Sonnet_132

Sonnet 132

Sonnet 132

Poem by William Shakespeare


Sonnet 132 is one of 154 sonnets written by the English playwright and poet William Shakespeare.

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Structure

Sonnet 132 is an English or Shakespearean sonnet. The English sonnet has three quatrains, followed by a final rhyming couplet. It follows the typical rhyme scheme of the form abab cdcd efef gg and is composed in iambic pentameter, a type of poetic metre based on five pairs of metrically weak/strong syllabic positions. The 3rd line exemplifies a regular iambic pentameter:

 ×    /  ×    /   ×    / ×    /   ×    / 
Have put on black and loving mourners be, (132.3)
/ = ictus, a metrically strong syllabic position. × = nonictus.

Line 13 features a mid-line reversal and, potentially, an initial reversal:

  /   ×   ×   /    /   ×  ×  /   ×    / 
Then will I swear beauty herself is black, (132.13)

Lines 2, 4, and 6 also exhibit initial reversals. Line 6 may be scanned as exhibiting a mid-line reversal; such a reversal is normally preceded by at least a slight intonational break, which "grey cheeks" does not allow. Peter Groves calls this a "harsh mapping", and recommends that in performance "the best thing to do is to prolong the subordinated S-syllable [here, "grey"] ... the effect of this is to throw a degree of emphasis on it".[2]

Some rhythmic uncertainty at the beginning of lines 7 and 9 may be resolved by applying contrastive accent to line 7's "that" and line 9's "those", rendering both lines regular and foregrounding a characteristically Shakespearean antithetical construction.

The meter demands that line 1's "pitying" function as two syllables.[3] Regarding lines 5 and 7's rhymes "heaven" and "even", Booth regards them as monosyllabic, whereas Kerrigan evidently reads them as disyllabic.[4][5]

Interpretations


Notes

  1. Pooler, C[harles] Knox, ed. (1918). The Works of Shakespeare: Sonnets. The Arden Shakespeare [1st series]. London: Methuen & Company. OCLC 4770201.
  2. Groves, Peter (2013). Rhythm and Meaning in Shakespeare: A Guide for Readers and Actors. Melbourne: Monash University Publishing. pp. 42–43. ISBN 978-1-921867-81-1.
  3. Booth 2000, p. 457.
  4. Booth 2000, p. 115.
  5. Kerrigan 1995, pp. 362, 210.

References

First edition and facsimile
Variorum editions
Modern critical editions

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