Sonnet 147By William Shakespeare

A Brief HistoryOne of the Dark Lady sonnets – compared to earlier sonnets, these are more spiteful and darker in nature.

Possibly addresses Emilia Lanier – she was a patron of Shakespeare’s theater company. She was a musician (and also a poet); Sonnet 128 mentions watching his love play an early version of the piano.

Or they may literally address a “dark lady” – someone with dark hair and a dark complexion.

Because knowledge of Shakespeare is limited, no one knows for certain.

There is no information in this poem specifically to address whether the object or the speaker is male or female.

My love is as a fever, longing stillFor that which longer nurseth the disease,Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill,The’uncertain sickly appetite to please.

My reason, the physician to my love,Angry that his prescriptions are not kept,Hath left me, and I, desperate, now approveDesire is death, which physic did except.

Past cure I am, now reason is past care,And frantic mad with evermore unrest;My thoughts and my discourse as madmen’s are,At random from the truth vainly expressed:

For I have sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright,who are black as hell, as dark as night.

ABAB

CDCD

EFEF

GG

Proposition

Resolution

Set Up

My reason, the physician to my love,Angry that his prescriptions are not kept,Hath left me, and I, desperate, now approveDesire is death, which physic did except.

Past cure I am, now reason is past care,And frantic mad with evermore unrest;My thoughts and my discourse as madmen’s are,At random from the truth vainly expressed:

For I have sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright,who are black as hell, as dark as night.

My love is as a fever, longing stillFor that which longer nurseth the disease,Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill,The’uncertain sickly appetite to please.

First Quatrain

My love is as a fever, longing stillFor that which longer nurseth the disease,Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill,The’uncertain sickly appetite to please.

• Figuratively, the speaker is a sick man who still craves that which is making him sick.

• Literally, he is a man who has been made sick by love, but he still longs for that love.

• Introduces the idea that the speaker’s love is a sickness.

• By the time this poem was written, the idea that fevers were caused by something that had been eaten had sprung up. Thus, there are a few of references to food and eating.

• A fever also suggests that what he feels is not truly love but lust. This is further supported by the choice of the word ‘appetite.’

- First Quatrain -

(to please the uncertain sickly appetite)

uncertain = unstable

Past cure I am, now reason is past care,And frantic mad with evermore unrest;My thoughts and my discourse as madmen’s are,At random from the truth vainly expressed:

For I have sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright,who are black as hell, as dark as night.

My love is as a fever, longing stillFor that which longer nurseth the disease,Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill,The’uncertain sickly appetite to please.

My reason, the physician to my love,Angry that his prescriptions are not kept,Hath left me, and I, desperate, now approveDesire is death, which physic did except.

Second Quatrain

My reason, the physician to my love,Angry that his prescriptions are not kept,Hath left me, and I, desperate, now approveDesire is death, which physic did except.

- Second Quatrain -

approve = demonstratephysic = reason except = to exclude (not to be confused with accept)• Figuratively, he hasn’t kept his doctors

prescriptions, so his doctor got angry and left.

• Literally, he hasn’t been listening to reason, so even his reason is failing him.

• “Desire is death” – A declarative statement that he is proving to be true. His cravings and his love (or lust) is killing him.

• “Physic did except” – Reason doesn’t approve of this statement. Reason would have given him a cure and prevented death.

• Continues the idea that love is a sickness, but he’s abandoned reason and abandon hope for a cure.

• The choice of the word ‘desire’ also implies that he truly feels lust rather than love.

Bloodletting was a cure for fever in Shakepeare’s

time.

My love is as a fever, longing stillFor that which longer nurseth the disease,Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill,The’uncertain sickly appetite to please.

My reason, the physician to my love,Angry that his prescriptions are not kept,Hath left me, and I, desperate, now approveDesire is death, which physic did except.

For I have sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright,who are black as hell, as dark as night.

Past cure I am, now reason is past care,And frantic mad with evermore unrest;My thoughts and my discourse as madmen’s are,At random from the truth vainly expressed:

Third Quatrain

Past cure I am, now reason is past care,And frantic mad with evermore unrest;My thoughts and my discourse as madmen’s are,At random from the truth vainly expressed:

- Second Quatrain -

• Figuratively, he’s past cure. His doctor has left and his sickness has driven him to lunacy.

• Literally, his love or lust has made him mad.

• He’s become restless. His thoughts are racing and senseless.

• Loss of reasoning– he’s like madman now. His love or his disease have driven him crazy.

• Love is a sickness is again supported here.

• The colon creates a set up for the resolution of the conflict, the answer to the question “what is it about this love that has driven him crazy?”

• “At random from the truth vainly expressed” – I have been left erratic and irrational because…

evermore = constantly more, or foreverunrest = restlessnessdiscourse = reason and speechrandom = (randon) rushing violently

vainly expressed = explained senselessly

My love is as a fever, longing stillFor that which longer nurseth the disease,Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill,The’uncertain sickly appetite to please.

My reason, the physician to my love,Angry that his prescriptions are not kept,Hath left me, and I, desperate, now approveDesire is death, which physic did except.

Past cure I am, now reason is past care,And frantic mad with evermore unrest;My thoughts and my discourse as madmen’s are,At random from the truth vainly expressed:

Rhyming Couplet

For I have sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright,who are black as hell, as dark as night.

For I have sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright,who are black as hell, as dark as night.

- Rhyming Couplet -

• …you were not what you appeared to be.

• The answer to the question & the resolution to the proposition.

• The object of the speaker’s desire was not as morally or physically pure as he first believed.

• This change in the object (or his perception of the object) left the speaker betrayed and drove him to madness.

• Two similes to compare this object to hell and night, common motifs for evil and bad things. Because there are only two lines, there is no room for qualification and the assertions are firm and unrelenting.