The Empowered Voice of Absence - Shakespeares Sonnet Number 29 - Assignment Example

 The Empowered Voice of Absence Shakespeare’s Sonnet Number 29 centers on the commonality of the states of melancholy that mark life’s experiences, yet incorporates a renewed optimistic sense of the self using an absent lover as a transformative presence. After lamenting his downcast state in the octave and a prosody peppered with dark and hopeless imagery, the writer is suddenly awakened in the sestet to a new breath of hopeful humor by thoughts of his absent paramour. The absent lover addressed in the sonnet will not hear his words directly, but one can assume will only read or hear the words in the future. This absence is important to a personal interpretation by the reader, who, in essence, is brought into the intimacy of the writer’s life experience. It is this empowerment of the absent lover that draws us to the words, as the writer incorporates emotional and wonderfully dark, yet uplifting prosodic techniques to convey initial despair and ultimate renewal, thus invoking both lover and a sense of lover’s physical presence in the mind of the author. It is this physicality, rather than mere thoughts of an absent lover, that transforms the author and, ultimately, his state of being. The sonnet’s proposition begins with the word “when,” which indicates a recurrence of melancholy that befalls the author more than once in life. The word choice is essential to both the meaning and the structure of the octave, as it opens the work to a more communal interpretation that implies commonality between the writer and reader. Upon examination of the octave as a whole, the author places emphasis on the negative state of his existence by incorporating words like “disgrace,” “alone,” “outcast,” “bootless,” and “curse” throughout the first quatrain. The tension created by the word usage is an attempt to convey the full sense of the author’s despair and hopelessness, and serves as a counter-balance to a later transformation. The words are transformative, bringing the reader into the depths of human suffering suffered by the writer. There seems little way out of that negative spiral in the octave, but for the word “when,” which reminds the reader that perhaps the author’s mood of melancholy is indeed temporal, and that there may be hope forthcoming. This is but the slightest attempt at foreshadowing of hopefulness in the coming resolution, but exists nonetheless, attempting to allay the darkness of the words with a single strand of hope. The second quatrain is set apart from the initial quatrain, in that there is an absence of the heavy, negative wording, as the author compares his existence to others’. The second quatrain of the octave explains to the absent lover the writer’s all-too-human frailty of coveting the “other.” The despair in the author’s heart flows from an internal, more psychological place to an external manifestation of hopelessness. He laments his station in life and cannot help but compare himself to other men, those who have experienced life on a much richer, grander scale than he. The writer sees himself wanting when comparing his station to men he defines as “more rich in hope,” or those with a large network of people upon which to draw, “with friends possess’d.” His melancholic heart forces him to admit he wished he had the skills or “art” of other men, or a grander set of life experiences, or “scope,” and leaves little room for the lightness of being in the octave, as both internal and external forces seem to conspire against him. The cause of the troubles are left unstated in the sonnet, and many have surmised what those could have been. The reasons for such melancholy are largely irrelevant as they take a secondary role to the commonality of the frailty of the human condition in the octave that serves to bind author and lover. It is this depth of despair that allows emotions to transform both writer and lover, as mere thoughts of the lover affect the writer as much as the lover being physically present. It is the emotional contrasts between the octave and the sestet which show this remarkable transformation in the writer’s persona, from despair to eternal hope, as the lover becomes more than a thought, but more of a physical presnce to the author. The sestet marks a sharp transition from the darkness and self-loathing which marked the propositional octave, and illustrates the effect love has on the author transforms his mind. The word “yet” begins the first line of the sestet, which is itself a transitional line between the two sections of the sonnet. The author admits that although he almost despises himself at such times in his life, “myself almost despising,” his state changes dramatically when thoughts turn to a lover: “Yet…/Haply I think on thee.” The initial usage of the word “yet,” (similarly to usage of the word “when” in the first line) signals a transition of sorts from despair to hope: the author’s disposition, or “state,” swiftly changes. The sestet’s use of prosody is markedly more optimistic than the octave’s mood choices. Words such as “haply,” “break of day,” “arising,” “heaven’s gate,” “sweet love,” and “wealth” all serve to give a hopeful and redemptive setting, finally relieving the tension created throughout the octave. It is as if the author is reborn, but not from God, but from his lover, who becomes the redemptive spirit for him-- a real physical presence to him. The words used in the octave can be interpreted to convey a sense of hell, with multiple depths of despair; a life without his lover. The sestet conveys a spirit reborn, and would seemingly parallel a religious rebirth in the writer. One may make a case for the impact of the religious imagery, as the author is transformed from “deaf heaven” and “sullen earth” to “heaven’s gate,” with its sounds of singing “hymns.” The religious figure of God is supplanted as the origin of his renewal with a more human source of redemption: his lover, or “sweet love.” The ability of an absent God to transform him is eschewed despite hints at this as a redemptive force throughout the sonnet. It is here the author echoes previous religious imagery to convey his sense of his soaring soul, as a “lark at the break of day,” which he describes as ascending towards the heavens, “arising/From sullen earth.” Indeed, in the octave, he refers to his “outcast state” (similar to Satan, outcast from heaven, Godless) as “all alone,” apart from a such power. The final couplet turns any anticipation of final religious metaphor on its head with love and being loved as the author’s true respite from melancholy, not religion. The happiness it brings to him is so great, he would not change his “state with kings.” With a reference to the earthly vices of wealth and power, both supplanted by his “sweet love” for his lover, his feet are firmly planted on humanistic grounds, apart from any concerns for attaining heavenly favor. The focus on the absent lover, rather than the redemptive ability of a higher power is most abundant in the sestet, and it the thoughts of the lover that give life to his heart. It is this focus on the tangible, rather than the ethereal, that allows the absent lover to come alive as a transformative being, without actual physicality. Unlike a religious being, which is never physically present, the lover becomes physically present for the writer in his memory and heart. The lover is absent no more, and truly is present in his heart and transforms his state from one of despair to one of hope and joy. Read More