William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 17: Who Will Believe My Verse in Time to Come” stands as a profound exploration of art’s capacity to immortalize beauty, alongside the inherent doubts and limitations faced by the poet. This sonnet, part of the celebrated Fair Youth sequence, delves into the speaker’s anxiety that his poetic praise, however sincere, might be dismissed as exaggeration by future generations. It masterfully weaves together themes of legacy, the transient nature of beauty, and the contrasting powers of artistic creation and biological continuation.
Who will believe my verse in time to come,
If it were filled with your most high deserts?
Though yet heaven knows it is but a tomb
Which hides your life, and shows not half your parts.
If I could write the beauty of your eyes,
And in fresh numbers number all your graces,
The age to come would say, “This poet lies;
Such heavenly touches ne’er touched earthly faces.”
So should my papers, yellowed with their age,
Be scorned, like old men of less truth than tongue,
And your true rights be termed a poet’s rage,
And stretched metre of an antique song.
But were some child of yours alive that time,
You should live twice, in it, and in my rhyme.
Unveiling Sonnet 17: A Quest for Enduring Beauty
The Core Message of Sonnet 17
Sonnet 17 grapples with the speaker’s profound concern that his poetry, despite its earnest attempt to capture the beloved’s extraordinary beauty, will not be believed by future readers. The central idea revolves around the struggle to immortalize beauty and virtue through verse, and the fear that such descriptions will be perceived as mere poetic exaggeration rather than truthful representation. The speaker posits that his words, even if they were to fully encompass the beloved’s “most high deserts,” would still fall short, acting as a “tomb” that conceals rather than reveals the true essence. Ultimately, the poem suggests a dual path to immortality: through the enduring power of verse and, perhaps more reliably, through the continuation of a family line, specifically a child who would carry the beloved’s image into the future.
Why Sonnet 17 Resonates
This sonnet holds significant appeal due to its universal themes of legacy, remembrance, and the human desire to defy the passage of time. It speaks to anyone who has ever wished to preserve something precious from oblivion. The poem’s exploration of the limitations of art, even by a master like Shakespeare, offers a humble yet powerful insight into the challenges of representation. It also introduces a pragmatic solution to the problem of fleeting beauty: the idea that a child can serve as a living testament to a parent’s grace, complementing the poet’s efforts. This blend of artistic aspiration and biological reality makes Sonnet 17 a compelling and thought-provoking piece, prompting reflection on how we ensure our own stories, or the stories of those we cherish, endure.
In-Depth Analysis of Sonnet 17: Exploring Themes and Structure
Sonnet 17 unfolds as a meticulously crafted argument, moving from an initial expression of doubt to a proposed solution for lasting remembrance. The poem’s structure, typical of a Shakespearean sonnet, guides the reader through the speaker’s evolving thoughts on immortality.
The Speaker’s Doubt: The Limits of Poetic Immortality
The sonnet opens with a rhetorical question that immediately establishes the speaker’s central anxiety:
Who will believe my verse in time to come,
If it were filled with your most high deserts?
This query is not seeking an answer but rather highlighting the speaker’s profound skepticism about the credibility of his own praise. He fears that even if his poetry were to perfectly capture the beloved’s immense virtues and beauty, it would still be met with disbelief. The subsequent lines reinforce this limitation:
Though yet heaven knows it is but a tomb
Which hides your life, and shows not half your parts.
Here, the verse is metaphorically described as a “tomb,” implying that far from immortalizing the beloved, it might actually obscure their true brilliance. A tomb hides what it contains, suggesting that the poem, despite its best intentions, cannot fully convey the beloved’s living essence and multifaceted “parts” or qualities.
Anticipating Skepticism: The Future’s Disbelief
The second quatrain elaborates on the anticipated disbelief of future generations. The speaker imagines a scenario where his poetic efforts, however sincere, would be dismissed as fanciful:
If I could write the beauty of your eyes,
And in fresh numbers number all your graces,
The age to come would say, “This poet lies;
Such heavenly touches ne’er touched earthly faces.”
