The Place 2 Be: Shakespeare's Sonnets

Critique of Sonnet 100

SHAKESPEARE’S SONNETS

Theme: Lost Muse
Content: A poem that seeks the return of the author's lost muse in a private conversation with himself, addressed to his inner muse. A series of progressive improvements that build on each other.

Where art thou, muse, that thou forget'st so long
To speak of that which gives thee all thy might?
Spend'st thou thy fury on some worthless song,
Dark'ning thy power to lend base subjects light?

The author claims to have neglected his subject for too long and instead been committed to writing works to vent his anger on base subjects. These may be the same base individuals/clouds whom he attacked in Sonnets 33 & 34. He regrets the energy he has wasted on that.

This is a very aggressive opening quatrain describing the fury and power of the muse that more naturally follows on from 33 & 34 (or other sonnets) than 98 & 99.

The sonnet is clearly addressed to his muse which is addressed at the start of each quatrain of this conventionally structured sonnet. In this case, the muse is absent and is asked to speak.

Return, forgetful muse, and straight redeem
In gentle numbers time so idly spent;
Sing to the ear that doth thy lays esteem
And gives thy pen both skill and argument.

An encouragement to return to the subject that has inspired him to write far more skilful poetry in the past.

The question asking where his muse is in Q1 leads on to an instruction for it to Return in Q2.

The muse that forget'st in Q1 now morphs to being forgetful.

The wasted time Spend'st in Q1 now morphs to time so idly spent.

The worthless song of Q1 now morphs to more positive Singing in the ear.

time enters as a central theme to this sonnet.

skill and argument are identified again in this sonnet as muse-inspired qualities, not ones bestowed by "high learning".

Rise, resty muse, my love's sweet face survey
If time have any wrinkle graven there.
If any, be a satire to decay
And make time's spoils despised everywhere.

Following the muse's Return in Q2, it is now encouraged to Rise and make light of any evidence of ageing in the subject, the muse now being accused of being resty and now asked to survey.

Repeat of previous allusions to wrinkles on the subject's face linking to graves and therefore death.

time's significance increases in his quatrain, and in a corroding way.

Give my love fame faster than time wastes life;
So, thou prevent'st his scythe and crooked knife.

Conclusion to the theme of time being a negative threat to beauty and the author's need to counter it with positive verse about his subject.

The predominance of negative f words in the quatrains (forget'st, fury, forgetful) now morph into a flurry of positive f words: fame, faster, life and defeat of time's crooked knife.