Sonnet 30

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Sonnet|30|Sonnet 30 1609.jpg|Sonnet 30 in the 1609 Quarto| When to the sessions of sweet silent thought I summon up remembrance of things past, I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought, And with old woes new wail my dear time’s waste: Then can I drown an eye, unus’d to flow, For precious friends hid in death’s dateless night, And weep afresh love’s long since cancell’d woe, And moan the expense of many a vanish’d sight: Then can I grieve at grievances foregone, And heavily from woe to woe tell o’er The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan, Which I new pay as if not paid before. :But if the while I think on thee, dear friend, :All losses are restor’d and sorrows end. |source=<ref>{{cite book |title=The Works of Shakespeare: Sonnets |editor-first=C[harles] Knox |editor-last=Pooler |series=The Arden Shakespeare [1st series] |location=London |publisher=Methuen & Company |date=1918 |url=https://archive.org/details/sonnetseditedbyc00shakuoft |oclc=4770201}}</ref> }}

'''Sonnet 30''' is one of the 154 sonnets written by the English poet and playwright William Shakespeare. It was published in the Quarto in 1609. It is also part of the Fair Youth portion of the Shakespeare Sonnet collection where he writes about his affection for an unknown young man. While it is not known exactly when Sonnet 30 was written, most scholars agree that it was written between 1595 and 1600. It is written in Shakespearean form, comprising fourteen lines of iambic pentameter, divided into three quatrains and a couplet.

Within the sonnet, the narrator spends time remembering and reflecting on sad memories of a dear friend. He grieves of his shortcomings and failures, while also remembering happier memories. The narrator uses legal metaphors throughout the sonnet to describe the sadness that he feels as he reflects on his life. Then in the final couplet, the narrator changes his tone about the failures, as if the losses are now merely gains for himself.

==Summary== Sonnet 30 starts with Shakespeare mulling over his past failings and sufferings, including his dead friends and that he feels that he hasn't done anything useful. But in the final couplet Shakespeare comments on how thinking about his friend helps him to recover all of the things that he's lost, and it allows him stop mourning over all that has happened in the past.

==Context== Sonnet 30 is among the first group of sonnets (1-126), which are thought to concern a fair young man.<ref name=":4" /> The young man, as mentioned in some of Shakespeare's other sonnets, is described as being a good-looking young man who is gentle, and seems to possess a never ending supply of virtues.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|title = The Sense of Shakespeare's Sonnets|last = Hubler|first = Edward|publisher = Princeton University Press|year = 1952|location = London|pages = 6}}</ref> Some view Shakespeare's relationship with the young man as a homosexual one.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title = The Sense of Shakespeare's Sonnets|last = Hubler|first = Edward|publisher = Princeton University|year = 1952|location = London|pages = 7}}</ref> However, it is also possible that Shakespeare's sonnets regarding the fair young man are simply meant to display male friendship above that of romantic love between man and woman.<ref name=":2" /> The original volume of 1609 is dedicated (by the publisher) to a "Mr. W. H." who some identify with the fair young man. Some candidates for Mr. W.H. are: William Shakespeare, William Hammond, William Houghton, Henry Walker, William Hewes, William Herbert, William Hathaway,<ref>{{Cite book|title = The Sonnets of William Shakespeare|last = Dowden|first = Edward|publisher = Oxford University|year = 1881|location = London|pages = 21}}</ref> and (with initials reversed) Henry Wriothesley.

==Structure== Sonnet 30 follows (as do almost all of the 154 sonnets of Shakespeare's collection) the Shakespearean Sonnet form,<ref>{{Cite book|title = Shakespeare's Sonnets|publisher = Simon and Schuster|year = 2011|isbn = 978-1-4391-1708-8|pages = xiii|editor-last = Mowat|editor-first = Dr. Barbara A.|editor-last2 = Werstine|editor-first2 = Paul}}</ref> based on the 'English' or 'Surreyan' sonnet.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Shakespeare's Sonnets|publisher = Bloomsbury The Arden Shakespeare|year = 2010|isbn = 978-1-4080-1797-5|location = London|pages = 96–97|editor-last = Duncan-Jones|editor-first = Katherine|edition = Rev.}}</ref> These sonnets are made up of fourteen lines in three quatrains and a couplet, with the rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.<ref>{{Cite book|title = The Sonnets Vol. 26|last = Blakemore Evans|first = Gwynne|publisher = Cambridge University Press|year = 1996|isbn = 978-0-521-29403-4|pages = [https://archive.org/details/sonnets0000shak_s5k7/page/128 128]|url = https://archive.org/details/sonnets0000shak_s5k7/page/128}}</ref>

