Free College Essays - Analysis of Shakespeare's Sonnet 75

Analysis of Sonnet 75

SONNET 75

So are you to my thoughts as food to life,

Or as sweet-season'd showers are to the ground;

And for the peace of you I hold such strife

As 'twixt a miser and his wealth is found;

Now proud as an enjoyer and anon

Doubting the filching age will steal his treasure,

Now counting best to be with you alone,

Then better'd that the world may see my pleasure;

Sometime all full with feasting on your sight

And by and by clean starved for a look;

Possessing or pursuing no delight,

Save what is had or must from you be took.

Thus do I pine and surfeit day by day,

Or gluttoning on all, or all away.

PARAPHRASE OF SONNET 75

As food is to the body so are you to my soul and mind,

Or as spring showers are to the ground;

And for the contentment you bring me I allow such inner strife

As the conflict between a miser and his money;

Who takes joy in his wealth, but soon

Fears that ruthless competitors will steal his treasure,

Now thinking it best to have you alone,

Then thinking that the world should see how happy I am;

At one moment wholly satisfied by feasting on your sight

And the next moment utterly starved for a look at you:

Having or seeking no pleasure

Except what you have given me or what I will demand.

And so I starve or feed to excess depending on the day,

Either gorging on you, or not having you at all.

COMMENTARY

The sonnet opens with a seemingly joyous and innocent tribute to the young friend who is vital to the poet's emotional well being. However, the poet quickly establishes the negative aspect of his dependence on his beloved, and the complimentary metaphor that the friend is food for his soul decays into ugly imagery of the poet alternating between starving and gorging himself on that food. The poet is disgusted and frightened by his dependence on the young friend. He is consumed by guilt over his passion. Words with implicit sexual meanings permeate the sonnet -- "enjoyer", "treasure", "pursuing", "possessing", "had" -- as do allusions to five of the seven "deadly" sins -- avarice (4), gluttony (9, 14), pride (5), lust (12), and envy (6).