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Sonnet 87
Sonnet 87 is one of 154 sonnets published by the English playwright and poet William Shakespeare in 1609. It is part of the Fair Youth sequence, and sometimes included as the last sonnet in the Rival Poet group.
The poet admits that he no longer possesses the love of the youth, whose worth is too great for the poet, who could only possess him while the youth did not recognise his own worth. His time with the youth was like a dream of greatness from which he has now woken.
Shakespeare says, in essence, that the Fair Youth is so much better than he is that Shakespeare can't possibly deserve him. Being unworthy, Shakespeare wants to release the Youth from the relationship so that "he can have the better life that he deserves". In the closing couplet, Shakespeare says that while the relationship lasted, he felt like a king, but now he realizes it was simply a dream.
The structure of the poem forms an interesting and logical argument and progression. In the first stanza he is saying you're too good for me, so I understand if you want to get rid of me. In the second stanza he is saying that I am nowhere close to good enough for you, but maybe you are not aware of it. And in the third stanza he is saying you are too good for me, but maybe you didn't realize that before. In the closing couplet, Shakespeare confesses that no matter what the cause of misjudgment, you're released by the mistake, and "I'm left here to remember our time together" when I felt like nobility.
Sonnet 87 is an English or Shakespearean sonnet. The English sonnet has three quatrains, followed by a final rhyming couplet. It follows the typical rhyme scheme of the form, ABAB CDCD EFEF GG, and is composed in iambic pentameter, a type of poetic metre based on five pairs of metrically weak/strong syllabic positions. The 2nd line exemplifies a regular iambic pentameter:
However, (along with Sonnet 20) Sonnet 87 is extraordinary in Shakespeare's insistent use of final extrametrical syllables or feminine endings, which occur in all but lines 2 and 4; for example, in the first line:
There is critical debate over their effect. Helen Vendler proposes that the feminine endings, similar to their intermittent use in Sonnet 126, parallel "the poet's unwillingness to let the young man go". She notes that 12 of the 14 lines end with feminine rhymes. The movement between feminine and masculine endings, with the feminine endings receiving emphasis, enacts a longing on the part of the speaker for the young man to stay. Atkins adopts the view that the monotony of the feminine endings creates a somber tone of loss. Lines 2 and 4 are the only lines without feminine endings and they "ending as they do in pyrrhic feet, give the same elegiac effect".
Beyond the frequent feminine endings, the meter is quite regular, but there are several significant cases in which, rather than the rhythm of the words determining the meter, the meter determines the rhythm of the words. This occurs especially in stretches of monosyllabic function words (like prepositions, conjunctions, and especially pronouns). The words at the beginning of line 5 could be emphasized in almost any combination and still deliver some sense; but when emphasized in accord with a regular meter, the reading "For how do I hold thee" underscores the antithetical rhetoric Shakespeare is known for. A similar effect can be heard in line 9's "thy own worth", and likely in line 13's "Thus have I had thee", emphasizing both the speaker's possession and its being past.
Sonnet 87
Sonnet 87 is one of 154 sonnets published by the English playwright and poet William Shakespeare in 1609. It is part of the Fair Youth sequence, and sometimes included as the last sonnet in the Rival Poet group.
The poet admits that he no longer possesses the love of the youth, whose worth is too great for the poet, who could only possess him while the youth did not recognise his own worth. His time with the youth was like a dream of greatness from which he has now woken.
Shakespeare says, in essence, that the Fair Youth is so much better than he is that Shakespeare can't possibly deserve him. Being unworthy, Shakespeare wants to release the Youth from the relationship so that "he can have the better life that he deserves". In the closing couplet, Shakespeare says that while the relationship lasted, he felt like a king, but now he realizes it was simply a dream.
The structure of the poem forms an interesting and logical argument and progression. In the first stanza he is saying you're too good for me, so I understand if you want to get rid of me. In the second stanza he is saying that I am nowhere close to good enough for you, but maybe you are not aware of it. And in the third stanza he is saying you are too good for me, but maybe you didn't realize that before. In the closing couplet, Shakespeare confesses that no matter what the cause of misjudgment, you're released by the mistake, and "I'm left here to remember our time together" when I felt like nobility.
Sonnet 87 is an English or Shakespearean sonnet. The English sonnet has three quatrains, followed by a final rhyming couplet. It follows the typical rhyme scheme of the form, ABAB CDCD EFEF GG, and is composed in iambic pentameter, a type of poetic metre based on five pairs of metrically weak/strong syllabic positions. The 2nd line exemplifies a regular iambic pentameter:
However, (along with Sonnet 20) Sonnet 87 is extraordinary in Shakespeare's insistent use of final extrametrical syllables or feminine endings, which occur in all but lines 2 and 4; for example, in the first line:
There is critical debate over their effect. Helen Vendler proposes that the feminine endings, similar to their intermittent use in Sonnet 126, parallel "the poet's unwillingness to let the young man go". She notes that 12 of the 14 lines end with feminine rhymes. The movement between feminine and masculine endings, with the feminine endings receiving emphasis, enacts a longing on the part of the speaker for the young man to stay. Atkins adopts the view that the monotony of the feminine endings creates a somber tone of loss. Lines 2 and 4 are the only lines without feminine endings and they "ending as they do in pyrrhic feet, give the same elegiac effect".
Beyond the frequent feminine endings, the meter is quite regular, but there are several significant cases in which, rather than the rhythm of the words determining the meter, the meter determines the rhythm of the words. This occurs especially in stretches of monosyllabic function words (like prepositions, conjunctions, and especially pronouns). The words at the beginning of line 5 could be emphasized in almost any combination and still deliver some sense; but when emphasized in accord with a regular meter, the reading "For how do I hold thee" underscores the antithetical rhetoric Shakespeare is known for. A similar effect can be heard in line 9's "thy own worth", and likely in line 13's "Thus have I had thee", emphasizing both the speaker's possession and its being past.
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