SONNET 29

Sonnet 29" is a poem written by the English poet and playwright William Shakespeare. It
was most likely written in the 1590s, though it was not published until 1609. Like many of
Shakespeare's sonnets, "Sonnet 29" is a love poem. It is also traditionally believed to
have been written for a young man. Unlike some of Shakespeare's other love poems,
however, which are concerned with physical beauty and erotic desire, "Sonnet 29" is
about the power of love to positively affect one's mindset, as the poem argues that love
offers compensation for the injuries and setbacks one endures in life.

o Whenever my luck turns bad and people look down on me

I sit by myself and cry because I'm all alone,
And I pray to God, who doesn't listen or answer my prayers,
And I look at my life and curse the way it's turned out,
Wishing that I was like someone with better prospects,
That I was more beautiful, that I had more influential friends,
Wishing that I had this man's skill and that one's range of skills,
And even the things I love best don't bring me any pleasure;
Yet whenever I think like this, almost hating myself,
I think about you and then I feel
Like a bird at the break of day that flies up
From the ground, and sings songs at the pearly gates,
Because thinking about your love brings so much richness to my life
That I would rather have it than be king.
 “Sonnet 29: When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s
eyes” Themes

Self-Pity, Isolation, and Despair

"Sonnet 29" is, in part, a poem about isolation, envy, and despair. In the first
eight lines, the speaker lists a series of anxieties and injuries, comparing himself
negatively to more prosperous, successful, and beautiful people. The speaker
thus suggests that his sense of self-worth depends on others: his social status
and his emotional life are inextricably braided together, a combination the poem
argues breeds only further isolation and discontent.

The poem begins with the speaker listing a series of misfortunes he has suffered.
He describes himself as “disgrace[d]” and an “outcast,” and implies that he is
hopeless, untalented, and ugly; that he lacks political influence; and that he no
longer takes pleasure in the things he once enjoyed. It might seem, then, that the
poem is responding to some catastrophe—say, a bankruptcy or a death in the
family. But the speaker opens the poem with the word “when,” a conditional
structure that frames the rest of the list of misfortunes the speaker supplies. He is
not responding to a specific event but, instead, reflecting on something that
happens to him often. This suggests that he often suffers from despair and
anxiety; he often feels like an outcast and a hack.

Importantly, each of his complaints places the speaker in relation to other people.
He compares his own beauty, wealth, and status to those around him—noting his
“disgrace” in “men’s eyes,” wishing he were “featured [attractive] like him,” and
envious of “this man’s art and that man’s scope.” The speaker clearly measures
his own self-worth in relation to others. Given that he is so frequently
despondent, the poem thus implicitly suggests that comparison is an unwise
endeavor that results primarily in self-pity.
 This self-pity, in turn, only serves to further separate the speaker from the rest of
society; indeed, he bemoans how he “all alone” cries about his “outcast state”
and resents those “with friends possessed.” Perhaps this is understandable; it’s
difficult to deeply bond with people when relationships are plagued by envy and
resentment. He also describes his relationship with other people in competitive
terms: he does not want to share or collaborate with others, but instead wants to
have more power, money, and influence than them.

The first eight lines of the poem thus pose an implicit question as to whether
there are values that do not rely on hierarchy and competition to validate and
assign worth. Regardless of the answer, it’s clear that defining oneself solely in
relation to others does little to boost contentedness, confidence, or camaraderie.

Love and Wealth

"Sonnet 29" is not just a poem about disappointment and despair: it’s a poem
about the way that love comforts, soothes, and repairs the many injuries that one
endures in life. After the poem’s bitter opening eight lines, the speaker reflects on
the love he shares with his beloved (traditionally believed to be a young man).
That love, he argues, offers compensation for all his insults, slights, and
misfortunes. In this way, the poem contrasts love with wealth and status. Love
stands outside those pursuits, and, with its intense pleasures and rewards, offers
an alternate path to happiness.

