Brooke O’Flaherty

Alex Safford

Ms. Gardner

Honours English/Fourth Period

6 September 2017

Shakespeare’s Sonnet 61

Contemporary Sonnet:

Oh, why do you endlessly torment me,

Neglecting to respond to so many of my calls?

Wherever I am, I wonder all day,

Why you block me out like a cold, brick wall?

But is it you that is visiting my social media pages,

Seemingly just to taunt me?

It is you that I still talk to through the ages,

And we are still so close, yet you feel so distant.

Oh! Although we are still friends,

It is something different that dominates my thoughts.

Thinking of how you loved me yet not until the end,

While my own true longing for you leaves me to rot.

Still seeing you almost every day,

But with my thoughts you still do play.

Sonnet Analysis:

William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 61 Analysis

In William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 61, there is no competitor with the speaker’s love: even the love

of his lover does not parallel. William Shakespeare’s intricate use of spiteful diction combined with

daunting imagery illustrates an intense torment created by the poet’s own mind. Through the poem, the

poet shifts from blaming his insomnia and obsession from his love, to himself, and how it is his own love

that consumes him. He uses a continuous metaphor, referring to his love as the shadows that mock and

tease him as they dance along the walls, forever out of his reach. Shades have no personality, and are

simply an image, showing the poet’s true feelings towards his lover: the poet’s image of them blurred, and

almost undecipherable amongst the dim lighting provided during the night. At first he laments of how it is

“thy will”, “thy image”, “shadows that look like thee”, “thy spirit”, and “thy jealousy” that restrains him

from his slumber and sanity. He then changes his mindset, telling of how “thy love, though much, is not

so great / It is ​my​ love that keeps ​mine​ eye awake”. This is critical, for this crippling love which possesses

the poet takes a turn towards self inflicted pain. It is the poet who causes unnecessary torment for himself.

The poet has a far greater love than the pitiful affections of his lover, and it spirals into jealousy. During

the turning point of the sonnet, the poet openly says how his own love is his true downfall, quote “Mine

own true love that doth my rest defeat”. His brittle, violent tone here seems to take on an almost softer

feel, as he assures his dear that they are not the one to blame. His dear is only a shadow, and he wishes

them to be closer to him, yet his last statement is that they are far too close to others, while he is doomed

to watch from a distance. The poet casts himself as a watchman, cursed to only observe them from afar,

for his lover’s sake. At that point, it seems as more of an obsession of the idea of his lover, than a passion

towards wishing to be with them, accurately representing the tangled knot of emotions felt with love.
Sonnet Annotations:

Shakespeare Sonnet 61 

I​s ​i​t ​thy​ w​i​ll ​thy​ ​i​mage should keep open -A

My​ ​h​e​avy ​e​y​e​lids ​to the w​e​ary night -B

Dost ​thou​ desire ​my​ slumbers should be broken, -A

While shadows like to ​thee​ do mock my sight? -B

Is it ​th​y spirit ​th​at​ ​th​ou​ send’st from ​th​ee -C

S​o ​far fr​o​m h​o​me int​o​ my deeds t​o​ pry, -D

To find out shames and idle hours in ​me​, -C

The scope and tenor of ​thy​ jealousy? -D

O​ n​o​; thy l​o​ve, th​o​ugh much, is n​o​t s​o​ great. -E

It is ​my​ love that keeps ​mine​ eye awake, -F

Mine​ own true love that doth ​my​ rest defeat, -E

To play the watchman ever for ​thy​ sake. -F

For ​thee​ watch ​I​ whilst ​thou​ dost wake elsewhére, -G

F​rom ​me​ ​f​ar o​ff​, with others all too near. -G

Key:

Green: Mention of Self

Pink: Mention of Lover

Blue: Assonance

Purple: Consonance