Sonnet 83

«

»

Sonnet 83

Sonnet 83 1609.jpg

–William Shakespeare

Sonnet 83 is one of 154 sonnets written by the English playwright and poet William Shakespeare. It's a member of the Fair Youth sequence, in which the poet expresses his love towards a young man, and the sixth sonnet of the Rival Poet subsequence.

Synopsis

The youth does not need to be described or painted (with cosmetics), but exceeds what can be written about him. Therefore the poet has given up attempting to express the youth's worth, so that the reality will show up the weakness of his poetry. The youth has objected to the poet's silence, while the Rival Poet is writing, but the reality of the youth's beauty is much greater than both poets could express.

Structure

Sonnet 83 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 7th line exemplifies a regular iambic pentameter:

 ×   /  ×  / ×    /     ×    /    ×    / 
How far a modern quill doth come too short,

  /  ×   ×   /       ×   /    ×   /   ×     / 
Speaking of worth, what worth in you doth grow. (83.7-8)

/ = ictus, a metrically strong syllabic position. × = nonictus.

It is followed (in line 8) by an initial reversal, a common metrical variation.

The meter demands that line 6's "being" function as 1 syllable.

Interpretations

• Imelda Staunton, for the 2002 compilation album, When Love Speaks (EMI Classics)

References

First edition and facsimile

Variorum editions

Modern critical editions

• online text