When the speaker experiences the despair and self-doubt he describes in the
poem’s first eight lines, he thinks about the man he loves and his mood
transforms. Thinking about the young man, he experiences something close to
ecstasy: he compares his mood to an exalted, almost religious music that breaks
free of the “sullen earth” and rises to heaven itself. The speaker’s love for the
 young man radically improves his mood and his self-esteem. Love, here, not only
improves the speaker’s general well-being, but also offers a kind of
compensation for the misfortunes he has suffered. He may not have the wealth
or political standing he covets, but his love offers him a different form of riches.

The speaker’s frequent use of economic and political terms reinforces the idea of
love itself as a form of wealth. He notably describes himself as “in disgrace with
fortune,” envies those “rich in hope,” and desires “that man’s scope” (that is, his
power, influence, or skill). Though not directly describing money in these
instances, this use of language nonetheless suggests that an economic and
political preoccupation that runs throughout the poem.

Furthermore, in the poem’s closing couplet, the speaker directly describes the

young man’s love as a kind of “wealth”—a wealth which is so satisfying that he
wouldn’t give it up for anything, even to be king of England. The line echoes a
complaint from earlier in the poem, “Wishing me like to one more rich in hope.”
Though the speaker uses the word “rich” metaphorically in the earlier line, the
resonance between “rich” and “wealth” suggests that he is drawing a strong
contrast between the kind of wealth that love provides and money itself.

One might interpret this in several ways. On the one hand, the poem could be
presenting love as something apolitical, divorced from the consequential
decisions that shape the life of a state or a community. On the other, the poem
might suggest that love stands as an alternative to the values that motivate
people in politics and business (i.e., desire for money and power). Perhaps that
alternative serves to critique the limitations of those values, suggesting another
system of values altogether—which does not breed despair and anxiety.

 Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Sonnet 29:

When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes”
o Lines 1-4

The poem opens with the word "When," and a quick survey of the poem reveals
that sentence doesn't end for a long time—indeed, the only period in the poem
comes at the end of line 14. The poem is an extended, single sentence, which
can be divided in two: a conditional clause and a main clause. The conditional
clause lists a series of circumstances and the main clause then explains what
happens in those circumstances. The word "When" in the first line of the poem
introduces the conditional clause, and the next four lines reveal what that "when"
consists of. In other words, these four lines describe a situation: a situation of
considerable despair and despondency for the speaker of the poem.

The speaker begins by declaring that he is doubly in disgrace—both fortune and

other people have turned against him. The speaker uses synecdoche to bring
those other people (and their judgment) into the poem. When he mentions
"men's eyes" in line one, he doesn't mean (or doesn't only mean) that people are
looking at him askance: the eyes stand in for the fact that people are judging him.
Just as the eyes imply that there is some intelligence, some agency, making
active decisions about his character and worth, so too the phrase "in disgrace
with fortune" suggests that fortune itself is making judgments about him—that
fortune has its own intelligence and agency, and thus has its own capacity to
affect the speaker's life.

The next 3 lines of the poem register these effects on the speaker's life: he is
"alone" and he is an "outcast." He weeps over his condition, and he prays to
heaven for relief. But his prayers are "bootless"—that is, useless. They fail to
improve his lot, and so he looks at himself and curses the circumstances that
brought him to this point.
 The lines are highly charged with emotion—when this speaker is not weeping, he
is crying out to heaven or cursing his fate. Indeed, they may even be
melodramatic. Immediately, then, the reader faces a major interpretative issue:
whether to take the speaker seriously. If the reader does, the eventual resolution
of the poem is a powerful testament to love's capacity to assuage the wounds of
the world. If the reader doesn't, however, the poem becomes melodramatic and
unconvincing.

Summary of Lines 5-8

The second quatrain of "Sonnet 29" discusses how the speaker feels his life
should be. He wishes for more friends and that he was more hopeful. The
voice shares that he is envious of what other men have, and he is not content
with what he possesses.

Summary of Lines 9-12

The last quatrain of the sonnet marks a shift in thought and tone with the
word "[y]et" (line 9). This transition word shows a change in attitude or tone,
and the speaker focuses on what he is grateful for. With thoughts of the
beloved, the speaker compares himself to a lark, which is a symbol of hope

Summary of Lines 13-14

The last two lines in the sonnet concisely concludes the poem and expresses
that the love shared with the beloved is enough wealth. This singular thought
makes the speaker grateful, and the speaker would hate to change his state of
life, even to trade with a king.

