Sonnet 29
by William Shakespeare · 1609 · 1 min read · 14 lines
Sonnet 29 by William Shakespeare is a poem about how remembering someone’s love changes a speaker’s sense of his own worth. At first, he feels rejected by fortune and other people, weeps alone, and sends useless cries toward a heaven that seems unable to hear. He envies other people’s hope, looks, friends, talents, and opportunities, finding little comfort even in what he usually enjoys. The poem turns when he happens to think of the person he addresses. His spirits rise like a lark lifting from gloomy earth at dawn and singing near heaven. By the final lines, remembered love feels like such great wealth that he would not exchange his condition for a king’s.
What it means, line by line
Lines 1 to 4: The speaker feels unlucky and judged by others. Alone, he mourns his exclusion and curses his situation. His cries reach toward a heaven described as deaf, suggesting that he receives no answer or comfort. These lines establish a painful gap between his need for help and the silence around him.
Lines 5 to 8: His unhappiness becomes a series of comparisons. He wants another person’s hope, someone else’s appearance or friends, and still others’ abilities or range of opportunity. Repeated wishes make his dissatisfaction seem restless and scattered. Even the things he normally enjoys no longer satisfy him.
Lines 9 to 12: Just as his thoughts bring him close to self-hatred, he happens to remember the person he addresses. That thought changes his emotional condition. The comparison to a lark rising at dawn turns the poem upward: gloomy earth gives way to song near heaven, replacing the earlier image of unanswered cries.
Lines 13 to 14: The closing lines explain the change: remembering the person’s love gives the speaker a sense of wealth. This richness is not money or rank but a feeling strong enough to outweigh both. Someone who envied others now rejects even the possibility of exchanging his situation with kings.
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Three questions to think about
- How does the image of heaven change between the speaker’s opening cries and the lark’s song?
- What do the speaker’s wishes reveal about how he measures himself against other people?
- How does the final comparison with kings change the meaning of wealth in the poem?
Free for 3 months
200,000+ classics. Every format, free to start.
eBooks and 15-minute summaries, and any book printed at cost, large print too.
