Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's Sonnet 37 returns to a number of themes sounded in the first 25 of the cycle, such as the effects of age and recuperation from age, and the blurred boundaries between lover and beloved. However, the tone is more complex than in the earlier poems: after the betrayal treated in Sonnets 34–36, the speaker does not return to a simple celebration. Just as an aged father takes delight in the youthful actions of his son, so I, crippled by fortune, take comfort in your worth and faithfulness. For whether it's beauty, noble birth, wealth, or intelligence, or all of these, or all of these and more, that you possess, I attach my love to it (whatever it is), and as a result I am no longer poor, crippled, or despised. Your mere shadow (present in me) provides such solid reality to me that I am complete with it. I wish whatever is best in you, and if this wish is granted, then I will be extremely happy.

Structure

Sonnet 37 is an English or Shakespearean

sonnet A sonnet is a poetic form that originated in the poetry composed at the Court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the Sicilian city of Palermo. The 13th-century poet and notary Giacomo da Lentini is credited with the sonnet's invention, ...

. The English sonnet is constructed with three

quatrain A quatrain is a type of stanza, or a complete poem, consisting of four lines. Existing in a variety of forms, the quatrain appears in poems from the poetic traditions of various ancient civilizations including Persia, Ancient India, Ancient Greec ...

s and a final rhyming

couplet A couplet is a pair of successive lines of metre in poetry. A couplet usually consists of two successive lines that rhyme and have the same metre. A couplet may be formal (closed) or run-on (open). In a formal (or closed) couplet, each of the ...

. The poem follows the form's typical

rhyme scheme A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhymes at the end of each line of a poem or song. It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme; lines designated with the same letter all rhyme with each other. An example of the ABAB rh ...

, ABAB CDCD EFEF GG, and like other Shakespearean sonnets is written in

iambic pentameter Iambic pentameter () is a type of metric line used in traditional English poetry and verse drama. The term describes the rhythm, or meter, established by the words in that line; rhythm is measured in small groups of syllables called "feet". "Iambi ...

, a type of poetic

metre The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its pref ...

based on five pairs of metrically weak/strong syllabic positions per line. The second line exemplifies a regular iambic pentameter:

 ×  /   ×  /  ×     /    ×  /    ×   / 
To see his active child do deeds of youth, (37.2)

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

Source and analysis

The sonnet was at one point a favorite of biographically oriented critics, such as

Edward Capell Edward Capell (11 June 171324 February 1781) was an English Shakespearian critic. Biography He was born at Troston Hall () in Suffolk. Through the influence of the Duke of Grafton he was appointed to the office of deputy-inspector of plays ...

, who saw in the opening lines a reference either to a physical debility or to Shakespeare's son. This interpretation was rejected by

Edmond Malone Edmond Malone (4 October 174125 May 1812) was an Irish Shakespearean scholar and editor of the works of William Shakespeare. Assured of an income after the death of his father in 1774, Malone was able to give up his law practice for at first p ...

and others;

Horace Howard Furness Horace Howard Furness (November 2, 1833 – August 13, 1912) was an American Shakespearean scholar of the 19th century. Life and career Horace Furness was the son of the Unitarian minister and abolitionist William Henry Furness (1802–1896), ...

, discussing it in conjunction with the legend that Shakespeare played Adam in ''

As You Like It ''As You Like It'' is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has b ...

'', calls the supposition "monstrous."

Edward Dowden Edward Dowden (3 May 18434 April 1913) was an Irish critic, professor, and poet. Biography He was the son of John Wheeler Dowden, a merchant and landowner, and was born at Cork, three years after his brother John, who became Bishop of Edinburgh ...

notes that lameness is used symbolically (as in ''

Coriolanus ''Coriolanus'' ( or ) is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1605 and 1608. The play is based on the life of the legendary Roman leader Caius Marcius Coriolanus. Shakespeare worked on it during the same ye ...

'' 4.7.7) to indicate weakness or contemptibility.

George Wyndham George Wyndham, PC (29 August 1863 – 8 June 1913) was a British Conservative politician, statesman, man of letters, and one of The Souls. Background and education Wyndham was the elder son of the Honourable Percy Wyndham, third son of Ge ...

and

Henry Charles Beeching Henry Charles Beeching (15 May 1859 – 25 February 1919) was a British clergyman, author and poet, who was Dean of Norwich from 1911 to 1919. Biography Beeching was born on 15 May 1859 in Sussex, the son of J. P. G. Beeching of Bexhill. He was ...

are among the editors who find other analogues for "lame" in this metaphorical sense. "Dearest" (3) is glossed by Gervinus as "heartfelt", but Malone's gloss "most operative" is generally accepted. Line 7 has been much discussed. Malone's emendation of "their" to "thy" is no longer accepted.

George Steevens George Steevens (10 May 1736 – 22 January 1800) was an English Shakespearean commentator. Biography Early life He was born at Poplar, the son of a captain and later director of the East India Company. He was educated at Eton College and at ...

, finding an analogy in ''

The Rape of Lucrece ''The Rape of Lucrece'' (1594) is a narrative poem by William Shakespeare about the legendary Roman noblewoman Lucretia. In his previous narrative poem, '' Venus and Adonis'' (1593), Shakespeare had included a dedicatory letter to his patron, ...

'', glosses it as "entitled (ie, ennobled) by these things."

Nicolaus Delius Nicolaus Delius (19 September 1813 – 18 November 1888) was a German philologist. Delius was born at Bremen; he was distinguished especially as a student of Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English ...

has it "established in thy gifts, with right of possession."

Sidney Lee Sir Sidney Lee (5 December 1859 – 3 March 1926) was an English biographer, writer, and critic. Biography Lee was born Solomon Lazarus Lee in 1859 at 12 Keppel Street, Bloomsbury, London. He was educated at the City of London School , ...

has "ennobled in thee", reversing the relationship between beloved and "parts." It is commonly agreed that the image is drawn from

heraldry Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branch ...

. "Shadow" and "substance" are drawn from Renaissance

Neoplatonism Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonism, Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and Hellenistic religion, religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a chain of ...

; Stephen Booth notes that the wit of line 10 derives from Shakespeare's reversal of the usual relationship between reality and reflection.

Notes

References

*Baldwin, T. W. ''On the Literary Genetics of Shakspeare's Sonnets''. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1950. *Hubler, Edwin. ''The Sense of Shakespeare's Sonnets''. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1952.

External links

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Analysis
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sonnet 037 British poems Sonnets by William Shakespeare