Shakespeare Day 2021#worldshakespeareday

I can't believe a year has gone by. Most of it spent in lockdown. Not that I've particularly noticed because I've been doing things I love. In that sense, it's been a good year for me. Indeed, I haven't come out of lockdown yet because I haven't finished everything I'd like to do before I re-emerge. But maybe that's a tall order! There are things I should have done but I haven't. But they were the less nice things to do.

So, to Shakespeare. Last year, I recorded a soliloquy from Troilus and Cressida. It's the first post on here. This year, I want to turn to Shakespeare's Sonnets. Sonnet 116 to be exact. It's my favourite sonnet. Its about the power of love. There are various theories about who these sonnets were written for, and whether they were for a man or woman. 

The first large group of sonnets, 1-126 were written to a young, well- heeled man. Or various men? 🤔 Interestingly enough, it's the young man who holds the powerful position in the relationship. Not as many usually assume, the older one. Shakespeare has immortalized the young man by writing these sonnets which we are still reading today. Only two Elizabethan poets wrote gay sonnets. Shakespeare and Barnfield, the latter who was more forthright and explicit in his poems. Indeed, Richard Barnfield wrote in the style of Ancient Greek poets which, like his, could be homoerotic. 🌈 

Sonnets are an art form which require skill which is why I haven't written one. The unique aspect of his sonnets compared with his plays, is that Shakespeare is speaking as himself, not through characters. Nevertheless, this doesn't mean that a sonnet doesn't have the same dramatic quality as a soliloquy. We get a sense of a plot running throughout the sonnets 1-126. There's a development from the first sonnet which starts off adoringly seeing the youth as an Adonis who he wishes to keep for eternity but then in later sonnets it goes a bit pear-shaped once people interfere with their relationship, and, one in particular, is trying to make Shakespeare jealous that he's the one the youth loves and favours. This upsets Shakespeare who then has an affair with a woman and then wishes he hadn't. He yearns for the youth. The last sonnet in the series to this young man, 126, is 2 lines short of a sonnet which could be symbolic. Why is this sonnet 12 lines long instead of the usual 14? Did Shakespeare leave out the last 2 lines because it was too painful to continue, or did he want the youth to work things out for himself, or did he want the reader/listener to use their imagination and finish the plot themselves or were the last 2 lines censored? 🤔 I feel that there has never been a satisfactory thesis about the missing 2 lines.

Be that as it may, my interest doesn't lie in the plot itself but merely in Sonnet 116 which speaks of the strength of love. The sonnet starts with a reference to marriage in line 1. First reference ever to gay marriage? Quite possibly. In line 2 the word 'impediments' refers to words uttered in the marriage ceremony. (I've never understood that. There's been plenty of time beforehand to speak up. This only occurs in the Christian Common Prayer Book.) The sonnet continues with the idea that love doesn't change with time. It remains eternal irrespective of situation or circumstance 'it is an ever-fixed mark'. It goes through 'tempests' but despite difficult times it stays constant 'and is never shaken'. Love is like a guiding star 🌟that helps you navigate through life. It stays faithful, not tempted by 'rosy lips and cheeks'. No matter how dark the times, love stays true to The One, the soulmate, forever. The last 2 lines confirm all he has said in the previous 12 lines. 'If this be error......' then I haven't written anything and I've never loved a man. And since we know Shakespeare did write and did love, we know what he says in this sonnet about love is true. 

I think this sonnet would make a great wedding poem today.