The speaker envisions a future audience that, confronted with such extraordinary descriptions, would conclude that the poet is simply fabricating or exaggerating. The phrase “fresh numbers number all your graces” speaks to the poet’s desire to quantify and articulate every aspect of the beloved’s charm, yet he foresees this very effort being met with scorn. The idea that “heavenly touches ne’er touched earthly faces” underscores the beloved’s almost divine beauty, so exceptional that it defies earthly belief.
The Scorn of Time: Verse as a Fading Memory
The third quatrain continues this pessimistic outlook, detailing the fate of the speaker’s verse and, by extension, the beloved’s memory, in the distant future:
So should my papers, yellowed with their age,
Be scorned, like old men of less truth than tongue,
And your true rights be termed a poet’s rage,
And stretched metre of an antique song.
The imagery of “papers, yellowed with their age” vividly portrays the physical decay of the written word over time. These aged verses, rather than being revered, are predicted to be “scorned,” much like elderly individuals whose words are no longer trusted or valued. The beloved’s genuine qualities, their “true rights,” would be misconstrued as mere “poet’s rage” or the exaggerated, “stretched metre of an antique song.” This suggests that the passage of time not only diminishes the physical form of the verse but also distorts its intended meaning, reducing profound praise to mere artistic excess.
A Dual Legacy: Procreation and Poetic Remembrance
The concluding couplet introduces a powerful shift in perspective, offering a more tangible and perhaps more believable path to immortality:
But were some child of yours alive that time,
You should live twice, in it, and in my rhyme.
Here, the speaker presents a solution that combines both biological and artistic forms of legacy. The presence of a child, a direct descendant, would serve as irrefutable proof of the beloved’s beauty and existence. This child would carry the beloved’s image and essence, allowing them to “live twice” – once through their offspring and again through the poet’s verse. The couplet suggests that while poetry alone might struggle for credibility, it gains strength and believability when supported by the undeniable evidence of a living legacy. This resolution beautifully balances the ephemeral nature of art with the concrete reality of human generation.
Literary Devices in Sonnet 17: Crafting Meaning and Emotion
Shakespeare’s masterful deployment of literary devices enriches Sonnet 17, adding layers of meaning and emotional depth to its exploration of immortality and artistic limitation.
- Metaphor: An implicit comparison between two unlike things, adding depth and layers of meaning. The poem itself is presented as a “tomb” in line 3:
Though yet heaven knows it is but a tomb
Which hides your life, and shows not half your parts.This powerful metaphor suggests that the verse, rather than fully revealing the beloved’s essence, might actually conceal it, highlighting the inadequacy of words to capture true beauty.
- Rhetorical Question: A question posed not for an answer, but for effect, engaging the reader and emphasizing a point. The opening line immediately establishes the poem’s central anxiety:
Who will believe my verse in time to come,
This question invites the reader to ponder the credibility of poetic praise and the challenges of preserving truth through art.
- Imagery: Vivid descriptions that appeal to the reader’s senses and create a strong emotional response. The image of the poem as a “tomb” (line 3) powerfully illustrates the inadequacy of words, while “papers, yellowed with their age” (line 9) evokes the physical decay of written works over time, emphasizing the fragility of artistic legacy.
- Personification: Attributing human qualities or actions to inanimate objects or abstract ideas. The “age to come” (line 7) is personified as a skeptical entity that will “say, ‘This poet lies,'” giving voice to the speaker’s fears of future disbelief.
- Alliteration: The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words, adding emphasis and creating a memorable effect. Notice the repetition of “w” in:
Who will believe my verse in time to come,
This subtle repetition draws attention to the speaker’s initial uncertainty and the core question of the sonnet. Another example is “fresh numbers number” (line 6), which emphasizes the act of poetic creation.
