Sonnet 29 Diction

William Shakespeare is well-known for his multiple works of literature. These famous works include his many sonnets that consist of three quatrains and a concluding couplet. Specifically, in “Sonnet 29,” the speaker is disgruntled with his life and lusts for a more favorable one. However, although the speaker does not embody all the characteristics he would like, when he thinks of a loved one, life becomes significant again. In his “Sonnet 29,” Shakespeare integrates various literary devices that highlight that happiness entails both economic and spiritual satisfaction. In a typical Shakespearean sonnet, the three starting quatrains serve as a mechanism for the poet to establish the sonnet’s topic of discussion, or in this case, the speaker’s

However, in addition to simply describing his sorrows, the speaker begins to wish for other aspects of life he does not already have. Ultimately, this quatrain reveals that the speaker is made more self-conscious by comparing his life to that of others. For example, the speaker wishes to become popular in that he wants to be surrounded by many friends. The repetition when the speaker reveals his want for popularity is noteworthy, because it creates a pause midline before he further elaborates, emphasizing his desire to be like someone else. In addition, he states he wants “this man’s art, and that man’s scope,” conveying he is not satisfied with the materials already provided to him in life (7). However, it is significant that the speaker is not simply wishing for only materialistic items. While the speaker desires to have another man’s ability to create art and another man’s perspective on life, he ultimately craves to be “rich in hope” (5). Since not all of these characteristics are tangible, Shakespeare illustrates that not only materialistic items equate to happiness. At the end of this quatrain, a shift is marked by a semicolon before continuing on to the final quatrain. This semicolon signals a shift by ending the speaker’s thoughts on what he would like to have and switching to appreciating what he does