While using the rhyming and metrical structure of the 'English' or 'Surreyan' sonnet, Shakespeare often also reflected the rhetorical form of the Italian form also known as the Petrarchan sonnet. It divides the sonnet into two parts: the ''octet'' (the first eight lines) usually states and develops the subject, while the ''sestet'' (the last six lines) winds up to a climax.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title = On the Literary Genetics of Shakespeare's Poems and Sonnets|last = Baldwin|first = Thomas Whitfield|publisher = University of Illinois Press|year = 1950|pages = 345}}</ref> Thus a change in emphasis, known as the ''volta'', occurs between the end of the eighth and the beginning of the ninth lines — between the octet and sestet.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Shakespeare's Sonnets|publisher = Bloomsbury The Arden Shakespeare|year = 2010|isbn = 978-1-4080-1797-5|location = London|pages = 97|editor-last = Duncan-Jones|editor-first = Katherine|edition = Rev.}}</ref> A strong pause at the close of each quatrain is usual for Shakespeare. While he suggests Petrarchan form by placing the chief pause after the eighth line in about 27 or so of the sonnets, in over two thirds of his sonnets he places the chief pause after the twelfth line instead.<ref name=":0" />

Iambic pentameter is used in almost all the sonnets,<ref name=":0" /> as it is here. This is a metre based on five pairs of metrically weak/strong syllabic positions. Occurring after much metrical tension throughout the quatrains, the couplet exhibits a quite regular iambic pentameter pattern:

<pre style="border:none;background-color:transparent;margin-left:1em"> × / × / × / × / × / But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,

× / × / × / × / × / All losses are restored and sorrows end. (30.13-14) </pre> :/ = ''ictus'', a metrically strong syllabic position. × = ''nonictus''.

The first line is a frequent target for metrists, possibly because of the ease with which the initial triple rhythm can be carried right through the line, producing this ''unmetrical'' reading:

<pre style="border:none;background-color:transparent;margin-left:1em"> / × × / × × / × × / When to the sessions of sweet silent thought (30.1) </pre>

Differences in scansion, however, tend to be conditioned more by metrists' theoretical preconceptions than by differences in how they hear the line. Most interpretations start with the assumption that the syllables in the sequence "-ions of sweet si-" increase in stress or emphasis thus:

<pre style="border:none;background-color:transparent;margin-left:1em"> 1 2 3 4 When to the sessions of sweet silent thought </pre> :1 = ''least'' stress or emphasis, and 4 = ''most''.

Metrists who are most committed to the concept of metrical feet (for example Yvor Winters,<ref>{{Cite book | last=Winters | first=Yvor | author-link=Yvor Winters | year=1979 | orig-year=1957 | editor-last=Gross | editor-first=Harvey | contribution=The Audible Reading of Poetry | title=The Structure of Verse | edition=revised | location=New York | publisher=The Ecco Press | pages=140 | isbn=0-912946-58-X}}</ref> W. K. Wimsatt,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Wimsatt |first=W. K. |author-link=William K. Wimsatt |date=May 1970 |title=The Rule and the Norm: Halle and Keyser on Chaucer's Meter |jstor=374225 |journal=College English |publisher=National Council of Teachers of English |volume=31 |issue=8 |pages=775|doi=10.2307/374225 }}</ref> and Susanne Woods<ref>{{Cite book | last=Woods | first=Susanne | year=1984 | title=Natural Emphasis: English Versification from Chaucer to Dryden | location=San Marino | publisher=The Huntington Library | isbn=0-87328-085-7 | page=[https://archive.org/details/naturalemphasis00susa/page/6 6] | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/naturalemphasis00susa/page/6 }}</ref> ) tend to find a "light" iamb followed by a "heavy" iamb:<ref>{{Cite book | last=Groves | first=Peter L. | year=1998 | title=Strange Music: The Metre of the English Heroic Line | location=Victoria, BC | publisher=University of Victoria | series=ELS Monograph Series No.74 | isbn=0-920604-55-2 | page=[https://archive.org/details/strangemusicmetr0000grov/page/119 119] | url=https://archive.org/details/strangemusicmetr0000grov/page/119 }}</ref>

<pre style="border:none;background-color:transparent;margin-left:1em"> 1 2 3 4 / × × / × / × / × / When to the sessions of sweet silent thought </pre>

