Analysis of Shakespeares Sonnet 81Suzana Jerkovi
William Shakespeare, known as the Bard of Avon, wrote a total of
154 sonnets. One of these sonnets is Sonnet 81 which is, because of
the first line in a sonnet, usually called Or I shall live your
epitaph to make. It is believed that Sonnet 81 is addressed to an
unnamed young man who has become known as the Fair Youth.
[footnoteRef:1] Not only is this sonnet addressed to a young man
but almost each sonnet in a sequence 1-126, a sequence known as the
young man sequence or the Fair Youth sequence. [1: From:
http://hudsonshakespeare.org/Shakespeare%20Library/Poetry/Young%20Man%20sonnets.htm]
Sonnet 81 is, of course, Shakespearean or English sonnet which
therefore consists of fourteen lines. Each line has ten syllables
which means that it is written in a meter called iambic pentameter.
The first twelve lines are divided into three quatrains with four
lines each. In the three quatrains the poet establishes a theme or
problem and then resolves it in the final two lines, called the
couplet. The rhyme scheme of the quatrains is abab cdcd efef. The
couplet has the rhyme scheme gg. [footnoteRef:2] [2: From:
http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/sonnetstyle.html]
In Sonnet 81 the poet speaks directly to someone. It is easily
noticeable because of the usage of the personal pronouns I and you
throughout a sonnet. There is almost no line in which the poet does
not use these pronouns. It would be difficult to find out from a
sonnet who is the person the poet speaks to but it is considered
that it is a young man, as mentioned above. It would be difficult
to understand because the poet does not use the personal pronouns
like he or she and, also, mentions nothing about persons physical
appearance, and therefore to find out who that might be would be
quite impossible. However, other sonnets which precede and follow
Sonnet 81 help us to understand that it is a young man who is
addressed. Also, we cannot be sure that a young man, to whom the
poet speaks to, is the one he is in love with. It may be his friend
or someone he respects or admire. It is worth remembering that, at
that time, it was not uncommon for men to refer to and revere the
beauty of other men, especially that of young men and teenage boys.
[footnoteRef:3] [3: From:
http://whatsitallaboutshakespeare.blogspot.com/2012/08/who-was-shakespeares-fair-youth.html]
First two lines of a sonnet begin with the conjunction or which
indicates that the poet puts two possible outcomes. Or the poet
will outlive a young man or vice versa. If it happens that a young
man dies before the poet it would be only because the poet needs to
write him an epitaph. The poet uses the modal verb shall, not will,
because he probably wants to emphasize that he is the one who
should live longer. It is almost possible to feel that the poet
wants to live longer so that he can give a gift to a young man. An
epitaph is usually a short piece of writing written on a
gravestone, but here this sonnet represents an epitaph. We could
say that an epitaph and a sonnet are used as synonyms here.A word
rotten poet applies to himself in the second line. That word is
very harsh and picturesque. It is possible to imagine his dead body
which rotten. There would be no possibility that the poet would
apply that word to a young man because it is not appropriate for
him. Moreover, there is a huge difference between a gentle voice,
which a reader can sense when reading about a young man, and unkind
voice and words which the poet uses when speaking about himself.
