The Place 2 Be: Shakespeare's Sonnets

Critique of Sonnet 42

SHAKESPEARE’S SONNETS

Theme: Loss of Lover
Content: The loss of the author's subject and mistress made out to be no loss atall.

That thou hast her, it is not all my grief,
And yet it may be said I loved her dearly;
That she hath thee is of my wailing chief,
A loss in love that touches me more nearly.

The subject has taken the author's mistress but he turns the chief loss into the loss of the male subject rather than the mistress.

A mix of loss and love words in this quatrain.

The essence of the sonnet is the author's condition, here: my wailing.

Loving offenders, thus I will excuse ye:
Thou dost love her because thou know'st I love her,
And for my sake even so doth she abuse me,
Suff'ring my friend for my sake to approve her.

Exclusively love words in this quatrain

The author's condition now dominates: my sake, my friend, my sake.

If I lose thee, my loss is my love's gain,
And losing her, my friend hath found that loss:
Both find each other, and I lose both twain,
And both for my sake lay on me this cross.

A predominance of loss words in this quatrain, with love edging back in.

The author's condition again dominates: my loss, my love, my friend, my sake.

But here's the joy: my friend and I are one.
Sweet flattery! Then she loves but me alone.

Through sophistry, the author rationalises the loss of his mistress as not having lost her atall, although he is actually now an outsider.

In the couplet there is literally no loss, only love.

The author's condition resolves to my friend.