A feature of many of the Shakespeare’s sonnets is the amount of tension inherent in them because of the way in which passion is suppressed, controlled by and within the conventions of the sonnet form itself. In love poetry in general, and sonnets particularly, the Dionysian impulses of creation, sometimes of lust and desire are controlled by the medium through which it is expressed and represented. Shakespeare consciously took advantage of this very tradition, and exploited its various possibilities, and sometimes in an ambiguous manner, which further provided the degree of the depth to these sonnets which leaves room for a variety of interpretations.
One way in which the tension can be made more apparent is by rewriting or deconstructing the Shakespearean text in order to foreground certain connotations that may have been attenuated because of the observance of the convention. While the Shakespearean sonnet itself is original in its stanza form and the way it seeks resolution in the final rhyming couplet, for the rest, the poem might simply be considered as a re-working of the common places. However this also provides a clue which ought to allow a further revision of the text in order to discover further possibilities for the interpretation in a poem which lends itself to purpose.
The poetic form and the very convention in the sonnet bring about a transformation of passion and sexuality making the ‘summer indeed more temperate.’ It is traditionally accepted Shakespeare’s sonnet sequence can be divided into three sections, the first section expresses the devotion and admiration of the poetic voice (often associated with the Shakespeare himself) towards an anonymous young man (this would include sonnet 18), this is followed by a sequence addressed to the dark lady towards whom the poet is attracted and finally there are the sonnets which deal with the young man’s attraction towards that same lady.
By doing this, it becomes more apparent that the language of love and devotion used here to address a member of the same sex is traditionally how we would expect a man to address a woman, which further adds to the tension implicit in the poem. Of course Shakespeare’s sonnet s are full of classical allusions, proverbial expressions, and stock situations, he is clearly subject to the traditions of the courtly love as practiced by Petrarch, although we might suggest that rather than a continuation of the same themes and concepts, his sonnets can be seen as a response to this tradition.
An idealized concept of woman which usually inspires this kind of poetry is substituted here by his admiration for a man , the theme of unrequited love and how earthly love can elevate the human soul are also implicit, although in spite of the idealization of the fair youth , it is the effects of time, nature that tend to be given grater em0phasis with the result that Shakespeare ‘s sonnets tend to question to these petrarchan concepts, and the petrarchan analogy is not made use of readily but in a doubting mode or tone “ shall I compare thee”. The implicit connotations of the following lines are full of allusions to youth , beauty , possession (desire) and possible loss and eternal summer might mean continuing passion which will not fade, possession of that ‘fair thou owes’t, might refer to the very sexual act.
Although sonnet’s including this one, often ring with “passion and sincerity” they also playfully engage themselves in incidental sexual – verbal trivia. There are juxtapositions in the sonnets which give rise to ambiguity, more lovely is modified and might be seen as in opposition to temperate, which originates a paradox, when great beauty is described at once as temporary and moderate and this in turn is linked to the way in which summer’s day and temperate are also set up in opposition, allowing the possibilities for interpretation. We can also find the contrast between rough wind’s and darling buds (the vicissitudes of nature that threaten incipient beauty or strong emotion might threaten beauty or innocence) the hot eye of heaven shines suggests excessive passion but is counter-pointed in the anti-thesis as “often in his gold complexion dimmed” , which suggest the waning of ardor or excitement or even if beauty which in turn up with fair and decline which also hint at the passing nature of the beauty.
Since this particular sonnet expresses the devotion and admiration of the poetic voice (often associated with Shakespeare itself), so some scholars often opine that there is a speculation that Shakespeare was a homosexual, but Brian crews mentions that the poet is working within clearly marked traditions, and his disclosure is conventional, and the apparent sincerity only covers up an underlying playfulness which stretches those conventions by playing them to a different use.
- Photos by Feba Philip
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