is commenting
upon it. It is as if he is answering a question posed by the fair lord along the lines of, “Why are you
so demanding of my time?” However, in the final couplet of Sonnet 58, he resigns himself to the fate
of a slave, waiting around for word from the fair lord: “I am to wait, though waiting so be hell,/Not
blame your pleasure be it ill or well.”
The idea of someone in love being enslaved by the beloved was common. For example, in Sir Philip
Sidney’s Sonnet 47 from Astrophil and Stella, the speaker asks, “What, have I thus betrayed my
liberty?/Can those black beams such burning marks engrave/In my free side? or am I born a slave,/
Whose neck becomes such yoke of tyranny?” The “black beams” are Stella’s eyes. This theme
reappears in Shakespeare’s sonnets to the dark lady, as well.

What is the reason for the suffering of the speaker in sonnet 57?

The theme of Sonnets 57 and 58 is reminiscent of the idea presented in Sonnet 26, which declares,
“Lord of my love, to whom in vassalage/Thy merit hath my duty strongly knit.” However, in Sonnet
26 the devotion is called “duty so great,” and the positive attitude of the poet is reflected in words
like “merit,” “good,” “star,” “grociously,” “fair,” “worthy,” and “sweet.” However, in sonnet 57
the attitude of the speaker has changed drastically, and his position is one of desperation and
resentment. This is reflected in the diction choices of “slave,” “services,” “bitterness,” “sour,”
“jealous,” “sad,” “fool,” and “ill.”
The suffering of the speaker is not just in that he misses the fair lord, but in that he must pretend not
to. He pretends these both to the fair lord, whom he is addressing in this and the following sonnet,
as well as to himself while he waits. Lines 9-12 make this struggle obvious, since they contradict
each other: “Nor dare I question with my jealous thought/Where you may be, or your affairs
suppose,/But, like a sad slave, stay and think of nought/Save, where you are, how happy you
make those.” He claims not to question the fair lord’s whereabouts and actions, but he can “think of
nought” else.
While the speaker pines away, waiting for the fair lord to show him some attention, it is implied
that the fair lord is off being promiscuous somewhere else. Line 2 refers to the times when the fair
lord is away from the poet as “times of your desire.” Lines 9-10 seem a bit sarcastic: “Nor dare I
question with my jealous thought/Where you may be, or your affairs suppose;” the speaker feels
“jealous” for a reason, and the idea that the “affairs” of the fair lord are of questionable moral
quality is furthered. In the final line of the sonnet, it is clear that whatever the fair lord is up to is
distasteful to the poet: “Though you do anything, he thinks no ill.”

Self Assessment

Multiple Choice Questions:
1. Sixteenth century love sonnets typically follow all but which of the following conventions?
(a) A fair young lady is deeply in love with a man who’s hesitant to court her
(b) Exaggerated language expresses the lover‘s adoration
(c) The speaker is a male lover
(d) The female object of attention and affection is beautiful and pure.
2. The fair young man to whom the poet speaks in sonnets 1-126 demonstrates which of the
following characteristics?

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