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Genius Annotation

Sonnet 57 in the 1609 Quarto.
This sonnet continues the sequence that deals with Shakespeare’s love for the Fair Youth. He castigates himself for waiting slavishly for the beautiful boy, tries not to feel anger, but instead wallows in sadness while being aware of the foolishness of such behaviour.

There are two possible interpretations of this poem. The Bard is disturbingly emotionally dependent and yet, at the same time, it can be read ironically. Is the poet wallowing in self-pity or metaphorically shrugging his shoulders ironically at his own foolishness? Both are possible.

But there is yet a third possibility, as touched upon below in the section “About Sonnets”, which posits the view that the poems may not be autobiographical at all.

The negative mood anticipates a series of sonnets known as the “depressed sonnets”. Sonnet 66 is worth studying as a comparison.

A possible candidate for the Fair Youth, Henry Wriothesley

About Sonnets
A sonnet is a poem which expresses a thought or idea and develops it, often cleverly and wittily.

The sonnet genre is often, although not always, about ideals or hypothetical situations. It reaches back to the Medieval Romances, where a woman is loved and idealised by a worshipping admirer. For example, Sir Philip Sydney in the Astrophil and Stella sonnet sequence wrote in this mode. Poems were circulated within groups of educated intellectuals and they did not necessarily reflect the poet’s true emotions, but were a form of intellectual showing-off. This may not have been true of all; it is a matter of academic debate today. It is generally believed, however, that Shakespeare’s sonnets were autobiographical, though some dispute this.

BBC Podcast, Melvyn Bragg, “In Our Time” Shakespeare’s Sonnets


Sonnets are made up of fourteen lines, each being ten syllables long. Its rhymes are arranged according to one of the following schemes:

• Italian, where eight lines consisting of two quatrains make up the first section of the sonnet, called an octave. This section will explore a problem or an idea. It is followed by the next section of six lines called a sestet, that forms the ‘answer’ or a counter-view. This style of sonnet is also sometimes called a Petrarchan sonnet.

• English, which comprises three quatrains, making twelve lines in total, followed by a rhyming couplet. They too explore an idea. The ‘answer’ or resolution comes in the final couplet. Shakespeare’s sonnets follow this pattern. Edmund Spenser’s sonnets are a variant.

At the break in the sonnet — in Italian after the first eight lines, in English after twelve lines — there is a ‘turn’ or volta, after which there will be a change or new perspective on the preceding idea.

Shakespeare’s Sonnet 14 is unusual in that the volta, instead of coming immediately before the final couplet, appears at line 9 after the first two quatrains, introduced by the crucial conjunction “But”, where the pattern of thought changes direction. This is more akin to the Italian-style sonnets

Language
The metre is iambic pentameter, that is five pairs of stressed and unstressed syllables to the line. The effect is elegant and rhythmic, and conveys an impression of dignity and seriousness. Shakespeare’s sonnets follow this pattern.

Rhyme Scheme
The rhyming pattern comprises three sets of four lines, forming quatrains, followed by a closed rhyming couplet.

In Sonnet 57 it forms ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GG. This is typical of Shakespeare’s compositions.

See Don Paterson – Reading Shakespeare’s Sonnets, Faber & Faber, 2012
Helen Vendler The Art of Shakespeare’s Sonnets Harvard University Press
Shakespeare’s Sonnets with Three Hundred Years of Commentary, Associated University Press 2007
BBC Podcast, Melvyn Bragg, “In Our Time” Shakespeare’s Sonnets

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

  1. 57.
    Sonnet 57
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Release Date
January 1, 1609
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