Literary Analysis Of Sonnet 138 By William Shakespeare

Sonnet, one of the most popular verse forms during Renaissance, has evolved with changing conventions of different countries and poets. One of the most well-known variants is English sonnet, also known as Shakespearean sonnet for William Shakespeare’s great contribution to this literature. He not only changed the rhyme scheme but also the structure of standard Italian sonnet in order to make it an appropriate carrier for his own expression. Using Sonnet 138 as an example, this essay focuses on the question how this particular verse form and the poetic devices used in a sonnet contribute to readers’ understanding of a poem, arguing that the form deepens the theme of the sonnet by putting emphasis on particular words and the couplet.

The structure

Shakespearean sonnet usually follows the end-rhymed rhyme scheme of a-b-a-b, c-d-c-d, e-f-e-f, g-g, which separates the poem into three quatrains and one couplet but still creates connections between different lines. The comma and the full stop are served with the same purpose. In the first quatrain of Sonnet 138, the speaker tells about the fact that he believes his mistress even though he knows she lies; in the second quatrain he says that she also pretends that she does not know he is old; in the third quatrain, their attitude towards trust in a relationship is revealed; and he ends with a couplet to tell that they are happy together even though they lie to each other. An obvious rhyme scheme groups some lines together while separating others to suggest units of sense in order to express different aspects of the discussion so that readers see a clearer structure of the poem. Moreover, the rhyme scheme a-b-a-b can imply some kind of movement pushing the poem to develop or suggesting interaction between two objects by juxtaposing two small sections. For example, in Sonnet 138 the speaker says his mistress lies to him (line 1 and 2), but at the same time he lies to her as well (line 3 and

In Sonnet 138, the word “lie” appears three times as an obvious example of repetition, implying that “lie” is the theme of the poem. However, after reading the whole poem it can be recognized as a pun: on one hand it means lying in a position while on the other hand it means telling lies. In the second line “I do believe her, though I know she lies”, “lies” can be interpreted as telling lies and sleeping with another man. The whole poem is about their lies to each other and how they accept them. In the last line “And in our faults by lies we flattered be.”, it implies that they do not care about each other’s lies as long as they still lie together, which means they are having a sexual relationship. The word “think” appears three times as well, and it appears twice in line 5, “Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young”, telling the readers that the speaker not only lies to his mistress but also lies to himself that he is still young, which adds a depressed tone to the sonnet. However, in the couplet the tone changes as they are satisfied by their relationship so the couplet seems more sharp and significant. The word “simple” appear twice respectively in line 7 and line 8, “Simply I credit her false-speaking tongue:/ On both sides thus is simple truth suppressed.” The speaker says that simply he believes his mistress’s lies and both of them avoid telling the truth. Truth is