"Sonnet 29" Analysis

"Sonnet 29" examines the speaker's life and expresses his unhappiness with
the state he finds himself in. The speaker feels "disgrace with fortune" (line
1) and unlucky. The speaker begins by lamenting his solitary situation and
uses auditory imagery to express his isolation. He expresses that "deaf
heaven" does not even hear his sadness. Feeling that even heaven has turned
on the speaker and refuses to hear his pleas, he laments his lack of friends
and wishes to be "rich in hope" (line 5).
The third quatrain contains a poetic shift, where the speaker realizes he has at
least one aspect of life to be thankful for: his beloved. This realization marks
a shift in tone from despairing to grateful. Although the sense of appreciation
isn't necessarily romantic, it is a source of great joy for the speaker. The
poetic voice expresses his newfound gratitude and hope as his state is
compared to "the lark at break of day arising" (line 11). The lark, a
traditional symbol of hope, freely soars into the sky as the speaker's mental
and emotional state improve and are freed from the cage of despair and
loneliness.

The word "Yet" in line 9 signals that shift in mood from feelings of isolation
and despair to a sense of hope. The visual image of the lark, a wild bird,
symbolizes the poetic voice's improved disposition. As the bird rises freely
into the morning sky, there is a renewed promise that life can be, and will be,
better. Supported by ideas of "sweet love" that enhances life and "wealth" in
line 13, the shift in mood shows the speaker has found a source of happiness
in his beloved and is ready to move away from despair and self-pity.

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The speaker feels like a bird flying at sunrise, which expresses feelings of
hope. Pexels.

The final couplet gives the reader a new perspective of the poetic voice, just
as he gains a new perspective on life. He is now a renewed being who is
grateful for his state in life because of his beloved and the love they share.
The speaker acknowledges that he is so happy with his place in life, and that
he "scorns to change his state with kings" (line 14) because he has thoughts
of his beloved. The speaker has moved from a state of internal loathing to a
state of awareness that some things are more important than wealth and
status. Through the unified structure and end rhyme in the heroic couplet,
this ending serves to further unify his feelings of hope and gratitude, as well
as emphasize the speaker's awareness that his "wealth" (line 13) is more
bountiful than that of royalty.

A heroic couplet is a pair of two lines of poetry that end with rhyming words
or contain end rhyme. The lines in a heroic couplet also share a similar meter
—in this case, pentameter. Heroic couplets function as strong conclusions to
grab the reader's attention. They emphasize the importance of the idea
through their use of end rhyme.

"Sonnet 29" Volta and Meaning

"Sonnet 29" shows a speaker critical of the state of his life and with feelings
of isolation. The last six lines of the poem begin the volta, or the turn in the
poem, which is marked by the transition word "yet".

A volta, also known as a poetic shift or turn, typically marks a change in

topic, idea, or sentiment within a poem. In a sonnet, the volta can also
indicate a change in argument. As many sonnets begin by posing a question
or a problem, the volta marks an attempt to answer the question or solve the
problem. In English sonnets, the volta typically occurs sometime before the
final couplet. Words such as "yet" and "but" can help identify the volta.
The poem begins with the speaker expressing thoughts of hopelessness and
solitude. However, the tone of the poem shifts from hopeless to grateful. The
voice realizes that he is lucky to have his beloved in his life. Key diction after
the volta, including "[h]aply" (line 10), "arising" (line 11), and "sings" (line
12) exhibit the speaker's change in attitude. The mere thought of the beloved
is enough to raise his spirits and make the speaker feel luckier than a king.
No matter one's current status in life, there are always things and people to be
grateful for. The power love has to change one's mindset is immense.
Thoughts of happiness can overcome feelings of isolation and despair by
focusing on feelings of appreciation and the positive aspects of life expressed
through love.
"Sonnet 29" Literary Devices
Literary and poetic devices add to the meaning by helping the audience
visualize the action of the poem and the underlying meaning. William
Shakespeare employs several different literary devices to enhance his works
such as alliteration, simile, and enjambment.

