What does Shakespeare's Sonnet 124 mean? "If my dear love were but the child of state,"

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2 жыл бұрын

Understand Shakespeare's language with this sonnet followed by a modern translation. This sonnet never quite clicked for me until I realised that when Shakespeare is talking about his ' dear love', he's not talking about the Fair Youth directly, but referring to his own love poems. Shakespeare uses 'love' to describe so many things. Way back in Sonnet 40 Shakespeare uses the word love to describe his own feelings, his mistress, and the Fair Youth. Took me a sec to get my head around that too 😅
When all my acting work got cancelled in the first lockdown, I decided to use the time to start learning all of Shakespeare's sonnets. I hope you find the modern translation afterwards entertaining. 124 down 30 to go!
This poem is both part of the Fair Youth Sonnets & part of the sequence from 87-126 known as the Fickle Youth Sonnets. Sonnet 123 and 124 share the theme of Shakespeare's poetry being uneffected by changes in fashion over time, and can be performed as a pair.
Sonnet 123 - • Sonnet 123 - Understan...
Sonnet 124 full text:
If my dear love were but the child of state,
It might for Fortune's bastard be unfathered,
As subject to Time's love, or to Time's hate,
Weeds among weeds, or flowers with flowers gathered.
No, it was builded far from accident;
It suffers not in smiling pomp, nor falls
Under the blow of thrallèd discontent,
Whereto th' inviting time our fashion calls.
It fears not Policy, that heretic
Which works on leases of short-numbered hours,
But all alone stands hugely politic,
That it nor grows with heat, nor drowns with showers.
To this I witness call the fools of Time,
Which die for goodness, who have lived for crime.
I get married! - • Understand Shakespeare...
This sonnet is so relevant to today - • Shakespeare Locked Dow...
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Пікірлер: 4

@cuthbertgeorge 2 жыл бұрын

Follow the 'No!' that opens Sonnet 123, skips to 1st quatrain in 124 and then the 3rd in 125. That argues a sequence imo, at least for these 3 sonnets then. Great glossing of the sonnet over all Ashley, especially that bastard of a final couplet. And how many have you got memorised?

@shakespearelockeddown868 2 жыл бұрын

Great point! I definitely think as a set 123-125 do switch the focus of the word 'love' and Shakespeare talks more about his own poetry. There are language links like the 'no' you pointed out that put these together as a set. For me though, the intent changes for Sonnet 125. Sonnets 123 and 124 can be read almost as one seemless poem about Shakespeare's work not being a slave to fashion; the first quatrain of the latter builds on the previous sonnet's rhyming couplet. There's a new intent with Sonnet 125. It feels like a separate thought; a new poem building on Shakespeare's more mature views on his love for the Fair Youth. What do you think? The last rhyming couplet is definitely much more succinct in Shakespeare's language 😅 Sometimes he says so much in so few words and other times I find he says so little with more! 😂 But his language is always so witty and beautiful. I now have all 126 of the Fair Youth sequence memorised 😄 I've recited Shakespeare every day since March 2020 so I'm going to take a little break before tackling the Dark Lady sonnets. Plus I have a script to learn and rehearsals to attend now theatres are open again 😊

@BeevDawgZ1 2 жыл бұрын

How long did it take you to master this? 😮

@shakespearelockeddown868 2 жыл бұрын

Usually I write a line-by-line literal modern version of the sonnet just to get a loose understanding of it. Then I learn the sonnet. I practice my memorised sonnets every morning and evening. While I'm learning and reciting the sonnet, that's when I get my head around the intent and meaning of what Shakespeare was writing. Then when I record my video I record the Shakespeare version first and make sure I have 3 good takes to choose from. After that I improvise a version in modern English, not planning what I'm going to say but just turning the camera on and trying to communicate what I believe Shakespeare meant. I try to get 3 takes of this too. Then I choose the best takes and edit my video together. I try not to overthink any of it, but I think there's a marked improvement in my performances since my first video.