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Attributing Sonnets 1-126 to
a young man and Sonnets 127-152 to a dark lady is somewhat problematical,
since in many of the poems the gender of the person addressed is not at all
clear (although sometimes it is). We have no clear mandate to interpret
poems invoking “my love” as referring necessarily to a male or to a female,
since the term is used to refer to both sexes equally.
One can study Shakespeare’s sonnets as independent poems or, in some cases,
as short sequences of a few poems (since many are linked together by subject
matter), or as an entire sonnet sequence, trying to make of the total
collection some form of coherent or semi-coherent narrative. We have no
particular need or right to construct such a narrative (after all, the poems
may be quite independent of each other), but the temptation to do so is
almost irresistible.
Shakespeare’s sonnet
sequence begins with a series of poems urging the young man to whom they are
addressed to get married, so that he will leave the world a copy of his
beauty, which will therefore not suffer the ravages of time. The young man
is clearly single, very accomplished, good looking, and of noble birth. In
Sonnet 18 the theme shifts slightly, as the speaker of the poem (who
identifies himself as the poet) claims that the young man will achieve
immortality through these very sonnets, which will preserve his beauty for
all time. But the tone of the sonnets quickly becomes much more personal as
the speaker explores his love for the young man and, at times, his despair
at absences from the young man and at the young man's unfaithfulness. In at
least one poem (Sonnet 20) there seems to be a very explicit homosexual
basis to the relationship between the speaker-poet and the young man.
Elsewhere, there is a suggestion that the young man is having an affair with
a woman also loved by the speaker-poet (an issue which Sonnet 42 raises and
which is later explored in Sonnet 144, a poem which suggests that the young
man and the dark lady are lovers). Sonnet 78 starts a concern for some rival
poet who has engaged the attention and the affection of the young man. The
unfaithfulness of the young man leads the speaker to question his moral
character with very specific images of infection and disease (which suggests
venereal infection--as in Sonnets 94 and 95).
The dark lady sequence (which starts with Sonnet 127) also
offers tantalizing narrative suggestions. She is conventionally referred to
as the Dark Lady although she is rarely called dark (the adjective "black"
is much more commonly applied to her), and we have no evidence that she was
a noble (as the term lady might suggest). The speaker establishes that both
he and the lady are no longer young, and he knows his love for this lady is
wrong (sinful) but he cannot escape it. This puts him in a powerful moral
anguish (as in Sonnet 129, 144, and 147). She is unfaithful to him, and he
is unfaithful to her, and both are committing adultery with others and with
each other (including, it seems, the young man). And yet at times his
expressions of love are unequivocally beautiful and confident (Sonnet 116).
What is particularly remarkable about the sequence of poems
addressed to or concerning the young man and the dark lady is the
extraordinary range of emotions explored—everything from confident
declarations of total love to gloom at separation, joy at reunion, bitter
disappointment at mutual infidelity, and savage despair at being locked into
behavior which will damn him to hell.
What is also remarkable is the range of styles in the
sonnets. Some of the poems are relatively conventional sonnets in execution
and achievement; and some are inferior poems by any standard. Some are
clearly designed to show off the poet's skill at the expense of any real
sincerity of feeling. Many have a richly complex style, and others are
apparently very simple in vocabulary, syntax, and form (none more so than
Sonnet 66). But the best of the sonnets, the finest love poems in English,
display an astonishing synthesis of technical sophistication and passionate
eloquence, qualities which transform any lingering conventional attitudes to
love into something which registers as uniquely and sincerely felt (e.g.
Sonnet 116, Sonnet 138, Sonnet 129, Sonnet 144, Sonnet 147, to name a few).
Not surprisingly, many scholars (professional and amateur)
have seen in Shakespeare’s Sonnets a revealing insight into the biography of
William Shakespeare. There is, of course, absolutely no reason why we have
to see these poems as based upon real experience; the poems could be about
entirely imagined people and experiences. However, given the emotional
pressure contained in many of these sonnets and the fact that some of them
are about a person named Will, many people believe they must contain
important clues to Shakespeare's life. And so the scholarly hunt is on. Who
is the young man? Who are the rival poet and the dark lady? An enormous
amount of energy has been spent on such questions; all suggestions, however,
remain inconclusive.
There is, so it is alleged, one vital clue given by the
dedication to The Sonnets, which runs as follows:
To the only begetter of
These ensuing sonnets,
Mr. W. H. all happiness
And that eternity
Promised
By
Our ever-living poet
Wisheth
The well-wishing
Adventurer in
Setting
Forth
T. T.
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