Name : Fatih ‘Auni ‘Aziz

NIM : 20101050016
Task : Themes Of Poetry

Friends and Flatterers

William Shakespeare

Every one that flatters thee

Is no friend in misery.
Words are easy, like the wind;
Faithful friends are hard to find:

Every man will be thy friend

Whilst thou hast wherewith to spend;
But if store of crowns be scant,
No man will supply thy want.

If that one be prodigal,

Bountiful they will him call,
And with such-like flattering,
'Pity but he were a king;'

If he be addict to vice,
Quickly him they will entice;
If to women he be bent,
They have at commandement:

But if Fortune once do frown,

Then farewell his great renown
They that fawn'd on him before
Use his company no more.

He that is thy friend indeed,

He will help thee in thy need:
If thou sorrow, he will weep;
If thou wake, he cannot sleep;

Thus of every grief in heart

He with thee doth bear a part.
These are certain signs to know
Faithful friend from flattering foe.

Sorry mom, I don't have a partner for me to analyze

 Pharaprase :

The poem says about true friends and flattery friends. The poet makes the difference between
these two types of friends. He warns about those friends who flatter and would not stand by you
when you are in difficulty. He says how it is easy to impress a person by flattering words. But it
is not easy to find a genuine friend who will shoulder you during a difficult time. The false
friends will enjoy life when they have wealth. But they will go away from the same person when
they lose their wealth. It’s a great advice by the great poet. When a person is generous, he
would be supported and get good crowd around him praising him as king. But when he suffers
with sorrow they would leave him. Thus the poet gives awareness of false friends and honest
friends.

 Methapor :

“Store of crowns” is a metaphor for good fortune. When a person has abundant resources, every
other person becomes their friend or competes to be their friend.

In the line, “They have at commandement,” Shakespeare compares the biblical Ten
Commandments to social conventions. Rich people know how to bend the rules. When they do
so, others consider the violation a norm or part of divine commandment.

 Simile :

When two things are compared using “like,” or “as” in a line, then the poetic device is
considered a simile. For instance, in the first stanza of “Friends and Flatterers,” Shakespeare
compares “words” to the “wind”: “Words are easy, like the wind”. In this example, the speaker
compares the flatterer’s comments (words) to as weightless (valueless) as the wind. It also occurs
in the line, “And with such-like flattering”.

Rhyme scheme : AABB

Closet rhyme : couplets

Closest stanza type : Pair

 Interpretation

“Friends and Flatterers” imparts wisdom about true and false friends. The main themes of the
poem are genuine friendship, flattery, and perception versus reality. Through this poem,
Shakespeare describes how friends and flatterers (fair-weather friends) behave differently in
particular situations in life. A person should notice those changes to figure out which friendships
to keep and cherish throughout life. They need to cut off temporary relationships with fawners to
eliminate negativity. In this way, Shakespeare provides both a warning and a piece of advice
which is why the poem is so important to be read until today, even though it was written
centuries back.
Sources : https://pmckids.blogspot.com/2021/09/friends-and-flatterers-by-william.html