Sonnet 9
Is it for fear to wet a widow’s eye,
That thou consum’st thy self in single life?
Ah! if thou issueless shalt hap to die,
The world will wail thee like a makeless wife;
The world will be thy widow and still weep
That thou no form of thee hast left behind,
When every private widow well may keep
By children’s eyes, her husband’s shape in mind:
Look what an unthrift in the world doth spend
Shifts but his place, for still the world enjoys it;
But beauty’s waste hath in the world an end,
And kept unused the user so destroys it.
No love toward others in that bosom sits
That on himself such murd’rous shame commits.
Summary of Sonnet 9
- Popularity of “Sonnet 9”: Among the fair youth sonnets of William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 9” which appeared in 1609, stands tall as it connects the main theme with the next sonnet, and both form a diptych. The beauty of this sonnet lies in the fact that the poet advises the fair youth to marry in case he stays a bachelor and dies. The whole world will wail for him like a widow. The sonnet won popularity due to its role in connecting the thematic strand with the next sonnet.
- “Sonnet 9” As a Representative of Reality: The main argument of the poem is the marriage that the poet wants “Fair Youth” to contract and become the father of children. Shakespeare continues with the same strain saying that, like the other people, if he breathes his last, the widow would mourn his death and in case he dies without a woman, the whole world would mourn his death. As he would be issueless, the entire world would weep for him. The main thrust of this argument of Shakespeare is that the fair youth must marry, or he would be committing the sin of “murderous shame” as his beauty would be destroying him if he does not use it in marriage. He also means that the whole world would become his widow to mourn his marriage.
- Major Themes in “Sonnet 9”: Marriage, love, and beauty are three major thematic strands of this poem. Although it seems that Shakespeare praises the fair youth out of his heterosexual leanings, it seems that he wants to promote the institution of marriage despite his poetic appreciation of the fairness of the youth. He argues that love continues if one has children behind but if a person preserves his beauty, he becomes a narcist and rather destroys himself in this self-love. Therefore, the best preservation of love and beauty lies in marriage and children.
Analysis of Literary Devices Used in Sonnet 9
William Shakespeare’s use of literary devices excels not only in playwriting but also poetry. Some of the major literary devices he has used in this poem are as follows.
- Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line such as the sound of /i/ in “Is it for fear to wet a widow’s eye” and the sound of /o/ in “That thou no form of thee hast left behind.”
- Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line in quick succession such as the sound of /th/ in “that thou”, /w/ in “world will wail” and /f/ in “for fear.”
- Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line such as the sound of /t/ in “Shifts but his place, for still the world enjoys it” and the sound of /s/ in “And kept unused the user so destroys it.”
- 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;
No love toward others in that bosom sits
That on himself such murd’rous shame commits.
- Irony: Irony is a figure of speech in which words are used in such a way that their intended meaning is different from the actual meaning of the words. The sonnet shows irony in that the world cannot become a widow and yet it will mourn the death of the fair youth.
- Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. William Shakespeare has used imagery in this poem such as “That thou no form of thee hast left behind”, “Look what an unthrift in the world doth spend” and “And kept unused the user so destroys it.”
- Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between objects different in nature. The sonnet shows the metaphor of the world compared to a widow.
- Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from the literal meanings. The poem shows symbols like wife, widow, and the world to show the institutional failure regarding marriage in case such youths do not marry.
Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in Sonnet 9
Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is an analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.
- Diction and Tone: Diction means the type of language, and tone means the voice of the text. The sonnet shows formal and archaic diction but the tone is sorrowful as well as tragic.
- Quatrain: A quatrain is a four-lined stanza borrowed from Persian poetry. Here each stanza is quatrain.
- Rhetorical Question: The sonnet shows the use of rhetorical questions such as the first one, “Is it for fear to wet a window’s eyes / That thou consum’st self in single life?”
- Rhyme Scheme: The sonnet follows the rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD in its octave and EFEF GG in its sestet.
- Sonnet: It is a fourteen-lined poem. This poem is a sonnet as it has two parts; the first one is called the octave, and the second is called the sestet.
Quotes to be Used
The following lines are useful to quote to cut jokes on a person who does not show his love toward anybody.
No love toward others in that bosom sits
That on himself such murd’rous shame commits.
