FON UNIVERSITY

Faculty of Applied Foreign Languages

Course: British Literature 1

SONNET 29 by William Shakespeare

Mentor, Student,

Prof. Ana Kechan, PhD Stefanija Temelkovska

Index No. 09/16098

Content:

1. Sonnet 29
2. Sonnet 29 – paraphrased

3. Interpretation of the sonnet

4. Unfamiliar words explained

5. Meter and rhyme scheme

6. Figures of speech in Sonnet 29

1. SONNET 29

When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,

I all alone beweep my outcast state
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possess'd,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

2. Sonnet 29 - Paraphrased

When I’ve fallen out of favor with fortune and men,

All alone I weep over my position as a social outcast,
And pray to heaven, but my cries go unheard,
And I look at myself, cursing my fate,
Wishing I were like one who had more hope,
Wishing I looked like him; wishing I were surrounded by friends,
Wishing I had this man’s skill and that man’s freedom,
I am least contented with what I used to enjoy most.
But, with these thoughts – almost despising myself,
I, by chance, think of you and then my melancholy
Like the lark at the break of day, rises
From the dark earth and (I) singing hymns to heaven;
For thinking of your love brings such happiness
That then I would not change my position in life with kings.
3. Interpretation

Sonnet 29 belongs to the group of sonnets dedicated to the beautiful

young man. More precisely, it is one of those sonnets when Shakespeare
attempts to immortalize the beauty of the young man. In this sonnet, we
can see that the poet is melancholic, frustrated, miserable and envious of
other people.
In the first quatrain we see that he feels like a social outcast, like a
black sheep, he doesn’t feel that he belongs to any social group. It is a
feeling of isolation and despair. He is all alone (“I all alone beweep my
outcast state”). He wishes to change his situation, he prays to heaven, he
curses his fate, he wants to change his destiny.
The second quatrain shows us how he imagines his state, i.e. how he
would like things to develop in his life. Indeed, this quatrain resembles a
wish list. He is no longer satisfied with what he used to enjoy most in his
life. He longs to have hope in his life (to be more hopeful), to be surrounded
by friends, to resemble him, to have the skill and freedom of other people.
This means that he is envois of the others. He feels that his situation is
desperate and all other people are in well-being.
Suddenly, in the third quatrain we see his magical transformation. He
is no longer desperate, melancholic and full of self-disdain. His melancholy
goes away like a bird at the break of the day and singing hymns to heaven.
This comes as a result of the fact that the poet thinks about the beautiful
young man. At once, he is no longer on the gloomy and dark earth, but
singing hymns at heaven’s gate.
The couplet, being the peak of the sonnet, tells us that the poet
wouldn’t change his situation with nobody, he doesn’t want to be in no one
else’s shoes, not even with kings due to the fact that thinking about the
beautiful young man brings him so much happiness and that is all he needs in
life. He even says: “I scorn to change my situation with kings”, which means
that he expresses contempt and derision for their situation, i.e. there is no
better feeling on this world than thinking of his beloved one.
4. Unfamiliar words explained

Disgrace – loss of reputation or respect

Beweep – to weep over, to deplore
Outcast – a person who has been rejected by the society
Bootless – useless, ineffective
Haply – by accident
Lark – A type of bird (чучулига)
Sullen – gloomy, dark, bad-tempered
Scorn- feel or express contempt or derision for

5. Meter and rhyme scheme

Sonnet 29 follows the structure of the English sonnet, which is a fourteen-

line poem written in iambic pentameter and the following rhyme scheme
ABAB, CDCD, EFEF GG.

When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes, A

I all alone beweep my outcast state B
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries A
And look upon myself and curse my fate, B
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, C
Featured like him, like him with friends possess'd, D
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope, C
With what I most enjoy contented least; D
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising, E
Haply I think on thee, and then my state, F
Like to the lark at break of day arising E
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate; F
For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth brings G
That then I scorn to change my state with kings. G
6. Figures of speech in the sonnet

Personification – attribution to personal qualities and traits to something

nonhuman
a. “And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries”
- heaven is given the (in)ability to hear, heaven is given people’s
characteristic

b. “From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate”

- the Earth is in a sullen mood, the Earth is bad-tempered ( it is given
the characteristic to have feelings and moods)

Simile - A figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with

another thing of a different kind

a. “Haply I think on thee, and then my state,

Like to the lark at break of day arising”
- the poet compares his state of mind like a bird, he feels that he is
free like a lark at daybreak.

b. “Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,

Featured like him, like him with friends possess'd, “
-the poet tells us like whom he wants to be

Symbol - A thing that represents or stands for something else

a. Kings – symbolize all fortunate people; previously in the sonnet we
have seen that he feels that all other people are happy and that he is
not; kings functions like an umbrella term for all the people he was
jealous of about their situation.

b. Lark – symbol of freedom, happiness and joyful. It is well-known that

birds are usually associated with freedom.
Anaphora - the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of
successive lines

“And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries

And look upon myself and curse my fate, “

Prosthesis - the addition of letter(s) at the start of a word to create a

new word
”I all alone beweep my outcast state” - to weep over, to deplore, lament