nature's power

Sonnet 83- Shakespeare

 

I never saw that you did painting need
And therefore to your fair no painting set;
I found, or thought I found, you did exceed
The barren tender of a poet's debt;
And therefore have I slept in your report,
That you yourself being extant well might show
How far a modern quill doth come too short,
Speaking of worth, -- what worth in you doth grow?
This silence for my sin you did impute,
Which shall be most my glory, being dumb;
For I impair not beauty being mute,
When others would give life and bring a tomb.
There lives more life in one of your fair eyes
Than both your poets can in praise devise.

 

From this sonnet springs forth a love rivalry between the speaker, presumably a writer, and painter, both competing for the affections of “you,” the subject of the poem. The sonnet can be broken down into four main sections. The first quatrain, grouped by an ABAB rhyme scheme, addresses the topics of painting and sight. The following quatrain, grouped by a CDCD rhyme scheme, changes the visual focus of the first quatrain to a language-centered approach, bring in writing and reading. The final quatrain of an EFEF rhyme scheme comes in as a stark contrast to the previous quatrains as it removes the stimulus presented before and addresses mainly silence and the lack of expression. These three quatrains are completed with the final couplet, rhyme scheme GG, which finally focuses in entirely on the subject of the speaker’s affections.

 

The poem begins as a response, a defense structured to block the implied accusation of the subject. “I never saw that you did painting need,” the speaker argues. This phrase immediately sets up a contrast between nature, the speaker’s lover’s actual appearance, and the work of man, the painting that was attempted by the unknown painter rival. From the beginning the speaker acknowledges the limitations of man’s work, pointing out that the subject not only did not “need” to be painted, showing a satisfaction with nature without man’s addition, but also “exceeds,” the ability to be painted.

 

However, the speaker soon finds himself in the same position as his rival as he notes that his capability to preserve through writing is just as limited as the painter’s capability to preserve through painting. This inability is highlighted by the contrast between “short” and “extant.” The subject, already described as exceeding the capability of the painter is now shown to reside beyond the ability of the writer as well as she is “extant,” protruding beyond. The writer’s capability, in contrast, is represented by the “modern quill” that “doth come too short.” As the subject “grows,” the contrast is only intensified. This is seen to contribute to the speaker’s “sleep” that is mentioned at the beginning of the quatrain, showing not only a lack of activity but also an inability to act.

 

The multiple failures of manmade creations, both paintings and literature, lead to the lack of expression and stimulus of the last quatrain, a lack that is emphasized by the inclusion of the words “silence,” “dumb,” and “mute.” The subject attributes this lack of effort on the speaker’s part as a “sin,” a thought that is contrasted with the speaker’s own belief that such a thought is his “glory.” While the silence that the subject observes implies that the speaker voluntarily refrains from action, the speaker’s knowledge that he is dumb, incapable of action, results in his joyous reception of the subject’s belief, for at least the subject still thinks of him as someone in control, a belief that the speaker knows is not true. Yet the speaker is not quite ashamed of his lack of action either, seeing instead his lack of action as a preservation of nature’s beauty. He contrasts his lack of action with “others” who “give life” to manmade creations such as painting and literature. This giving of life, the speaker notes, ultimately “brings a tomb.” In creating, the “others” have brought death to true beauty because they are unable to truly capture the unsurpassable work of nature.

 

While the speaker initially struggles with his inability to capture the subject, constantly preoccupied with the fact that the “modern quill doth come too short,” his recognition of the fact that any attempt would bring destruction calms him, creating the volta that changes from the speaker’s original agitation to the calm of the couplet and acceptance that true “life” can only be created by nature, and “poets” are powerless against such works of life.