Sonnet 75: So are you to my thoughts as food to life
by William Shakespeare
So are you to my thoughts as food to life,
Or as sweet-season’d showers are to the ground;
And for the peace of you I hold such strife
As ‘twixt a miser and his wealth is found.
Now proud as an enjoyer, and anon
Doubting the filching age will steal his treasure;
Now counting best to be with you alone,
Then better’d that the world may see my pleasure:
Sometime all full with feasting on your sight,
And by and by clean starved for a look;
Possessing or pursuing no delight
Save what is had, or must from you be took.
Thus do I pine and surfeit day by day,
Or gluttoning on all, or all away.
Meanings of Sonnet 75: So are you to my thoughts as food to life
This sonnet by William Shakespeare presents the speaker explaining the intensity of his love toward his fair youth. He compares it to the riches of a miser having matchless peace between the both. The main idea of the sonnet is the rapacity of love and its satisfaction through fair youth’s beauty.
Meanings of Lines 1-4
So are you to my thoughts as food to life,
Or as sweet-season’d showers are to the ground;
And for the peace of you I hold such strife
As ‘twixt a miser and his wealth is found.
The speaker opens the sonnet with his explanation that the thoughts of the fair youth are food for him. It is likening to shower on dry ground. He states that both are at peace, as if a miser is holding his wealth. Using the paradox of peace and strife, the speakers want to state that both live together and hold each other well. These verses add to the main idea of the intensity of love and its satiation through thoughts of the fair youth.
Meanings of Lines 5-8
Now proud as an enjoyer, and anon
Doubting the filching age will steal his treasure;
Now counting best to be with you alone,
Then better’d that the world may see my pleasure:
The speaker states that he takes pride in enjoying the love for that fair youth but when it occurs to him that he is getting old very fast, he makes it his priority to stay alone with him. In this way, he could have the pleasure of the world or the world could see his pleasure better than before. The speaker wants to spend as much time with his fair youth as possible. These verses further add to the main idea of the intensity of love and its satiation by living and staying with the fair youth.
Meanings of Lines 9-12
Sometime all full with feasting on your sight,
And by and by clean starved for a look;
Possessing or pursuing no delight
Save what is had, or must from you be took.
The speaker further states that when he has his fill with the sight of the fair youth whom he loves, he then becomes starved for just having a glance of him. He does not seem to take delight in this activity of possessing him and then pursuing him. In fact, he only enjoys what he has or what he has to take from his fair youth as food. These verses add further to the main idea of the intensity of love that feeds on seeing the fair youth.
Meanings of Lines 13-14
Thus do I pine and surfeit day by day,
Or gluttoning on all, or all away.
The speaker sums up the main idea of the sonnet in these two verses or the final couplet of this sonnet. He states that he is suffering from this back-and-forth love with the fair youth. Sometimes he feels the hunger to see him while at other times he feels too filled with his love after seeing him. This oscillation in his love makes up his entire life.
Summary of Sonnet 75: So are you to my thoughts as food to life
- Popularity of “Sonnet 75”: “Sonnet 75” penned by William Shakespeare, a great English playwright, and poet, is an interesting sonnet. It belongs to the series of sonnets he specifically wrote to praise the matchless beauty of the fair youth. This poem centers on a beautiful young man whose identity remains a question until the present day. It unfolds the speaker’s uncontrollable obsession and love for his friend. Although the poem got published ages ago, it still finds global readership due to its unique depiction of love and praise.
- “Sonnet 75” As a Representative of Love: This poem is about the speaker’s intense love and obsession with his friends. The poem begins when the speaker calls his love the food of his life. Thinking about him gives him peace and immense pleasure. The speaker is greedy for him like a miser as his world revolves around the fair youth. At one moment, he feels satisfied and content while having his friend in his life. While at another moment, he feels he cannot let a penny out of his sight. Throughout the poem, he tries to make his readers feel that his relationship with the fair youth alternates between uneasiness and pleasure. He closes the sonnet with an antithesis where he emphasizes the emotional extremities he faces while expressing his love for the fair youth.
- Major Themes in “Sonnet 75”: Love, fondness, fear, and happiness are the major themes of this sonnet. The poem is about a man whose friendship marks the center of his life. Throughout the poetic text, he expresses his contrasting feelings for his friend. He compares him to essential nourishment, highlighting how important youth is for survival. Later, he compares him with Mother Nature. As rain showers bring favorable conditions for life to grow, his friend’s thoughts fill him with immense pleasure. However, there comes the point when he fears losing his friend to others. On a surface level, the poem sings praise for a beautiful young man. On a deeper level, however, it shows how people forget everything when they fall in love. They totally ignore what is happening in the world around them. All they know is to praise the one who stole their heart.
Analysis of Literary Devices Used in Sonnet 75: So are you to my thoughts as food to life
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 worth reading. 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 “Or as sweet-season’d showers are to the ground;” and the sound of /i/ in “Sometime all full with feasting on your sigh.”
- Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line in quick succession such as the sound of /p/ in “Possessing or pursuing no delight,” and the sound of /t/ in “Then better’d that the.”
- Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line such as the sound of /s/ in “Sometime all full with feasting on your sight” and the sound of /t/ in “Doubting the filching age will steal his treasure.”
- 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;
“And for the peace of you I hold such strife
As ‘twixt a miser and his wealth is found.
Now proud as an enjoyer, and anon
Doubting the filching age will steal his treasure;”
- Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. Shakespeare has used imagery in this poem such as; “So are you to my thoughts as food to life”, “Then better’d that the world may see my pleasure” and “Save what is had, or must from you be took.”
- 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 revolve around one person, leaving behind other things in the surroundings.
- Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from the literal meanings. The poem used symbols such as love, praise, beauty, and fear.
Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in Sonnet 75: So are you to my thoughts as food to life
Poetic devices such as rhyme scheme, stanza form, diction, and repetition set appropriate structure to the poems. Shakespeare has used the following poetic devices in the poems.
- Couplet: There are two constructive lines of verse in a couplet, usually in the same meter and joined by rhyme. This sonnet ends with a couplet, which usually 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; “day/away” “anon/alone” and “sight/delight.”
- Iambic Pentameter: It is a type of meter having five iambs per line the poem follows iambic pentameter such as; “Or as sweet-season’d showers are to the ground.”
- Rhyme Scheme: The sonnet follows ABAB CDCD EFEF GG rhyme scheme.
- Sonnet: A sonnet is a fourteen-lined poem usually written in iambic pentameter. This Shakespearean sonnet consists of three quatrains and a couplet.
Quotes to be Used
The following lines are useful for love speeches to sing praise for love. These lines best explain how lovers spend their lives once they fall in love.
“So are you to my thoughts as food to life,
Or as sweet-season’d showers are to the ground;
And for the peace of you I hold such strife
As ‘twixt a miser and his wealth is found.”