Metrists with a slightly more flexible conception of feet may find either a ''pyrrhic'' followed by a ''spondee'', or the four-position ''minor ionic'' replacing two iambs.<ref>{{Cite book | last=Malof | first=Joseph | year=1970 | title=A Manual of English Meters | location=Bloomington | publisher=Indiana University Press | isbn=0-253-33674-0 | page=[https://archive.org/details/manualofenglishm0000malo/page/65 65] | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/manualofenglishm0000malo/page/65 }}</ref> Metrists rejecting feet may find an ictus moving to the right.<ref>{{Cite book | last=Attridge | first=Derek | author-link=Derek Attridge | year=1982 | title=The Rhythms of English Poetry | location=New York | publisher=Longman | isbn=0-582-55105-6 | page=261}}</ref> Graphically, these stances add up to more or less the same thing:

<pre style="border:none;background-color:transparent;margin-left:1em"> 1 2 3 4 / × × / × × / / × / When to the sessions of sweet silent thought </pre>

==Exegesis== [[File:WilliamShakespeareSonnetXXXLeidenWallPoem.jpg|upright=1.35|thumb|Sonnet XXX on a Leiden wall ]]

=== Overview === The poem opens up with the speaker remembering his past losses. The narrator grieves his failures and shortcomings while also focusing on the subject of lost friends and lost lovers.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Theories and Variations in Shakespeare's Sonnets|last = Leishman|first = J.B.|publisher = Hillary House Publishers Ltd.|year = 1961|isbn = 978-0-415-61224-1|location = New York|pages = 21}}</ref> Within the words of the sonnet, the narrator uses legal and financial language.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Shakespeare's Sonnets|last = Callaghan|first = Dympna|publisher = Blackwell Publishing Ltd.|year = 2007|isbn = 978-1-4051-1397-7}}</ref> He uses words such as: "sessions", "summon", "dateless", and many other legal terms.<ref name=":7" /> It's as if the narrator is taking meticulous accounts of his own grief and adds an unhealthy dose of guilt to the proceedings.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Reading Shakespeare's Sonnets|last = Patterson|first = Don|publisher = Faber and Faber Ltd.|year = 2010|isbn = 978-0-571-24502-4|location = London|pages = 92}}</ref> The poem remains abstract as the process of remembering becomes the drama.<ref name=":8">{{Cite book|title = The Drama in Shakespeare's Sonnets|last = Mirsky|first = Mark Jay|publisher = Fairleigh Dickinson University Press|year = 2011|isbn = 978-1-61147-026-0|pages = 65}}</ref> About halfway through the sonnet, the speaker changes the tone. Instead ending with a joyous tone as if reminiscing about the dear friend produces restoration and gain, not loss.<ref>{{Cite book|title = The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare's Poetry|url = https://archive.org/details/cambridgecompani00chen|url-access = limited|publisher = Cambridge University Press|year = 2007|isbn = 978-0-521-60864-0|pages = [https://archive.org/details/cambridgecompani00chen/page/n158 140]|editor-last = Cheney|editor-first = Patrick}}</ref>

===Quatrain 1=== In the first line the phrase "sessions of sweet thought" introduces the concept of Shakespeare remembering past events. Stephen Booth mentions that the word "sessions" refers to judges sitting in a court of law.<ref name=":7">{{Cite book|title = Shakespeare's Sonnets|last = Booth|first = Stephen|publisher = Yale University Press|year = 1978|isbn = 0-300-01959-9|location = London|pages = 181}}</ref> Booth also notes that in line two the word "summon" is also a court term, which means to be called upon by the court or some authority to either provide evidence or answer a charge.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book|title = Shakespeare's Sonnets|last = Booth|first = Stephen|publisher = Yale University Press|year = 1978|isbn = 0-300-01959-9|location = London|pages = 182}}</ref> It also means to call a certain quality into action<ref name=":6" /> –such as Shakespeare calling his memories to his mind. Helen Vendler also notes that there is slight pause in the phrase "sessions of sweet thought", because Shakespeare's thoughts eventually become painfully rather than "sweet".<ref name="vendler167">Vendler, Helen. "The Art of Shakespeare's Sonnets." First Harvard University Press. Cambridge, Massachusetts. 1999. pg. 166.</ref> Finally, the third and fourth lines refer to Shakespeare's regrets. In the third line, Booth says the word "sigh" means "lament".<ref name=":6" />

