Time

When to the sessions of sweet silent thought

I summon up remembrance of things past,
I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought,
And with old woes new wail my dear time's waste:
Then can I drown an eye, unused to flow,
For precious friends hid in death's dateless night,
And weep afresh love's long since cancelled woe,
And moan the expense of many a vanish'd sight:
Then can I grieve at grievances foregone,
And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er
The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan,
Which I new pay as if not paid before.
But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,
All losses are restor'd and sorrows end.

Missing
I grieve the father that I never knew.
He left one day; now an imposter stays.
His warmth cannot deceive me. Hes not you
Yet I see you in his ill, sunken gaze.
I do not think we are defined by fate So then, where have you gone, you runner? Come!
You said youd never leave! But I will wait
for countless lifetimes for you to come home.
I lost my father seven years ago;
A child, I had no knowledge of my grief.
I could not fathom melancholy so;
Now with eyes open, I rest in relief.
For knowledge brings solution. And one day
I will not mourn you when I look your way.
Jessica Tang
In Sonnet 30, the speaker releases his burdensome grief by focusing on his friends: grief
cannot weigh a person down forever. William Shakespeare vividly portrays the speakers
struggle with depression through dynamic consonance and harmony of sounds. In the first two
lines, consonance - sessions, sweet silent thought, summon - leave a smooth sibilance

snaking through the readers mind. It stays, sinister, as the reader continues on, reminiscent of
the lingering nature of grief and memory. Wail, waste, and woe create a soft, sluggish feel,
as the numbness that often accompanies strong emotions. The term many a vanishd sight is
full of soft vowels. This euphony gives the rather anguished mood of the poem a more subdued
tone than it might have had. The speaker does not lose hope, however. The consonance in the last
line rings with the reader, soft like muted church bells; it shows the positive effect of the
speakers friend on the speaker with its soft, comforting tone, leaving a hopeful lilt at the end. It
is true everyone is subject to loss and grief; however, by focusing on the friends you have instead
of friends youve lost - on the present instead of the past - one may find solace in their sadness.