Dear Friend

Shakespeare's 30^th Sonnet

When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
I summon up remembrance of things past,
I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought,
And with old woes new wail my dear time's waste:
Then can I drown an eye, unused to flow,
For precious friends hid in death's dateless night,
And weep afresh love's long since cancell'd woe,
And moan the expense of many a vanish'd sight:
Then can I grieve at grievances foregone,
And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er
The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan,
Which I new pay as if not paid before.
But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,
All losses are restored and sorrows end.

When I first read this sonnet, I was kind of blown away by the sweetness of it. For the first twelve lines, the individual in the poem seems to be almost drowning in sorrow and self-pity, becoming more and more unable to breathe in the “remembrance of things past” (the irony being that he is wasting time lamenting over the time he has wasted). What is odd is that the first four lines give one the feeling that this kind of thought is a regular occurrence, but then he admits that he is not used to crying about things. At the time this was written, it was believed that sighing was detrimental to your health (Shakespeare's Henry VI 3.2.61-3: 'blood-consuming sighs”). With that in mind, you can imagine the individual being fairly old, perhaps on his last few years of life, as he has lost many friends to death's grasp (line 6). By the twelfth line, one is almost fed up with the mellow-drama of moaning and groaning. Shakespeare is famous for his snappy two-lined endings and he doesn't disappoint, turning the whole poem on its head. It has been said that people never forget anything, it is just a matter of digging up what you think you've forgotten. This poem is a testament to that, and the influence that memories can have. You can be completely paralysed by one memory, and overjoyed by another. I can relate to the sentiment of thinking of a person, or a time, and having that thought alone outweigh all of the negative feelings that a lifetime of mistakes has dished out.


    How did you read this sonnet? As a nod at old age, or maybe friendship? Did you have to read it a few times, or did it hit home the first time through? What are your thoughts?