Sonnet 82

«

»

Sonnet 82

Sonnet 82 1609.jpg

–William Shakespeare

Sonnet 82 is one of 154 sonnets written by the English playwright and poet William Shakespeare. It is a member of the Fair Youth sequence, in which the poet expresses his love towards a young man, and the fifth sonnet of the Rival Poet subsequence.

Synopsis

Not being married to the poet's muse, the youth can honourably respond to other poets' muses without being accused of infidelity. But the youth shouldn't be too attracted to flashy and unrealistic rhetoric. The poet's own simple truthfulness more accurately represents the youth's beauty. Other poets only need to use artificial rhetoric to enhance anaemic figures.

Structure

Sonnet 82 is an English or Shakespearean sonnet. The English sonnet has three quatrains, followed by a final rhyming couplet. It follows the typical rhyme scheme of the form, abab cdcd efef gg and is composed in iambic pentameter, a type of poetic metre based on five pairs of metrically weak/strong syllabic positions. The 2nd line exemplifies a regular iambic pentameter:

×     /   ×    /     ×  /   ×  /    ×    / 
And therefore mayst without attaint o'erlook (82.2)

/ = ictus, a metrically strong syllabic position. × = nonictus.

The sonnet exhibits several metrical variations, some of which are only potential. The following lines may be read with metrical regularity, but also admit of a rightward movement of the first ictus in line 4 (resulting in a four-position figure, × × / /, sometimes referred to as a minor ionic); and an initial reversal in line 5:

×    ×    /    /  ×      /  ×   /   ×  / 
Of their fair subject, blessing every book.

  /  ×   ×   /   ×    /  ×    /  ×   / 
Thou art as fair in knowledge as in hue, (82.4-5)

An unambiguous reversal and minor ionic may be found in lines 6 and 8, respectively.

The meter demands line 10's "strainèd" to be pronounced with 2 syllables.

References

First edition and facsimile

Variorum editions

Modern critical editions

• online text