The audience to which the famous poet known as ‘The Bard’ was writing to in his Sonnets is a grand enigma. Under critical analysis, gender-specific elements can be inferred, but even the whimsical tone in which Shakespeare wrote was questionable, as was the poet’s historically recorded identity as well. Therefore, one may argue with evidence of Shakespeare’s semantic choices and the context of his other works that the audience in Sonnet 18 is non-gender specific is likely inhuman. This was something intangible that Shakespeare could not write about romantically or erotically.
Sonnet 18 contains a myriad of literary elements that require a close reading to fully be appreciated and understood. In addition to writing in Iambic Pentameter, which is found in nearly all of the Bard’s work, Shakespeare rhymes every other line in an AB pattern until the last two indented lines. These were arguably indented to place emphasis upon what was intended to be the heart of the poem.
The motif of weather recurs often, and could be interpreted as describing a person’s “temperate” (line 2) personality, which is fair and attractive. However, when making the argument that the audience was either male of female, the only evidence that the reader can refer to is the use of the word “lovely” (line 2) and the use of “his” (line 6). According to the Oxford English dictionary, the meaning of the word “lovely” has a wide gamut of meanings, including: kind, attractive, bringing pleasure, morally/spiritually beautiful, or in noun form the word refers to “an attractive and glamorous woman” (‘Lovely’, OED). Sappho also uses this word to describe the audience’s “lovely laughing” (line 5), and a strong argument has been made that her audience was nearly always a woman. However, can we use this one word to assert that Shakespeare was writing to a woman, and possibly even his wife. The use of the words “his golden complexion” could also imply that the subject is a male, unless of course “his” is referring to the sun or even summer itself. One must keep in mind that Shakespeare’s work is the product of a male-dominated, hegemonic society and the default gender pronoun used for strong, powerful things was masculine.
Other works by Shakespeare, such as Sonnet 20, clearly praise “a man in hue” (line 7) and are much more blatant about who they address. Sonnet 18’s ambiguity leads to speculation that perhaps it is more about being in love with the idea of love itself. Shakespeare could have also been referring to a muse of his, as he was very publicly in love with writing. We have been conditioned as a society, however, to assume that all poems must be written for love’s sake. When speculating for eroticism in Sonnet 18, the closest element to innuendo is the mention of “rough winds” that “shake the darling buds of May” (line 3), which could be interpreted as a metaphor for deflowering, or losing one’s innocence. This innuendo would be very inappropriate in the context of the whole poem, however, which has more of an admiring tone.
The most famous playwright in history used his deft grasp on the English language, and the power of enigma to create a text that we can still extract meaning from today. His intention may have been for just that to happen. Shakespeare’s love for said object of desire “grow’st” (line 11) and the poem’s mention of itself, on line 12, states that “this gives life to thee.” As long at this poem is still circulating and being read, Shakespeare’s affair with poetry and the English language lives on. The poet is saluting poetry, and demonstrating the beauty of multiple interpretations that come from such a rich art form.
Bibliography
- "Historic Definition of 'Lovely'" Home : Oxford English Dictionary. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Sept. 2012. http://www.oed.com/
- Sappho, and Anne Carson. "Fragment 31." If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2002. N. pag. Print
- Shakespeare, William, and Edward Bliss Reed. "Sonnet 18." Shakespeare's Sonnets. New Haven: Yale UP, 1923. N. pag. Print
- Shakespeare, William, and Edward Bliss Reed. "Sonnet 20." Shakespeare's Sonnets. New Haven: Yale UP, 1923. N. pag. Print
No comments:
Post a Comment