thesis for sonnet 76

Shakespeare's Sonnets

By william shakespeare, shakespeare's sonnets summary and analysis of sonnet 76 - "why is my verse so barren of new pride".

What's he saying?

Why is my verse so barren of new pride, / So far from variation or quick change?"

Why don't I write about new ideas, or change the subject of my poems?

"Why with the time do I not glance aside / To new-found methods, and to compounds strange?"

Why don't I change with the times, using new poetic techniques and devices?

"Why write I still all one, ever the same, / And keep invention in a noted weed,"

Why do I always write about the same thing, in the same style?

"That every word doth almost tell my name, / Showing their birth, and where they did proceed?"

So that it's obvious that I am the author of all my poems?

"O! know sweet love I always write of you, / And you and love are still my argument;"

You should know that you and love are always the subjects of my poems;

"So all my best is dressing old words new, / Spending again what is already spent:"

All my best work involves reiterating the same thoughts in new poems:

"For as the sun is daily new and old, / So is my love still telling what is told."

My love renews itself over and over, like the sun that rises each morning.

Why is he saying it?

Sonnet 76 is the first of the "rival poet" sequence of sonnets, in which the speaker addresses the threat posed by other poets. This sequence runs from Sonnet 76 to 86, interrupted by Sonnets 77 and 81, which are part of the "climacteric" sequence, and deal with the loss of life and love. Sonnet 76 begins the "rival poet" sequence by referring back to the theme of Sonnet 38, that the fair lord is the only thing worth writing about for the poet.

The similarities with Sonnet 38 continue throughout Sonnet 76. Sonnet 38 asks, "How can my Muse want subject to invent, / While thou dost breathe"? meaning that the fair lord provides the poet with endless inspiration. The use of the words "argument," "invention," and "verse" are key words in both sonnets, linking them. "Invention" can mean the creation of thought, and in both sonnets it specifically refers to the poet's writing style. In Sonnet 38, the speaker asks, "For who's so dumb that cannot write to thee, / When thou thy self dost give invention light?"

The metaphor of clothing is carried throughout this sonnet, beginning with the use of the word "pride," which refers to new ornamental clothing. In line 3, the poet asks why he does not change "with the time," or with the current fashion. Though it refers to the style of poetry that is in fashion, there is an obvious link to clothing. The "noted weed" of line 6 is a well-known style of clothing. The idea of "dressing old words new" in line 11 uses the imagery of reviving old clothing to describe the reuse of ideas in poems.

Poets often thought of their work as a child, and that idea is represented in Sonnet 76. In line 1, the speaker asks "Why is my verse so barren of new pride," with the word "barren" connoting the state of a fruitless womb. Line 8 describes the words of his poems as "Showing their birth, and where they did proceed," as if they are his children. The phrase "where they did proceed" refers to their hereditary line which endowed them with their characteristics; in this case, their preoccupation with the fair lord.

There is also a sexual undertone throughout the sonnet, beginning with an alternate interpretation of the word "pride" in line 1; it can refer to an erection, as it does in sonnet 151: 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." Line 12, "Spending again what is already spent," has an obvious metaphor of the circulation of money, but it also hints at ejaculation and repeated intercourse.

Shakespeare’s Sonnets Questions and Answers

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Summary of sonnet 18

Here the theme of the ravages of time again predominates; we see it especially in line 7, where the poet speaks of the inevitable mortality of beauty: "And every fair from fair sometime declines." But the fair lord's is of another sort, for it...

Part A In Sonnet 12 (“When I do count the clock that tells the time”), what do the images of passing time make the speaker wonder about the person he addresses? a. Will that person’s beauty fade? b. Will that person’s fame endure? c. d. Will that person a

a. Will that person’s beauty fade?

What is the message of Sonnet 18?

Shakespeare's main message is that which will fade in life (beauty) can be immortalized in verse.... his poetry will live forever.

Study Guide for Shakespeare’s Sonnets

Shakespeare's Sonnets study guide contains a biography of William Shakespeare, literature essays, a complete e-text, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Shakespeare's Sonnets
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Essays for Shakespeare’s Sonnets

Shakespeare's Sonnets essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of various sonnets by William Shakespeare.