The poet decided to write an epitaph to a young man and that is the
reason why death will not take a memory of him. That epitaph which
will be written will stand as a reminder of him. If there would be
no epitaph other people would probably forget that a young man even
lived but the poet decides to take care of that in a way that
everybody will be aware, in a distant future, that a young man
existed. From the moment when epitaph, which is obviously this
sonnet, is written there is no possibility that a young man will be
forgotten. On the contrary, the poet will not be known, nobody will
know that he lived somewhere in the past. There is a contrast in
the first two iambic pentameters. That contrast is between life and
death. In the second two iambic pentameters, which also belong to a
first quatrain, also exist contrast but this time between memory
and oblivion. When speaking about oblivion the poet stresses that
each part of him will be forgotten. What put together these two
contrasts from the first quatrain are the poet and a young man. It
was mentioned above that the poet gave a possible outcome of who
will live longer, but in the second two lines the poet describes
what will happen in a future when two of them are dead. We can
recognize a shift in time because at the start of a sonnet the poet
talks about present time, when both of them are alive, and now he
talks about a certain moment in a future when both of them are
dead. Second quatrain also contains a group of words from hence
which means that from the time when the sonnet is written the
persons name will get immortal life. This is the first time that
the poet talks about name, but a young mans name has not been
mentioned yet. Although a young man will die, because every single
one of us has a future like that, his name will not be dead, it
will not be forgotten. It will, as the poet says, have immortal
life. We may ask ourselves how it is possible that his name will be
immortal when a young man will no longer be alive. It is possible
because the poet knows how to make someones name immortal. We can
predict that immortality will happen through the poets pen. The
poet now speaks about the time when both, him and the person, will
be dead. That time is also in the future. When it happens that the
poet dies he only can be entombed in a common, ordinary grave, like
every other person. He writes that the earth can give him that kind
of grave and when speaking about the earth he probably means on
people. On the contrary, a young man will be entombed in men's
eyes. Now he puts comparison between a common grave which is
applied to him and eyes which are applied to a young man. It may be
possible to say that he does not think about body, about where body
may lie, but about the memory of them. The poet is sure that people
would not remember him. He will be entombed in a grave and no one
would care about that. On the other hand, a young man, or to be
more precise, the memory of him will be in mens eyes each time when
certain person reads this epitaph or sonnet. The poet probably
thinks that better grave cannot exist than this one which he will
provide for a young man. He will entomb him in mens eyes which are
connected with the present moment. If we see something then we are
sure that it is in front of us, and that it belongs to this very
moment. Each time when someone, far in the future, reads this
sonnet he will give a glory to a young man. There is no better
monument than something what can be read. That is what the poet
brings to us at the end of a second quatrain. The next quatrain
contains an adjective gentle which is connected to a word verse.
There cannot be any other kind of verses applied to a young man.
From every single line it is obvious that a young man is so
important to the poet. He delicately uses words which are applied
to him. In the first line of the last quatrain we realises that
this sonnet will serve as a monument. Previously, we could only
assume that, but now the poet reveals that.It is obvious in the
second line that the poet talks about the distant future when he
writes eyes not yet created. He is sure that this epitaph will be
read even then. In the next line he mentions tongues which also do
not exist yet. He does not only say that people will read it but
oer read which means that they will read it over and over. Those
people in a distant future will probably see the value of these
lines and that would be the reason why they will over read it. And
of course each time when they read it the memory of a young man
will grow and become bigger and bigger. People will know that he
existed while the poet, in that time, will not be remembered. Eyes
will read it, and it is connected with the second quatrain when he
said that there, in their eyes, a young man will lie. But not only
that the mens eyes will read it, but also their tongues will read
it aloud, rehearse prepare it for public performance. That is how
great this verse will be. Then again, he stresses the importance of
a time when it will be read. When even the people, breathers, who
are now alive are dead, even then when are people are alive this
sonnet will be read. We could say that a young man will truly live
forever, and the poet was right when he said that he will have
immortal life. He resolves everything in the couplet when he brings
the word still. Couplet finally brings conclusion of all the things
written above. He mentioned, previously, eyes not yet created,
tongues not yet created, when all breathers are dead and all these
groups of words show us that even then this sonnet will be read.
That all serve to show us that a young man will truly be immortal.
But how is that so, we asked ourselves above, how is he going to do
all of that. The poet in the couplet gives us an answer by himself.
He declares that his pen will do that. He puts the word virtue. He
is aware that he is capable of making someone immortal and he
really can do that. We could say that Shakespeare was narcissistic
when he wanted to make someone immortal through his verses but he
actually did it. Even today, after so many years, we read this
sonnet and each time we do it we alive a young man and a memory of
him. May be strange but Shakespeares verses are really powerful. We
do not know what that person was like; the poet did not want us to
know that. He mentioned your name but never actually mentioned his
name. However, even now, when all the breathers of his world are
dead we read this sonnet, epitaph, we over read it, and many people
rehearse it. That was Shakespeares power. To conclude, even though
we cannot be sure that this sonnet is about Shakespeares love
toward someone, it is definitely a sonnet dedicated to someone who
was very important to the poet. That importance can be easily
noticed throughout a whole sonnet. For example, we could only look
at the usage of words which poet applies to himself and to a young
man. More than one time the poet stresses how unimportant he is,
while a young man is the only object of admiration. As I showed
above, the poet was sure that he can make a young man immortal and
he succeeded. However, although Shakespeare approached himself in
an insignificant matter and because of that focussed only to a
young man, he was wrong when he thought that his being will be
forgotten. Not only this sonnet serves as an epitaph to a young man
but also evokes the memory of Shakespeare himself.
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