Shakespeare Sonnet 33 Analysis

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symbolism for friendship and good times

Imagery, Figurative Language, Sound, and Symbolism

Beautiful morning, golden pale streams and green meadows

Shakespeare Sonnet 33 Analysis

Symbolism

symbolizes a bump in the road, the hurt and pain caused by the poets friend.

alchemy; turning metals into

gold.

A recurring symbol found in the entire poem would be the sun; the shift that it make going from bright to cloudy, and briefly back to sunny before going dark again. This symbolism represents the ups and downs of love in the poets relationship with his friend.

Full many a glorious morning have I seen

Flatter the mountain-tops with sovereign eye,

Kissing with golden face the meadows green,

Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy;

Anon permit the basest clouds to ride

With ugly rack on his celestial face,

And from the forlorn world his visage hide,

Stealing unseen to west with this disgrace:

Even so my sun one early morn did shine

With all triumphant splendor on my brow;

But out! alack! he was but one hour mine,

The region cloud hath mask'd him from me now.

Yet him for this my love no whit disdaineth;

Suns of the world may stain when heaven's sun staineth.

Imagery

Sound

Shakespeare conveys the image of alchemy; which involves turning metals into gold. This is known to most people back in this time period as magic or trickery, relating back to the poets feelings of betrayal or "trickery" from a friend that caused him to suffer. This ongoing imagery reminds the reader of the poets present feelings and sadness he is faced with.

This sonnet uses unstressed and stressed syllables, having exactly 10 markings per line making this an iambic pentameter. For the first 3 stanzas every other line rhymes with each other, while the last 2 rhyme as well. The structure of the poem looking like this...

abab

cdcd

efef

gg

This artful construction of rhyming every other line conveys the mix of joy and sorrow involved in love.

Figurative Language

Figurative Language is found consistently throughout the entire poem. Such as metaphorically, Shakespeare writes that his friend is like the sun, and "with golden face" warms the entire earth. However, the sun get covered by "the basest clouds" to block its rays and the poets friend abandons him for other people. The author come to terms that his friend has betrayed him, but he also realizes that he is just as much to blame for assuming that his friends outward beauty was a direct reflection of his heart as well.

Syntax

Shakespeare attaches effective use of syntax and creates a change in attitude toward the authors friend as the poem progresses. Each stanza shifts from bright vibrant colors, to dark gloomy clouds, forcing the poet to question his own morality in allowing this friendship to move forward. Even though he denies these thoughts in the last 2 lines saying, "my love no whit disdaineth" the poet still seems to resent his friend for causing pain in their relationship.

Diction, Syntax, and Tone

Rhythm and Meter

bright and sunny day

admiring beauty and nature.

(the good)

Tone

Theme

shift in tone

The sonnet is organized into 4 different parts making it an iambic pentameter, like I said earlier. If you read it out loud it also sounds like you are listening to a song. The first line talks about love, or the suns. While in the last line is describing the fading color of the suns. It structured in a way that conveys Shakespeare's poem into an emotional journey that brings out conflicting internal feelings.

clouds cast in front of the sun.

(the bad)

The tone in this sonnet is one that is regretful and saddened, yet still managing to stay positive about the future. The tone changes from hope and light to darkness and dull. This is proven by how vastly different the beginning is to the end.

Shakespeare is trying to convey to the reader the ups and downs of his present friendship through use of literary devices, diction, and sentence structure. His overall messages explains that human connection will eventually become dark, forcing you to move on so you can allow the sun (the brightness and hope) to shin through the clouds once more.

seeing the sun briefly before

the clouds cover it again

Full many a glorious morning have I seen

Flatter the mountain-tops with sovereign eye,

Kissing with golden face the meadows green,

Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy;

Anon permit the basest clouds to ride

With ugly rack on his celestial face,

And from the forlorn world his visage hide,

Stealing unseen to west with this disgrace:

Even so my sun one early morn did shine

With all triumphant splendor on my brow;

But out! alack! he was but one hour mine,

The region cloud hath mask'd him from me now.

Yet him for this my love no whit disdaineth;

Suns of the world may stain when heaven's sun staineth.

looking back and questions

his love for his lady

Rhythm and Meter, Theme, and Structure.

Structure

Diction

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The structure of the poem shifts from the first 4 lines representing the good, to the second 4 lines representing the bad. Before transitioning on to the last half describing that the good will eventually shine through the bad

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delightful,

appreciative

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Shakespeare uses word choice such as, "golden" and "heavenly" to display his appreciation for the relationship he has created with this friend. However at the end of the first stanza the tone shifts to dark and cloudy, allowing us to assume that the young man had many interests other than the author leaving him feeling isolated and hurt. This feelings are conveyed in lines 5 and 6 which use words such as "ugly" and "basset". This conflict between contrasting feelings is clearly shown through use of word choice by Shakespeare.

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Rhythm and Meter

cloudy,

dull

done something

to hurt him.

shift

Full many a glorious morning have I seen

Flatter the mountain-tops with sovereign eye,

Kissing with golden face the meadows green,

Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy;

Anon permit the basest clouds to ride

With ugly rack on his celestial face,

And from the forlorn world his visage hide,

Stealing unseen to west with this disgrace:

Even so my sun one early morn did shine

With all triumphant splendor on my brow;

But out! alack! he was but one hour mine,

The region cloud hath mask'd him from me now.

Yet him for this my love no whit disdaineth;

Suns of the world may stain when heaven's sun staineth.

angry and

sad

Establishes

problem/conflict

shift

Resolves;

finds closure.