Position:Home>Poetry> Sonnet 29???

· the subject

How to cope with `disgrace' (line 1)-- with `love' (line 13)!.

· the speaker

The speaker of all the sonnets is often said to be `Shakespeare' himself, or one might just say `the poet' if one does not want to assume Shakespeare is writing in his own voice!.

· the audience

This is a love poem!. It divides into four parts, three groups of four lines (quatrains) and a couplet of two lines at the end!. If you read the poem, you'll see that the first two quatrains speak in general terms about how bad the poet's life is: just read the first line to see that!. The third quatrain, in line 10, finally addresses himself to the poet's beloved-- `yet in these thoughts, myself almost despising,/haply I think on thee!.!.!.' Typically, the beloved on the first 127 sonnets is said to be a character called the `Young Man!.'

Is this the audience, exactly!? Perhaps!. The poems were never deliberately published by Shakespeare, and he did not apparently intend the general Elizabethan sonnet-reading audience to read these poems!. But certainly the poem does presume anybody who reads it -- the audience -- to be familiar with conventions of Elizabethan sonnets!.

· literary devices used by the poet (metaphors, similes, personification, metonymy, etc!.)

There is the simile of the lark at break of day ascending; there is a pun on state, which is situation and also kingdom, motivating `change my state with kings' in the couplet!. `Outcast state,' by this logic, you might say is a political metaphor for feeling friendless or unaccomplished!. But really this is a very literal poem so it is not worth looking too hard!. I see why you asked the question!.

· the rhyme scheme

You should verify this, but Shakespearean sonnets are rhymed ABAB/CDCD/EFEF/GG!.

· the type of sonnet

This is an easy question; it is a Shakespearean sonnet, which refers to the rhyme scheme, as well, perhaps, as Shakespeare's peculiar rhetorical habits!.

· the images of the poem

This is not a very visual poem!. The most striking image is, `like to the lark at break of day arising,/from the sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate' in line 11!. This points back to the weaker and unfulfilled image of heaven earlier: `I all alone beweep my outcast state/and trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries!.!.!.' (lines 2-3)!.

· the sound effects (alliteration, assonance, meter)

The metre is iambic pentameter, but several times Shakespeare substitutes an anapest (--`) for an iamb (-`) to give a lilting feel!. You can see this in lines 3, 5, 6, possibly 7, and 10: `trouble deaf heaven,' `wishing me like,' `featured like him,' arguably `desiring this man's art,' and `haply I think on thee!.!.!.'

There are few uses of alliteration here: featured and friends in line 6, `like to the lark' in line 11, sullen and sings in line 12-- perhaps a few others!. This poem is far below average for the sonnets in this regard!.

Assonance!? I don't feel this is an important element in this poem either!. You might find an example or two, but like alliteration is is hard not to do assonance sometimes; and for Shakespeare's more conceptual poems, such as this one, it seems that type of effect is not desirable, perhaps because it confuses the intellectual tone with emotion!.

I hope this helps!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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i loath to do this but!.!.!.

http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/Sonnet_29

you should really try to figure it out for yourself though first!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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