=== Quatrain 2 === Starting on line five of the sonnet, the narrator speaks about not being able to fully reminiscence about his friends using his own eyes.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title = Shakespeare's Sonnets|publisher = Bloomsbury The Arden Shakespeare|year = 2010|isbn = 978-1-4080-1797-5|location = London|pages = 170|editor-last = Duncan-Jones|editor-first = Katherine|edition = Rev.}}</ref> He then recounts that friends of his are long gone within "death's dateless night," using the term dateless as time without limit.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|title = Shakespeare's Sonnets|publisher = Yale University Press|year = 1977|isbn = 0-300-02495-9|pages = 182|editor-last = Booth|editor-first = Stephen}}</ref> It does not mean that these friends are necessarily dead, they are just hidden in night, basically a night that will never end.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Shakespeare's Sonnets|publisher = Duckworth Overlook|year = 2007|isbn = 978-1-58567-921-8|pages = 105|editor-last = West|editor-first = David}}</ref> Don Patterson also describes the statement "death's dateless night" as a more legalese and also a chilling phrase.<ref name="Patterson 2010 91">{{Cite book|title = Reading Shakespeare's Sonnets|last = Patterson|first = Don|publisher = Faber and Faber Ltd.|year = 2010|isbn = 978-0-571-24502-4|location = London|pages = 91}}</ref> Further into the quatrain the narrator uses the term cancelled to describe the relationship with past friends, as if the time with them have expired. As if everything in his past has expired or been lost.<ref name=":3" /> "Moan the expense" is also used to express the narrator's moaning over what the loss of "precious friends" and how is costs him in sorrow.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Shakespeare's Sonnets|last = Thomas|first = Tyler|publisher = David Nutt|year = 1989|location = London|pages = 188}}</ref>

=== Quatrain 3 === In line 9, Shakespeare mourns over his past hardships and sorrows. The lines "from woe to woe tell over" suggest a kind of metaphor in which Shakespeare's woes and failings are like an account book that he reads through over and over.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book|title = Shakespeare's Sonnets|last = Duncan-Jones|first = Katherine|publisher = The Arden Shakespeare|year = 2010|location = London|pages = 30}}</ref> The word "heavily" before these lines also suggests that Shakespeare's reads this "account book" in a painful manner.<ref name=":5" /> Finally, the fact that words “fore-bemoaned moan” that come close on the heels of the words "grievances foregone" before it also suggest that Shakespeare is continuously reviewing his past sorrows .<ref name=":5" />

=== Couplet === The couplet of the sonnet consists of lines 13 and 14, and they seem to be used to clinch the sonnet's ending.<ref name=":1" /> It offers the compensation as all woes vanish in recollection of the "dear friend."<ref>{{Cite book|title = Shakspeare's Sonnets|last = Callaghan|first = Dympna|publisher = Blackwell Publishing Ltd|year = 2006|isbn = 978-1-4051-1398-4|edition = 1st}}</ref> The narrator talks as if the joy of the dear friend wipes out all the pain of remembrance.<ref name=":8" /> David West suggests that the couplet takes away the point of the beginning three quatrains by stating that the mountain of failure could be easily removed by the thought of the beloved.<ref name=":9">{{Cite book|title = Shakespeare's Sonnets with a New Commentary by David West|publisher = Duckworth Overlook|year = 2007|isbn = 978-1-58567-921-8|pages = 105|editor-last = West|editor-first = David}}</ref> Others agree by stating the couplet jumps out like a jack in the box<ref name=":8" /> or that the couplet is just simply tacked on in the end.<ref name="Patterson 2010 91"/> Some also say that the couplet of Sonnet 30 to be weak, perfunctory, trite and gives an appearance of intellectual collapse.<ref name=":9" />

==Allusions to Sonnet 30 in other literature== The second line of Shakespeare's Sonnet 30 provided the source of C. K. Scott Moncrieff's title, ''Remembrance of Things Past'', for his English translation (publ. 1922-1931) of French author Marcel Proust's monumental novel in seven volumes, ''À la recherche du temps perdu'' (publ. 1913-1927).<ref>Pericles Lewis - ''Cambridge Introduction to Modernism'', Cambridge University Press, 2007.</ref> It is now generally better known as ''In Search of Lost Time''.

==References== {{Reflist|2}}

==Sources== * Baldwin, T. W. (1950). ''On the Literary Genetics of Shakspeare's Sonnets''. University of Illinois Press, Urbana. * Hubler, Edwin (1952). ''The Sense of Shakespeare's Sonnets''. Princeton University Press, Princeton. * Schoenfeldt, Michael (2007). ''The Sonnets: The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare's Poetry''. Patrick Cheney, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sonnet 030}} Category:Sonnets by William Shakespeare