- Assonance: The repetition of vowel sounds within words or in closely placed words, creating a musical quality and emphasizing certain words. The repetition of the short “i” sound in “If it were filled with your most high deserts?” (line 2) subtly underscores the questioning tone and the speaker’s internal struggle.
- Consonance: The repetition of consonant sounds within or at the end of words, creating a sense of connection and musicality. Consider the repeated “r” sound in:
And your true rights be termed a poet’s rage,
This creates a subtle undercurrent of intensity and reinforces the idea of the beloved’s qualities being misrepresented.
- Enjambment: The continuation of a sentence or phrase from one line to the next without a pause, creating a flowing rhythm and maintaining reader engagement. The lines:
Though yet heaven knows it is but a tomb
Which hides your life, and shows not half your parts.exemplify this technique, blurring the line breaks and creating a sense of uninterrupted thought, mirroring the continuous nature of the beloved’s life and qualities.
Poetic Devices in Sonnet 17: The Artistry of Form
Beyond literary embellishments, Shakespeare employs specific poetic techniques to construct Sonnet 17, adhering to the conventions of the form while enhancing its thematic resonance.
- Sonnet: A fourteen-line poem, typically written in iambic pentameter. This Shakespearean sonnet adheres to the established conventions of the form, utilizing three quatrains and a concluding couplet to develop its central theme of immortality and artistic limitation.
- Iambic Pentameter: A rhythmic pattern of ten syllables per line, alternating unstressed and stressed syllables (da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM). This natural and flowing cadence is characteristic of Shakespeare’s sonnets and helps to emphasize key words and phrases, enhancing the poem’s emotional impact. For example:
Who will | believe | my verse | in time | to come,
The consistent rhythm provides a sense of order and musicality, even when discussing themes of doubt and disbelief.
- Rhyme Scheme: The pattern of rhymes at the end of lines in a poem. This sonnet follows the traditional Shakespearean rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG, contributing to its formal structure and musicality. For instance, “come” (A) rhymes with “tomb” (A), “deserts” (B) with “parts” (B), and so on, leading to the concluding rhyming couplet.
- Quatrain: A stanza of four lines, often developing a particular idea or image. The three quatrains in Sonnet 17 each explore different facets of the speaker’s anxiety: the first introduces the doubt, the second anticipates future skepticism, and the third describes the potential scorn for the aged verse.
- Couplet: The final two lines of a sonnet, often providing a resolution, a summary, or a turning point. The concluding couplet of Sonnet 17 offers a dual solution to the problem of immortality:
But were some child of yours alive that time,
You should live twice, in it, and in my rhyme.This couplet shifts the focus from the limitations of verse to the combined power of biological lineage and poetic remembrance, providing a hopeful and pragmatic conclusion to the speaker’s dilemma.
- End Rhyme: The rhyming of words at the end of lines, contributing to the poem’s musicality and structure. Examples include “come” and “tomb” (lines 1 and 3), “deserts” and “parts” (lines 2 and 4), and “time” and “rhyme” (lines 13 and 14). The consistent use of end rhyme creates a sense of closure and reinforces the sonnet’s formal beauty.
Conclusion: The Enduring Echo of Sonnet 17
Sonnet 17 stands as a poignant reflection on the enduring human desire for immortality and the complex role of art in achieving it. Through its eloquent verse, Shakespeare explores the poet’s struggle to capture and preserve extraordinary beauty, acknowledging the inherent skepticism that time can bring. The speaker’s journey from profound doubt about his verse’s credibility to the hopeful proposition of a dual legacy—through both poetry and progeny—offers a timeless meditation on how we ensure that what is cherished is not lost to oblivion. This sonnet reminds us that while words may fade or be doubted, the combination of artistic endeavor and the continuation of life itself provides the most robust path to lasting remembrance, ensuring that beauty, in its various forms, continues to resonate through the ages.