Sonnet 154 - Analysis

Analysis

Sonnet 154 continues the main themes that were presented in Sonnet 153. In the first quatrain, the man wishes that his beauty be passed onto his heir. The second quatrain asks the question of how beauty can be maintained through time and poetry. Finally, the third ends with the woeful realization that the preservation of happiness is problematic in and of itself. The rhyme scheme within Sonnet 153 and 154 is inconsistent in that the words do not necessarily follow the same sounds. Lines 9 and 11 end with the words "perpetual" and "thrall" and lines 12 and 13 end with "prove" and "love." Authors argue that this off-beat rhyme scheme is either meant to further represent the “disappointment and disillusion” (Duncan-Jones) of the character’s worry towards his incurable love or sickness or it is only an exaggeration of the overwhelming excitement that goes along with being in love. Either way, the placement of these particular words highly contrasts to the simple rhyming of the simpler lines in the beginning of the sonnet. In the form of ababcdcdefefgg, the 10 syllables per 14 lines are organized into three quatrains and within this boundaries of this short piece, Shakespeare emphasizes his common theme of unrequited love for a seemingly unattainable mistress or the “Dark Lady”. The difference between Sonnet 154 and Sonnet 153, however, lies in the fact that Sonnet 154 strays away from the Greek six-line epigram in which it was originally derived from. It is thought that Sonnet 154 is merely an extension of the idea that tortured love cannot be extinguished by “water” but only a “mistress’ eyes”.

The symbol of love as the torch is used as an instrument to fuze with the fountain that engendering a hot spring. The fountain itself is the supposed vagina in which the torch,the well endowed male genitalia, is supposed to be extinguished in but the heat of the fire expands within the fountain as Sauer states that "The torches are clearly phallic symbols, while the well and fountain are vaginal images”. The result of the torch being dumped in the fountain goes beyond expected outcome which is the act of being satisfied by limited love. Both sonnets and the narrative leave the reader with a message about the attempt to wear love down within the self for it is useless as the sonnet concludes “Water cannot quench love”. Sauer goes on to state that the fire does not go out but grows stronger and spreads just like the tendencies of love: "love itself is a sickness that overtakes reason and action, forcing humans to act (and react) in curious manners. Overall, the universality of love and sexuality are clearly displayed".

Continuing on with the theme of the “Dark Lady,” sonnet 154 embodies the struggle that accompanies unrequited love. Critics like Mathias Koch and Eva Sammel agree that the use of the “Dark Lady” serves as the cyclical theme of love realized and love lost. Shakespeare also places the statement that there is a “futility of fighting against sensuality”. in the later sonnets 127-154 because when faced with the Dark Lady, one is left with nothing but torture and woe. These also reveal that in the “dark lady” sonnets, the pattern of falling in and out of love does not necessarily occur one after the other. Instead, the love affair between the poet and the “dark lady” only highlights her betrayal against him with other men, including his close friends, as well as the “dependence”. on the “dark lady” that eventually leads to “a deep and melancholy madness”. The undisclosed ending to the relationship between the poet and the dark lady, however, disrupts the linear order in which this occurs.