Alliteration in "Sonnet 29"

Shakespeare uses alliteration in "Sonnet 29" to emphasize feelings of joy and
contentment and show how thoughts can have the power to improve
someone's mental state, attitude, and life. Alliteration in "Sonnet 29" is used
to add emphasis to these ideas and to bring rhythm to the poem.

Alliteration is the repetition of the same consonant sound at the start of

consecutive words within one line or several lines of verse.
"Haply I think on thee, and then my state" (line 10)
The alliteration in line 10 emphasizes the sentiment the speaker has for the
beloved, and how his mental state improves. The speaker clearly holds his
beloved in high regard, and the soft "h" sound that begins the line sits in
contrast to the strong alliteration within the rest of the line. The strong "th"
sound in the words, "think," "thee," and "then" brings a beat to the poem and
strengthens the emotional sentiment. Almost mimicking the pace of a
heartbeat, the line reveals the beloved is close to the speaker's heart.

Simile in "Sonnet 29"

Another literary device employed by Shakespeare is the use of simile.
Similes use comparative relationships to make a foreign or abstract idea more
understandable. Shakespeare uses simile in "Sonnet 29" to connect with the
audience by using a recognizable description to describe the powerful shift in
his emotions in terms that readers can connect with.
A simile is a comparison between two unlike things using the words "like" or
"as". It serves to describe by revealing a similarity between the two objects or
ideas.

"Like to the lark at break of day arising" (line 11)

The simile in line 11 compares his state to a lark rising. A lark is often a
symbol of hope and peace in literature. Birds are also representative of
freedom because of their ability to fly. This comparison, using a symbol of
hope, proves that the speaker is seeing his situation in a better light. He feels
a glimmer of hope when thinking of the beloved, and likens this feeling to a
bird soaring in the sky at sunrise. The bird in the sky at sunrise is a sign of
freedom, hope, and a renewed sense that things are not as bleak as they seem.

The speaker compares his state to a lark, which is a symbol of hope. Pexels

Enjambment in "Sonnet 29"

Enjambment in verse helps with the continuity of ideas and links concepts
together. In "Sonnet 29" Shakespeare's use of enjambment pushes the reader
forward. The push to continue reading or complete the thought mirrors the
push to continue on in life that the speaker feels when thinking of his
beloved.

An enjambment is a thought in verse that doesn't end at the end of a line, but
it continues onto the next line without the use of punctuation.
"(Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's gate," (11-12)
Enjambment leaves the reader engaged in the ideas and in search of a
complete thought. In lines 11-12 of the poem, line 11 ends with the word
"arising" and continues on to the next line without punctuation. This thought
connects the first line with a feeling of uprising and moves to the next line,
propelling the verse forward. The incomplete sensation at the end of line 11
retains the readers' attention, much like a cliff-hanger at the end of a movie—
it leaves the audience wanting more. The quatrain itself ends with an
incomplete idea, and this drives the reader to the final couplet.
"Sonnet 29" - Key takeaways

 "Sonnet 29" is written by William Shakespeare and is one of nearly 154

sonnets. It was published in 1609.

 "Sonnet 29" is addressed to the "fair youth".

 "Sonnet 29" uses alliteration, simile, and enjambment to enhance the

poem and add meaning.

 The themes of "Sonnet 29" deals with isolation, despair, and love.
Some of life's greatest joys should be appreciated, even if you are
unhappy with certain aspects of life.

 The mood of "Sonnet 29" shifts from feelings of despair and isolation
to feeling grateful.

Frequently Asked Questions about Sonnet 29

What is the theme of "Sonnet 29"?
The themes in "Sonnet 29" deal with isolation, despair, and love. Some of life's
greatest joys should be appreciated, even if you are unhappy with certain aspects
of life.
What is "Sonnet 29" about? 
In "Sonnet 29" the speaker is unhappy with the state of his life, but he finds
solace and is grateful for his beloved.
What is the rhyme scheme of "Sonnet 29"?
The rhyme scheme of "Sonnet 29" is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.
What causes the speaker in "Sonnet 29" to feel better? 
The speaker in "Sonnet 29" feels better with thoughts of the youth and the love
they share.
What is the mood of "Sonnet 29"? 
The mood of "Sonnet 29" shifts from unhappy to grateful.