Shakespeare's 4th Sonnet (Hardcore Analysis) (Patreon)

It's wonderful that so many of you are enjoying your sonnet journey.

So I would love to hear your thoughts on Shakespeare's fourth sonnet.

We'll begin by talking about some games you might want to play when reading the sonnets, the mindset of having preferences, what to do when you don't enjoy a poem, and we will deep read and analyse this sonnet together.

Timestamps:

• 0:00 a mindset for the sonnets: playing favourites
• 0:50 Nietzsche, agon, and not being created equal
• 2:00 What if you don’t enjoy every sonnet?
• 2:45 A game you can play with the sonnets
• 3:00 Non-native speakers and translating the sonnets
• 4:00 Pretending you are the poet composing the poem
• 4:30 Reading the 4th sonnet together
• 5:45 Sonnet meaning and analysis
• 6:00 Who is Shakespeare addressing? (About the Fair Youth)
• 8:00 Is this Shakespeare’s voice?
• 10:00 A deep reread of this homily
• 10:45 Looking at the last words of each line to unlock the sonnet
• 12:00 Shakespeare’s caesurae, parallelism, and questioning
• 13:00 Questions make the best instructions
• 14:50 What did you think of this fourth sonnet?

Sonnet IV

Unthrifty loveliness, why dost thou spend

Upon thyself thy beauty’s legacy?

Nature’s bequest gives nothing, but doth lend,

And being frank, she lends to those are free.

Then, beauteous niggard, why dost thou abuse

The bounteous largess given thee to give?

Profitless usurer, why dost thou use

So great a sum of sums, yet canst not live?

For having traffic with thyself alone,

Thou of thyself thy sweet self dost deceive.

Then how, when nature calls thee to be gone,

What acceptable audit canst thou leave?

Thy unus’d beauty must be tomb’d with thee,

Which, usèd, lives th’ executor to be.

As always, let us know if you have a favourite line, image, or sentiment from this fourth sonnet.

Although I mentioned this not being my favourite, I do appreciate the metaphor of Mother Nature lending her gifts to us rather than giving them.

Happy sonneteering!