The Sonnets – Sonnets 87-103 “In sleep a king, but waking no
such matter.”
Sonnet 87
“Farewell, thou art too dear for my possessing,
And like enough thou know’st my estimate.
The charter of thy worth gives thee releasing;
My bonds in thee are all determinate.
For how do I hold thee but by thy granting,
And for that riches where is my deserving?
The cause of this fair gift in me is wanting,
And so my patent back again is swerving.
Thyself, thou gav’st, thy own worth then not knowing,
Or me, to whom thou gav’st it, else mistaking;
So thy great gift, upon misprision growing,
Comes home again, on better judgement making.
Thus have I had thee as a dream doth flatter:
In sleep a king, but waking no such matter.”
Here we see what seems to be the poet accepting that the Fair
Youth has rejected him perhaps in favour of the Rival Poet. The finality of the
first word of the poem “Farewell”, is striking and perhaps ironic. The framing
of the end of the relationship in vaguely legal and financial terms give a
sense of the contract between the poet and the Fair Youth to whom he had
addressed nearly all of the previous sonnets. Interestingly, the poet does not
find shortcomings or deficiencies in the Fair Youth (who is both the subject
and the receiver of the sonnets) but sees that rejection lies in his
deficiencies in his “gift” as a poet. Yet, this self-deprecation seems to
almost flip the blame since we see the poet as “gifted” in verse, we assume
that the Fair Youth does not appreciate the “gift” and sentiment of the poet
and has misjudged or underestimated the poet’s “gift”. We see that the poet is
betrayed and thus irony lurks beneath the final rhyming couplet:
“Thus have I had thee as a dream doth flatter:
In sleep a king, but waking no such matter.”
Here is a great video from the website OurDailySonnet:
Sonnet 88 is like an afterthought or a P.S. if this was a letter.
This sonnet looks toward the future and the poet says that even when the Fair
Youth puts the “merit” of the poet in the “eye of scorn” that the poet will
defend the youth and “prove thee virtuous”. The poet even suggests in the end that
he will help the Youth to get all that he deserves even if it involves the poet
taking all scorn, blame and wrongs upon himself. Here is a video of Sonnet 88 done by Louise Crawford: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC1UCVx8Xpg
This self-blame and
self-accusation continues in Sonnet 89 with the poet giving in to any accusation
that may be put on him. The poet acknowledges that love will probably turn to
hate and ends by claiming that he will eventually hate himself and battle
against himself since the poet “… must ne'er love him whom thou dost hate.” Here is a video of Sonnet 89 from Shakespeare Shorts 2012 Festival: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORstLQFYoPc
The self-blame continues
in Sonnet 90 but the sonnet has a vague sense that the breakup or separation
between the Fair Youth and the Poet has not happened yet. Here is Sonnet 90 performed by Joey Richards in 2018 as part of the Shakespeare by the Lakes 'Sounds of Shakespeare' project in 2018. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1761044614199902
Sonnet 91, the poet returns to love and muses how as a poet, he is more blessed by having love than having high birth or glory or riches. Here is a video from The Sonnet project NYC. It is sub-titled Literary Walk and is performed by Tim Ruddy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mu1vDqhTn8s
In Sonnet 92, the poet reflects on his predicament with the youth that he is, “Happy to have thy love, happy to die!” Here Annette Badland reads Sonnet 92. https://vimeo.com/44729429
Sonnet 93 addresses a question that is central to many of
Shakespeare’s plays and characters “How can a person be different from what
their outward appearance shows?” Hamlet, Lady Macbeth. Macbeth, Othello and
Iago all state or face this question. The sonnet ends by suggesting that the
youth may, like the apple of Eve, not be as sweet and virtuous as he seems. Here is a lovely reading of Sonnet 93. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJbcOD1mqyA
Sonnet 94 seems to build on the themes and ideas explored in Sonnets 90-93 of
the Fair Youth forsaking the Poet. The Poet seems to have some hopes but
suggests that his optimism may not be well-placed. Here is actor Leon Russom talking about what Shakespeare means to him and then he recites Sonnet 94: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Vm5qsdjQ3Y
Sonnet 95 builds on this and
even criticizes the youth and ends with a warning for the youth wrapped up in
the final line, “The hardest knife ill used doth lose its edge.” Here is Sonnet 95 performed by Paula Brett. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndPhubXWs1M
This sense of betrayal and blame
continues in Sonnet 96 (which exists in Sonnets 91 through to Sonnet 96) where
the poet criticizes the youth warning him not to abuse his beauty as his
reputation would be tarnished. The criticism is gentler in this poem. The final
line suggests that the link between the Poet and the Fair Youth and their
reputations. Here is Sonnet 96 performed by Sam Alexandar. https://vimeo.com/44730179
Sonnets 97 and 98 deal with a time of separation between the Poet
and the Fair Youth. Nature and the seasons are used as a metaphor for both the
relationship and the emotional state of the poet. The rich imagery reinforces
the emotional changes in Sonnet 97 which then hark back to the power of the
youth as the poet’s muse in Sonnet 98. Guy Paul reads Sonnet 97 here as part of the 2014 South Bank Festival of Love. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUc70Z7mZ-E
Here ReadMyLips does Sonnet 98: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoLorWJeNwQ
Sonnet 99 is the only one of Shakespeare’s 154 Sonnets which has
15 lines. One theory is that this is a draft of Sonnet 99 and that any final 14
line version is lost in time. Another theory is that Shakespeare has put a few
simple codes in this poem to give a hint of the date. This sonnet has 15 lines
and is numbered Sonnet 99 so some people contend that this sonnet was written
in 1599. In Sonnet 99, the poet starts by accusing the “forward violet” of stealing
its sweet scent from the breath of the poet’s Fair Youth. In fact, the poem
centres on the theme of theft and accuses the violet, the purple pride, the
lily, the marjoram and even the rose of stealing scent, colour, beauty and even
essence from the poet’s love. A sense of forboding comes near the end of the
poem when the poet mentions a worm or “vengeful canker” that eats up a rose. The following website has a reading of Sonnet 99, information and a slam poetry response by English woman Kate Tempest entitled 'My Shakespeare: https://poetryace.com/sonnet-99
Sonnets 100, 101, 102 and 103, the Poet offers excuses for being
absent or silent in writing about and praising the Fair Youth. He asks that his
pen be given both “skill and argument” so that his verse may give his love “… fame
faster than time wastes life…” Here is Sian Phillips reading Sonnet 100: https://vimeo.com/44730889
In Sonnet 101, The Poet directly addresses his
muse and eventually asks his muse to do its job or “office”. Here is Ammar Duffus doing Sonnet 101. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liGKGcm2Hus
While in Sonnet 102,
the Poet says that even though he has not “sung” or written more about the Fair
Youth, it doesn’t mean that his love has diminished. Christine Williamson does Sonnet 102 here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5DWftR9uHU
In Sonnet 103, the Poet
again demeans himself and his skills as a poet to praise his love. The final
rhyming couplet is ironic its suggests that the youth’s mirror will show him
more than the poet’s verse will:
“And more, much more than in my verse can sit
Your own glass shows you , when you look in it.”
Kim Cattrall reads Sonnet 103 here:
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