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Sonnet 147 is one of 154 sonnets written by English playwright and poet William Shakespeare. Sonnet 147 is written from the perspective of a poet who regards the love he holds for his mistress and lover as a sickness, and more specifically, as a fever.
By William Shakespeare. Share. My love is as a fever, longing still. For that which longer nurseth the disease, Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill, Th’ 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 approve.
- Summary
- Themes
- Structure and Form
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- Detailed Analysis
- Similar Poetry
’Sonnet 147’ by William Shakespearecompares the speaker’s love for the Dark Lady to an illness he can’t and won’t get rid of. In the first lines of ‘Sonnet 147,’ the speaker compares his love to a sickness. It’s something that’s plaguing him but also something that he’s not willing to get rid of. He won’t do anything to cure himself of his illness....
Throughout ‘Sonnet 147,’ the poet engages with themes of illness, evil, and obsession. The Dark Lady, like an illness, has consumed his life. He’s obsessed with her, so much so that no one can shake him back into his right mind. Like a mad person, he’s racked will symptoms of his obsession. He’s lost the ability to reason or think clearly. His thou...
‘Sonnet 147’ by William Shakespeare is a traditional sonnet that follows the pattern Shakespeare popularized. It contains fourteen lines that are divided into two quatrains, or sets of four lines, and one sestet, or set of six lines. They rhymeABABCDCDEFEFGG as the vast majority of Shakespeare’s sonnets do. In iambic pentameter, each line contains ...
Shakespeare makes use of several poetic techniques in‘Sonnet 147’. These include but are not limited to examples of: 1. Enjambment: occurs when the poet cuts off a line before its natural stopping point. For example, the transitionbetween lines one and two as well as lines seven and eight. 2. Alliteration: the repetitionof words with the same conso...
Lines 1-4
In the first lines of ‘Sonnet 147,’ the speaker begins by using a simile to describe his love/lust as a “fever,” one that is consuming him. It feeds on his common sense and reason to preserve itself. His body’s desire for the Dark Lady is making him worse while fuelling the illness itself. He’s completely unable to separate himself from the illness/his desire. This is related to the previous sonnet and the poet’s depiction of his soul feeding on death.
Lines 5-8
The speaker calls his reason a “physician,’ the only chancehe had to cure himself. But, unfortunately, reason has abandoned him after becoming frustrated over the speaker’s refusal to take its advice. His reason knows there’s nothing it can do to fix the speaker.
Lines 9-14
In the third and final quatrain, the speaker says that he’s “Past cure.” He’s “frantic-mad” and unable to sit still. His mind and actions feel like a mad man’s. The speaker’s illness had changed him, stripping him of his reason and self-confidence. He used to worry about this, but as the sonnets are drawing to a close, it appears he’s turned himself over fully to his obsession. There’s nothing and no one who could pull him out of the downward spiral he’s in. The poem concludes with the speake...
Readers who enjoyed ‘Sonnet 147’ should also consider reading other William Shakespeare’s other poems. For example: 1. ‘Sonnet 123’ – is a poem about time and change. The speaker asserts that time isn’t going to change him as it does others. 2. ‘Sonnet 135’ – is an unusual sonnet within Shakespeare’s oeuvre. It expresses the speaker’s desire to sle...
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- October 9, 1995
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"Sonnet 147" is part of a series of Shakespeare's sonnets addressed to a figure known as the "Dark Lady." In the poem, the speaker compares his love and desire for this person to an illness, one that's robbed him of the ability to act or think rationally.
Popularity of “Sonnet 147”: Written by William Shakespeare, a famed English writer, and poet, “Sonnet 147” is a part of a series of sonnets he wrote to address “The Dark Lady.” The poem compares love to an illness that deprives a person of thinking or acting logically.
Oct 7, 2024 · In “Sonnet 147,” Shakespeare vividly portrays the conflict between love and reason through the metaphor of illness. The speaker’s love is described as a “fever” that worsens with time, indicating that it is both irrational and destructive (line 1: “My love is as a fever, longing still”).
Shakespeare's scathing attack upon the morality of his mistress exemplifies their tumultuous and perplexing relationship. The three quatrains outline the poet's inner struggle to cope with both his lover's infidelity and the embarrassing self-admission that he still desires her to gratify him sexually, even though she has been with other men.
