Most of what we look for today in our romantic relationships comes from the writings of Shakespeare with stories and characters he would create. “In the sonnets, 1-126, we see a growing friendship with the young man and the development of an intensity of feeling”(NSS). So we understand his sonnets as a true story of the evolution of love as he was going through it. But, throughout his sonnets 30, 55, and 116 we see his most apparent examples of love, friendship and marriage most present. In these sonnets we see the true dependence and faith we put into the ones we love.
Shakespeare shows much compassion and devotion such as love, friendship, and marriage through the ideas of long lasting life and the strength of a bond between two people. Shakespeare’s sonnet 30 is about a tribute to a friend or lover. He’s saying that when he has these moments of himself in deep thought he remembers how much of his dreams he hasn’t achieved or accomplished. He’s upset that he has friends that had dreams and goals and never had the chance to reach them because of their deaths. He wishes he had their physical and spiritual support to be there for him.
In the analysis they rephrase Shakespeare saying, “But if I think of you while I am in this state of sadness, dear friend. ”(Mabillard) He’s saying that while he thinks of this “dear friend” in sadness that the life of his friend is as great, if not greater, than the sum of anything the poet has been looking for in his life. Although Shakespeare never directly gives this friend a name or explains the relationship they have, he gives us the power to interpret and understand the poem in any way we can.
This poem can speak to anyone because, sadly, it truly takes the loss of someone or something to realize how much it really meant to you. There is line where Shakespeare says “And with old woes new wail my dear time’s waste” but with explanation we understand he’s saying “And I sorrowfully remember that I wasted the best years of my life. ”(Mabillard). Clarifying to us that this person has wasted some of the best years of their life without their friend to help guide and be with them.
The bond you create with someone last until you die, it just takes true friendship and love that you have to make it longer than a lifetime. In Shakespeare’s sonnet 55 we find a friend or a lover who filled with so much passion for this person that he is determined to keep their memory live by writing this poem. “Not marble, not the gilded monuments Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme” He’s stating that nothing on this earth can or will outlive the memory or knowledge of this poem which will be told to millions over uncounted years to tell.
“Immortality of sorts is thus received for the poem, but for nothing else unless it be for the love which dwells in lovers eyes”(Oxquarry). We see here that he believes the power of poetry will live on forever to touch any and everyone with their friend’s memory. “Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity Shall you place forth; your praise shall still find room. ” This person could die a million deaths, but through the loss of people and their memories the love the poet has had for this friend will live on in this poem. “So, till the judgment that yourself arise, you live in this, and dwell in lovers’ eyes”.
Until this person’s body comes to surface on Judgment Day, they will always and forever be remember in not only this poem but also in their lover’s eyes. But I believe Oxquarry analyzed this line better by expressing “On the final day, the last day of judgment, even those who died some time ago will arise from the dead and be judged. After that date there is no point in celebrating anyone in poetry”(Oxquarry). I feel like what makes this poem so special is the truth it speaks. People die everyday but it takes the people who love them to keep their memory living on through poetry, art, and today, even film.
Anyone can live forever; you just have to keep them alive in your heart. My favorite Shakespeare would have to be his sonnet 116 because it gives us the definition of marriage and what it really means. He tells us that love isn’t something that can just change when we feel like it or come and go when we feel like it. “Though this poem is short length it is full of emotion” (Sayles). He compares love to a lighthouse for when it sees a storm it won’t be shaken and how it guides every lost ship to land, or in this case, the significant other.
“Love is strong enough to endure temptation and not a waver. If love is altered by another, a ‘remover’ of love, it was not love”(Sayles). “Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, but bears it out even to the edge of doom. ” He’s stating that love doesn’t change as time goes on, it keeps going on and continues until death. “In sonnet 116, love is given an identity as an immortal force, which overcomes age, death, and time itself. Love is depicted as an invincible force that defies time as well as time’s effects on beauty and youth, changes such as wrinkles and old age”(NSS).
In the last two lines he says “If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved. ” Where he’s saying that if his poem is misleading to anyone than they have never truly loved. “In comparison with most other sonnets, sonnet 116 strikes readers as relatively simple. The metaphors are reasonably transparent, and theme is quickly and plainly apparent”(Boulerice). Which I believe is very true, it’s probably one of his easiest sonnets for people to understand today because this sonnet gives us love in its most pure form, which is stableness.
“Finally, quatrain three nails home the theme, with love’s undying essence prevailing against the ‘bending sickle’ of time” (Boulerice). No matter the amount of time, distractions, or indifferences only true love will continue to persevere and stay strong. Shakespeare is one the poets I see that use some form of love to write in most of his poems. He shows constant evidence of his knowledge of love and what it really means but it’s interesting that he didn’t have too much experience with love.
“By showing that friendship can end sorrow , that love can and should be immortalized, and that marriage between true minds is steadfast and unchanging, Shakespeare’s sonnets 55, 30, and 116, respectively, depict the value of human relationships. Throughout these three sonnets, and his other hundreds of sonnets, he shows strength in how true love should be perceived and I believe it’s something more people should take seriously in today’s society. My favorite quote between these three sonnets is one in sonnet 116 and it states, “Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, but bears it out even to the edge of doom. ”