• Colonial Beauty in Sidney's "Astrophil and Stella" and Shaksespeare's Sonnets
• Beauty, As Expressed By Shakespeare's Sonnet 18
• From Autumn to Ash: Shakespeare's Sonnet 73
• Dark Beauties in Shakespeare's Sonnets and Sidney's "Astrophil and Stella"
• Human Discrepancy: Mortality and Money in Sonnet 146

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Tradition Versus Innovation

At its core, “Sonnet 76” is a juxtaposition of the traditional methods of writers like the speaker (and the poet), and experimental, innovative methods of newer writers and artists. In the opening line, “Why is my verse so barren of new pride” (Line 1), one of the often overlooked key words is “new”—the speaker feels caught in the past and wonders why their work does not compare with the proud, fertile compositions of those around them. The first half of the poem centers around this discontent; there is a sense that the speaker has been left behind because of their adherence to tradition.

While there is no major, dramatic turn in this attitude, the line “To new-found methods and to compounds strange” (Line 4) hints at the shifting perspective as the speaker reconsiders their own “pride” (Line 1) in their work. This may even be subconscious rather than overt, which is why it is portrayed through subtle language rather than as a declaration. The descriptions are not complimentary and carry a feeling of wariness bordering on disdain; “compounds strange” (Line 4) suggests a modernist bastardization of a proud tradition rather than an evolution of it. In the following quatrain, the speaker considers the way their writing style has come to be indicative of the speaker themself—an idea that is still very true today as this language is considered to be a Shakespearean style, and this exact poetic form has even become known as a “Shakespearean sonnet.” The poem therefore becomes a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy as the very words used to describe the speaker’s plight become among the ones to bring it into being.

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By the time the poem reaches its conclusion, the speaker has moved their focus away from the methods and literary devices of poetic construction to its inspiration. They admit that all their work is born out of love, so the best they can do is “dress[…] old words new” (Line 11), or use the tools at hand to try and encompass a much bigger idea. In this way, the subject of the speaker’s work becomes much bigger than the approach; in other words, it no longer matters if the work is traditional or innovative because it all circles back to the same universal idea.

An Artist’s Limitations

In addition to the gap between innovation and tradition, the poem also explores the gap between what the speaker aspires to capture in their work—what all writers and artists seek to capture in their various mediums—and the incomprehensible breadth of human feeling. The focus on innovation and new techniques—“new-found methods and […] compounds strange” (Line 4)—illustrates the eternal struggle to find new ways of communicating themes and feelings that are simply too big for words. In the opening lines, there is a sense that the speaker longs for these methods because they might open new avenues of inspiration.

The speaker poses their thoughts as questions for which there are no simple answers. In the second quatrain, they shift their focus from the work of others to examining their own writing, ultimately finding it lacking. The lines “still all one, ever the same, / And keep invention in a noted weed” (Lines 5-6) suggest that the speaker’s work is repetitive and lacks experimentation; however, the deeper truth is that the speaker is struggling with the boundaries set by the limitations of their medium. The reason these innovations exist in the first place is because writers attempt to push past these boundaries and find new ways to communicate what it is to love. The speaker concludes, “So all my best is dressing old words new, / Spending again what is already spent” (Lines 11-12)—they can only rearrange the same literary devices and turns of phrase they’ve always relied upon to express their love.

At the end of the poem, the speaker accepts that they will continue using their art to express their feelings in the same cyclical way as the rising and setting of the sun. They have acknowledged the reality of their limitations as an artist and understand that the only thing they have the power to do is continue creating and sharing their love for the fair youth.

