Sonnet 143

ANALYZING

SONNET 143

Using a simile and a pun, Shakespeare portrays the speaker as a desperate person trying to achieve the love of the person he's chasing. The speaker compares a busy mother neglecting the love of her baby with himself, saying, "So runn'st thou after that which flies from thee; I thy babe chase thee afar behind". It's obvious that the "mother's" thoughts are not with her pursuer, but with the person that she is pursuing. The pun that Shakespeare uses involves his own name, in which he says that after the "mother" has achieved her "will", she should turn back to the speaker. This

shows that the speaker is willing to sacrifice his own time with a potential lover in order to be the second, but last choice.

NOW, WHY DID I CHOOSE

SONNET 143?

explain.

I chose this sonnet because of the unique comparison of a baby chasing a woman who is chasing a creature with the a love triangle that involves the speaker. The speaker compares himself to the neglected baby, wanting love from his potential soul mate. I also like the image that the sonnet gave when describing the speaker's dilemma. The housewife choosing a creature over her own baby gave a comical feeling to the sonnet. It made the speaker's problems easier to imagine and to think about.

ANALYZING

SONNET 143

PARAPHRASING

SONNET 143

cont.

Just like a housewife runs to catch a feathered creature that runs away, putting down her baby and moving quickly towards the thing that she wants close to her, while neglecting her child that wants her close to it, crying while she is busy with something else right in front of her, not putting the needs of her baby before anything else, so do you run after something running away from you, while I, like the baby, run after you. But if you get what you're hoping for, turn back to me and be kind to me like a mother is. I will pray that you may have your way if you turn back to me and cease my loud crying.

SONNET 143

1

The volta, which occurs in line 9, marks the shift from an artificial story to the event that is the speaker's real life. The sonnet mostly consists of the circumstance of a mother's neglect for her baby in favor for something else, which changes by line 9. The speaker desperately wants the same attention his potential lover is giving to the person she's pursuing.

5

Lo, as a careful housewife runs to catch

One of her feathered creatures broke away,

Sets down her babe and makes all swift dispatch

In pursuit of the thing she would have stay;

Whilst her neglected child holds her in chase,

Cries to catch her whose busy care is bent

To follow that which flies before her face,

Not prizing her poor infant’s discontent:

So run’st thou after that which flies from thee,

Whilst I, thy babe, chase thee afar behind.

But if thou catch thy hope, turn back to me,

And play the mother’s part, kiss me, be kind.

So will I pray that thou mayst have thy Will,

If thou turn back and my loud crying still.

10

Sonnet 143

song

reference!

and a

MODERN DAY SONG

RESPONSE TO

SONNET 143

"The Less I Know The Better" by Tame Impala has elements similar to Sonnet 143. The lead singer of the band, Kevin, describes an experience in which he wanted a relationship with someone, but the girl he wanted was stolen from him by another person. Kevin still chases the girl, despite her being in a relationship. The girl even says that they'll eventually be together in a few years, which relates to the last lines of the sonnet, which implies that after getting her "will", the woman should turn back to him.

He stole my time, not my swollen heart

Running from the responsibility

That plagues me; I would rather depart

From the good thing that chases dear old me

And pursue the bad thing that pleases

Than suffer the past that haunts my soul

And when I turn to it my heart freezes

I refuse to be under its control;

Yet, when I turn back to that thing

I long for a connection to my past self

And the happiness that it would bring

And the life that it had on the shelf;

For I want to go and turn back

Before that part of me turns black.

THE END

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SHAKESPEARE'S

Sonnet 143

A M A R A N W I G W E

PROJECT