Sonnet 154

Francisco Kondor 12/14/09

Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets in his lifetime, most of which are love poems speaking to or about the subject of his love. The last two, however, are written in a different style, as though concluding his poetry collection with final musings on his love life. Sonnet 153 and sonnet 154 are both written in Anacreontic style, meaning that they are written as though they were Greek love poems. Mixed with mythological allusions, sonnet 154 expresses Shakespeare’s disgruntlement with love, as well as his inability to escape it. Both sonnet 153 and 154 carry the same theme of scorned love, and keep similar allusions to Roman gods, making an extensive final writing which ends his poetry collection.

The sonnet opens by giving reference to a “little love god.” this is commonly associated with cupid in classical poetry (Shakespeare’s sonnets ). Although in most mythology Cupid is portrayed as being armed with a bow and arrow, in this poem he has with him a flame, which puts love’s passion into a person. Cupid, the Roman god, as referred to in his previous sonnet, would make someone fall in love by touching the flame to the person’s breast, making the individual lovesick. The next two lines discuss the coming of the nymphs. Since sonnet 154 is often described as a paraphrase of sonnet 153, it can be inferred that the nymphs spoken of in the next line are those of the Roman goddess Diana, the protector of women ( Shakespeare’s sonnets ). These women were to remain chaste and loyal to the Goddess that they were devoted to. They were considered lesser goddesses who roamed the woodlands and countryside and did the bidding of the greater goddess, Diana. Diana herself was the goddess of the hunt and protector of women, taken from the Greek God Artemis, so this infers that the nymphs would try to protect other women around them as well. Line 4 describes them as “tripping by.” This term was used to describe carefree steps and moving lightly across the ground.

The next quatrain begins with a Votary, or maiden dedicated to a life of purity for a religious purpose, taking up the flame of Cupid that he had laid beside him while he slept. The allusion in this poem is also seen in the early lines of sonnet 153 (Cummings). Line 7 appears to explain more about the flame, saying how it has affected the many legions of true hearts, legions being a term used when describing large armies, most notably those of the Romans or Heaven/Hell (Shakespeare’s sonnets ). Shakespeare was most likely using the term to mean “innumerable,” describing how many people he (Cupid) has put under love’s bind. Shakespeare may also have applied the military allusion to express his next line where he refers to Cupid as “the general of hot desire.” Hot desire implies erotic passion. Line seven and eight repeat the same idea as line five; repeating that the virgin woman has stolen Cupid’s flame while he was sleeping. Some have speculated that there was a possible innuendo with the eighth line with the words “a virgin hand,” but it does not seem to have been something to be direct or intentional (Shakespeare’s sonnets ).

Unlike the majority of Shakespeare’s sonnets, it is hard to bring a meaning to the first two quatrains. Instead, it appears that it is simply telling a story about an incident that occurred while Cupid slept. Within the first eight lines, there is no indication on why the woman took his flame, as she was herself a virgin by choice and would not have desired to use Cupid’s flame for herself. However, there is indication on why she did in the third quatrain, though it still keeps to the story. In the next line, this votary takes the flame of Cupid and places it in a cool well nearby ( in sonnet 153, the well is described as cold) (Cummings). Though the difference has no significance upon immediate reading, the former sonnet places more emphasis on its condition prior to her putting the flame in, and shows the contrast in temperature. It seems that the virgin woman tried to drown Cupid’s flame and keep it from affecting anyone else. This can be interpreted as such, because, as she was a nymph and part of Diana’s contraband, she may have seen the love which Cupid’s flame brought to men as a form of evil as people are consumed by the feelings associated with love. She may have been hoping to eliminate this flame intentionally, and not create a spring which occurred from this action. No source has confirmed the reasons why the woman placed the fire into the water, but it is a logical hypothesis based upon the person placing it into the well, as well as in both sonnets that describe this scene, a virgin is emphasized as being the one who took the flame away from Cupid.

However, the plan did not work, and the fire did not go out. Instead, the fire continued to burn and heated up the water in the cold spring which was able to cure men of certain diseases. The sickness that is talked about has been determined to be either love sickness, or Syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease ( Grimes). The author of this essay supports the claim that it was intended to cure love sickness over Syphilis because of the final two lines, where the narrator, goes to the spring to be cured of his disease and learns in the end that he is not cured. The twelfth line shows that the narrator sees himself as a slave to his mistress by love.