The Relationship Between Love and Inspiration

The poem begins as a treatise on the creative process but quickly shifts into a celebration of the love the speaker feels for the subject of the poem, the fair youth. In the speaker’s life, these two things are inextricably intertwined: art and love, passion and creativity. The line “O know, sweet love, I always write of you” (Line 9) is significant; in addition to being the central turning point of the poem, it is also the first line that is delivered as a statement rather than a question. This suggests that the first half of the poem represents a period of uncertainty, whereas the second half of the poem is more confident and fulfilled. The speaker is saying that no matter what methods, phrases, devices, or mediums they use to illustrate their love, their feelings remain constant and unchanging.

Rather than being two separate things or every two sides of one whole, art and love are presented as intrinsically interwoven. The speaker says, “you and love are still my argument” (Line 10), meaning that love is always the cumulation of their efforts. In this way the relationship takes on a circular quality; art is inspired by love and also works to fulfill it. The vast majority of Shakespeare’s sonnets focus on love in some way or another, as well as many of his plays. Most often these are a celebration of love but can also be social observations of it. This is, of course, true of many other poets as well including Shakespeare’s contemporaries.

“Sonnet 76” presents love as the speaker’s creative center. It is the root of their work, giving life to recurring ideas, as well as its ultimate objective. The metaphor of “the sun […] daily new and old” (Line 13) takes on new meaning, as love and the speaker’s work follow each other like the never-ending cycle of the sun. This idea can be extrapolated to encompass much of Shakespeare’s work and, indeed, the poetry tradition as a larger whole.

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Sonnet 76: Why Is My Verse So Barren Of New Pride

Why is my verse so barren of new pride, So far from variation or quick change? Why with the time do I not glance aside To new-found methods, and to compounds strange? Why write I still all one, ever the same, And keep invention in a noted weed, That every word doth almost tell my name, Showing their birth, and where they did proceed? O! know sweet love I always write of you, And you and love are still my argument; So all my best is dressing old words new, Spending again what is already spent: For as the sun is daily new and old, So is my love still telling what is told.

Sonnet 76 in modern English

Why is my verse so devoid of new devices – so resistant to variation and novelty? Why don’t I go along with the times and look around at newly adopted techniques and unfamiliar juxtapositions? Why do I write everything the same – always the same, confining all my ideas to their well-known clothes so that every word almost proclaims my name, where it was born and where it’s going to? Oh, you know, sweet love, I always write about you, and you, and love, are always my subject. So all I can do is clothe what I’ve already said in new words, spending again what I’ve already spent. In the same way that the sun is old and new every day, my love is always saying what has already been said.

Watch Sir Patrick Stewart read Shakespeare’s sonnet 76

The 1609 Quarto sonnet 76 version

WHy is my verſe ſo barren of new pride? So far from variation or quicke change? Why with the time do I not glance aſide To new found methods,and to compounds ſtrange? Why write I ſtill all one,euer the fame, And keepe inuention in a noted weed, That euery word doth almoſt fel my name, Shewing their birth,and where they did proceed? O know ſweet loue I alwaies write of you, And you and loue are ſtill my argument: So all my beſt is dreſſing old words new, Spending againe what is already ſpent: For as the Sun is daily new and old, So is my loue ſtill telling what is told

See the British Library’s 1609 Quarto .

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Shakespeare's Sonnets

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Shakespeare's Sonnets Shakescleare Translation

Shakespeare's Sonnets Translation Sonnet 76

Why is my verse so barren of new pride, So far from variation or quick change? Why with the time do I not glance aside To new-found methods and to compounds strange? Why write I still all one, ever the same, And keep invention in a noted weed, That every word doth almost tell my name, Showing their birth, and where they did proceed? O know, sweet love, I always write of you, And you and love are still my argument. So all my best is dressing old words new, Spending again what is already spent: For as the sun is daily new and old, So is my love still telling what is told.

Why is my verse so empty of new ornaments, So lacking in variety or lively change? Why don't I follow the times and divert To new methods and strange compounds ? Why do I always write one thing, always the same, And give my creations a familiar dress, That every word I write reveals my authorship, Showing their origin, and where they came from? Oh my love, please know that I always write about you, And you and love are still my subjects. So the best I can do is rearranging old words, Spending again what is already spent: For as the same sun is daily new and old, So my love involves still telling what has already been told.

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