Sonnet 151: Love is too young to know what conscience is
Love is too young to know what conscience is;
Yet who knows not, conscience is born of love?
Then, gentle cheater, urge not my amiss,
Lest guilty of my faults thy sweet self prove.
For thou betraying me, I do betray
My nobler part to my gross body’s treason;
My soul doth tell my body that he may
Triumph in love; flesh stays no farther reason,
But rising at thy name, doth point out thee
As his triumphant prize. Proud of this pride,
He is contented thy poor drudge to be,
To stand in thy affairs, fall by thy side.
No want of conscience hold it that I call
Her ‘love,’ for whose dear love I rise and fall.
Meanings of Sonnet 151: Love is too young to know what conscience is
Shakespeare’s “The Sonnet 151” presents the conflict between soul and body to show the dark side of human nature. The main idea of this sonnet is the conflict between the physical body and spiritual existence, along with imagination and intellect.
Meanings of Lines 1-4
Love is too young to know what conscience is;
Yet who knows not, conscience is born of love?
Then, gentle cheater, urge not my amiss,
Lest guilty of my faults thy sweet self prove.
The speaker states that when a person is passionately in love, he does not employ intellect, and everybody knows that it comes out of love. Putting this rhetorical question, the speaker states that love creates intellect. Therefore, the gentler cheater, who happens to be a lady, becomes the target of the speaker’s argument. He asks the lady in question that she should not urge him to be inappropriate or else she would have the evidence to prove him guilty of the fault. The speaker knows that she could allure him to do what she wants as love knows little conscience until it is too late. These verses add to the main idea of conflict between the body and the soul.
Meanings of Lines 5-8
For thou betraying me, I do betray
My nobler part to my gross body’s treason;
My soul doth tell my body that he may
Triumph in love; flesh stays no farther reason,
The speaker is very clear when he says that if she betrays him, he will do the same by becoming unfaithful. The noble part of his body becomes a rebel and commits an act of treason by becoming aroused. Then his own soul starts conflicting with his body to argue that the body could be a victor in this battle of love. It means that flesh does not accept any reason. The speaker presents his argument that in the battle of body and soul, the body wins in most cases. These verses add further to the idea of conflict and lusciousness.
Meanings of Lines 9-12
But rising at thy name, doth point out thee
As his triumphant prize. Proud of this pride,
He is contented thy poor drudge to be,
To stand in thy affairs, fall by thy side.
The speaker states that when he rises up with her name, it means that she has won and that she is the prize of this victory. However, it has sexual connotations of erection and desire for sex. He feels pride that he has this prize and that he is standing by her to do any menial work for her, or resolve her issues. This companionship of the poet or desire for it has sexual connotations. Therefore, these verses add to the main idea of conflict and its victor.
Meanings of Lines 13-14
No want of conscience hold it that I call
Her ‘love,’ for whose dear love I rise and fall.
The speaker comes to the point in the end that even conscience fails to hold a check on it what the speaker calls “love.” He states that he rises and falls only for this love. Therefore, when it comes to love, his conscience refuses to do his job of intellectuality. This couplet completes the main idea of conflict.
Summary of Sonnet 151: Love is too young to know what conscience is
- Popularity of “Sonnet 151”: Written by William Shakespeare, a great English playwright and poet “Sonnet 151” is a symbolic poetic piece. This sonnet belonged to the series of poems he wrote for the Dark Lady. It offers a stark comparison between the human body’s demands and the spiritual soul. It also highlights how certain body functions are capable of destroying the morality of one’s soul. Although the poem was written ages ago, it still depicts the dark side of human nature.
- “Sonnet 151” As a Representative of Truth: This poem presents a clash between the body and the soul. The writer starts the poem by stating that love is innocent to know what conscience is. His desires for the Dark Lady are sinful and seductive. The speaker urges the lady not to judge his intentions as the judgment may lead her to disappointment and guilt. As the poem continues, the writer informs the readers that the Dark Lady’s betrayal has brought these negative changes to his personality. Previously, he believed that love should be pure, chaste, and honest, but now, his flesh does not want to carry the same notion. Presently, he only wants to be in close contact with the lady, leaving all his spiritual teachings behind. He ends the poem by stating that he does not feel bad for speaking about calling the Dark Lady the center of his life. He openly admits that he loves to rise and fall for her.
- Major Themes in “Sonnet 151”: The Dark Side of human nature, the clash between body and soul, and love are the poem’s major themes. This poem is about how we forget our values and spirituality when love overpowers our emotions. The speaker of the poem shows his rebellious nature. The poem suggests that he did not share negative intentions previously, but the lady’s betrayal changed his perception of love. Now, he willingly sets aside his soul and obeys the lustful desires of his body. The poem suggests that lust is sometimes more potent than love. The speaker has submitted to it and is willing to go to any extent to satisfy himself. Although his conscience tries to drag him back to the right path, he ignores its call and continues to pursue the negative approach.
Analysis of Literary Devices Used in Sonnet 151: Love is too young to know what conscience is
literary devices are modes that represent the writer’s ideas, feelings, and emotions. It is through these devices the writers make their seemingly simple texts a worthwhile read. Shakespeare has also added some literary devices in the poem, whose analysis is as follows.
- Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /e/ in “hen, gentle cheater, urge not my amiss;” and the sound of /o/ in “Yet who knows not, conscience is born of love.”
- Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /r/ in “My nobler part to my gross body’s treason” and the sound of /t/ in “Love is too young to know what conscience is.”
- Enjambment: It is defined as a thought in verse that does not come to an end at a line break; rather, it rolls over to the next line. For example;
“For thou betraying me, I do betray
My nobler part to my gross body’s treason;
My soul doth tell my body that he may
Triumph in love; flesh stays no farther reason;”
- Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. Shakespeare used imagery in this poem such as; “Love is too young to know what conscience is”, “Lest guilty of my faults thy sweet self-prove” and “My soul doth tell my body that he may.”
- Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between objects that are different in nature. The poet has used love as an extended metaphor to show how it makes people forget their spiritual values.
- Personification: Personification is to give humanistic qualities to objects. Shakespeare used this device in the opening line of the poem where he personifies love, such as; “Love is too young to know what conscience is.”
- Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from the literal meanings. The poem has symbols such as love, lust, desire, and rebellion.
Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in Sonnet 151: Love is too young to know what conscience is
Poetic devices such as rhyme scheme, stanza form, diction, and repetition set an appropriate structure for the poems. Shakespeare used the following poetic devices in it to help input it into a better structure.
- Couplet: There are two consecutive verses, usually in the same meter and joined by rhyme. This sonnet ends with a couplet, which reveals the central idea of the poem.
- End Rhyme: End Rhyme is used to make the stanza melodious. Shakespeare has used end rhyme in this poem such as; “thee/bee” “call/fall” and “side/pride.”
- Iambic Pentameter: It is a type of meter having five iambs per line. The poem follows iambic pentameter such as “Love is too young to know what conscience”
- Rhyme Scheme: The poem follows the ABABCDCD rhyme scheme in its octave and EFEFGG in the sestet.
- Sonnet: A sonnet is a fourteen-lined poem usually written in iambic pentameter. This Shakespearean sonnet consists of three quatrains and a couplet, or an octave and a sestet.
Quotes to be Used
The following lines are useful for lovers to express their heartfelt emotions.
“To stand in thy affairs, fall by thy side.
No want of conscience hold it that I call
Her ‘love,’ for whose dear love I rise and fall.”