The last two lines make up Shakespeare’s conclusion on love. The narrator first tells of his coming to the spring, saying that what he says in his final line is true by experience, and not his musings. He then goes on to make a final claim that “love heats water, but water cools not love.” This is his conclusion to all his sonnets and holds meaning in two ways. The first, pertaining to sonnet 154, is that he found out that he could not escape love sickness. Even by trying to escape it, he sees that it is impossible to extinguish love by some miracle cure; once its flame enters the heart, it cannot be cooled. This same conclusion is seen in sonnet 153, where again, the narrator cannot simply get out of being in love by cooling the flame with water. Only then could he find comfort in his mistress’ eyes ( Cummings).

There are arguments, however, that state that Shakespeare is talking about love sickness, yet it is due to the Syphilis, and that without the Syphilis being cured, he sees that he loses some of his passion ( Grimes). This conclusion is based on lines taken from sonnet 153, which being similar in theme and meaning, a conclusion on the final sonnet can be accurately depicted. In this sonnet, the “bath” does not cure him, but then he remarks how his passion is rekindled in his mistress’s eyes. This implies that it is an outward disease and not one of love. As sonnet 153 expresses, he is again aroused in her eyes, where Cupid has put his passion in. As such, it is possible and probable that this is implied again in the final sonnet, in correlation with love sickness, and stating that there is no reason or thing that can really stop a person from being in love.

Although this is the end of a sonnet, because it is his final sonnet, it may stand to reason that there was more of a conclusion than meets the eye. As was stated in the opening paragraph, the last two sonnets that Shakespeare wrote are in a different style altogether, the Anacreontic style. In addition to using allusions to Greek and Roman literature, the Anacreonitic style mimics the Greek and Roman style in not directly speak to its subject. Rather, it mentions it as a third party, which is not the norm for most of Shakespeare’s poetry (Analysis and original text). It would seem, then, that Shakespeare used these last two poems as a “philosophical drama that heralds the ending, saying essentially, “I’m through”” ( Grimes). The writer of this essay tends to agree with this view, that Shakespeare sees his love life as vanity. He is giving up, and puts it in a poetic manner. It is often said that the narrator is treated poorly by his mistress, and it is possible that he has finally had enough, yet may still have some feelings for this woman (Analysis and original text ). All in all, the mood of this sonnet gives a feeling that it is hopeless for the narrator to try anything. He seems that it useless to try anything else and that he has gone through enough to do any more.

In conclusion, sonnet 153 and 154 end the long line of love poems, and wraps it into a form of conclusion to a longer story of poems. Though there is speculation that the poems were not meant for something taken out of actual life or confessions, but the common consensus is that they were about an actual experience. As such, Shakespeare’s sonnets express an unrequited and never satisfied love. All of his poems move from some sort of lust to another, never being fulfilled in the people he writes to or about. Though his poetry is flowery and of significant poetical value, it shows little for his character, or rather, a lot on a character that is not worthy to be praised of. Overall, his poetry shows a man behind a mask, hiding his own guilt and wrongdoing in the guise of real and true love and that even if he is wrong, that no one is perfect and so he cannot be held accountable. A life where lust is king, the tale was given, with every effort to make himself seem in the right. Even in the last two sonnets, he still claims that he cannot get away from the love he feels toward his mistress and how nothing can stop him. In his poems, he does not show a strength of character. He can say he knows what is right and yet refuses to act upon it because he cannot help it. Lugubriously ironic, his sonnets contradict the messages in his plays. Most often, his plays stress the role of male dominance in society, like when Hamlet states to Ophilia, “frailty, thy name is woman,” and yet, in his sonnets, Shakespeare portrays himself as a pusillanimous, venal, and an epicene man judged by his own standards and those which we wrote on. Sonnet 154 bring this aspect of Shakespeare to a close, reminiscing one last time, noting his failed feelings and ending his adventure in love for good.

Works Cited

“Analysis and original text.”clifsnotes, 1, December 2009. <http://www.clifsnotes.com>.

Cummings, Michael. “Selected Sonnets and Their Meanings.” Xlibris books, 9 December 2009.

<http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net>.

Grimes, Linda. “Shakespeare’s Sonnet 154.” June 4, 2009. 4 December 2009.

<http://www.britishpoetrysuit.com>.

“Shakespeare’s Sonnets.”

Oxquary books, 2001. 30 November 2009. <http://www.shakespeares-sonnet.com>.