SONNET 137 BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

BY: Ahmad Tirmiezi Baharuddin Genysier Umam Muhammad Ridhwan Roslan

OUTLINE
Authors background The Sonnet Line by line analysis Summary of the Sonnet Analysis
Theme Setting Tone Literary Devices.

AUTHORS BACKGROUND
Beyond the records of his baptism in 1564 and his burial in 1616 there is little documentary evidence for William Shakespeares life, although there are many unverifiable stories and anecdotes. Even the traditional date for his birth, St Georges Day, 23 April, is uncertain. Nothing is known of Shakespeares early life before his marriage, at the age of 18, in 1582. For five years, when he was in his 20s, there is nothing to tell us where Shakespeare was or what he was doing. He disappears from Stratford records after 1587, and reappears only in 1592 in London.

THE SONNET
Thou blind fool, Love, what dost thou to mine eyes, That they behold and see not what they see? They know what beauty is, see where it lies, Yet what the best is take the worst to be. If eyes, corrupt by over-partial looks, Be anchored in the bay where all men ride, Why of eyes' falsehood hast thou forgd hooks, Whereto the judgment of my heart is tied?

Why should my heart think that a several plot, Which my heart knows the wide worlds common place? Or mine eyes seeing this, say this is not, To put fair truth upon so foul a face? In things right true my heart and eyes have erred, And to this false plague are they now transferred.

LINE BY LINE ANALYSIS

Lines Thou blind fool, Love, what dost thou to mine eyes, / That they behold, and see not what they see They know what beauty is, see where it lies, / Yet what the best is take the worst to be If eyes, corrupt by over-partial looks, / Be anchored in the bay where all men ride Why of eyes' falsehood hast thou forged hooks, / Whereto the judgment of my heart is tied Translation Love, you affect my eyes so that they don't believe what they see. Even though they can recognize beauty, they interpret it as ugliness. If my eyes, infatuated by your flirtatiousness, are fixated on your face like those of all men Why has Cupid force my heart to follow the lead of my eyes?

Why should my heart think that a several plot, / Which my heart knows the wide world's common place
Or mine eyes, seeing this, say this is not, / To put fair truth upon so foul a face?

Why does my heart believe you to be mine alone, when it knows that you will have sex with anyone?
And why do my eyes, seeing you act promiscuously, deny that it is so?

In things right true my heart and eyes have erred, / And to this false plague are they now

My eyes and heart are misled about all things that are actually true, and are now loyal to my

SUMMARY
The sonnet tells us a story of a man, the speaker and his anger toward his cheating partner. The sonnet started off as the man is blaming cupid for tricking him by making his eyes unable to tell what theyre looking at. He is unable to live with the reality that even though his partner is cheating on him, he still loves her wholeheartedly.

THEME
Love
The speaker begins Sonnet 137 by talking to "Love" as if it were a living being separate from himselfas if it were a god. Shakespeare uses the ancient god as a metaphor to represent the troublesome emotion. Shakespeare present love as something foreign, something that comes at you from outside and turns your life upside down. It also conveys something about how powerful this emotion is. All of these ideas are present in Shakespeares poem, in which the speaker is furious at Love for making him unable to tear himself away from a woman who is bad for him.

Lies and Deceit

The sonnet tells of a man who is aware of his lying and two timing mistress. The speaker manages to make lots of accusations of deception in these short fourteen lines. He blames the god of Love, his own eyes and heart, and himself before finally launching an attack straight at the source of all his heartachehis two-timing mistress.

SETTING
The sonnet happens in the speakers mind. Mainly dealing with his inability to accept that hes okay with his partner acting promiscuously. As for the time setting, it was never mentioned directly but we think that is the same era that is of Shakespeares which is the 1950s

TONE
Unflattering Contrary to the common tone of a Shakespeares sonnet, this sonnet goes about in a totally different way This sonnet was written in an unflattering tone, meaning that the speaker has nothing but bad thing to say about his partner

LITERARY DEVICES
Symbolism The speaker uses the symbol Love or the Cupid in order to describe his feeling toward his partner. Love serves as a scapegoat I this poem, with the speaker blaming his mixed feeling on his partner on it.

Metaphor he uses a very vivid metaphor to compare his affection to a ship "anchored" in a "bay. (Quatrain 2, Line 2) The metaphor helps the reader to understand his overwhelming affection to his partner, even though she is actually cheating on him.

Hyperbole The bay where all men ride (Quatrain 2, Line 2) By using this hyperbole, the speaker suggested that he is very sure that his partner had been cheating on him with every man in the world and she is nothing but a bay that all men ride Yet what the best is take the worst to be (Quatrain 1, Line 4) The hyperbole used here suggested the speakers partner is the worst scum on his eyes for cheating on him.

Alliteration Why of eyes' falsehood hast thou forgd hooks (Quatrain 2, Line 3) The usage of alliteration here shows how frustrated the speaker is, and he is just spouting rhymed words out of his frustration.