Furthermore, asking the lover repeatedly not to do something is one way to practically make sure that that very thing will be done. After all, Shakespeare himself coined the phrase, “The lady doth protest too much, methinks” (“Hamlet”).Īlso, the existence of the sonnet itself assumes that the lover will almost certainly come back to reread the things the speaker once wrote. Some experts who have analyzed “Sonnet 71” believe that the persona’s parting message to his young friend was not to forget his older friend but instead to carry his memory and to continue to speak of his works, the very thing the persona purports not to want.

He often wrote in riddles and puzzles, and what he said was not always what he meant. The persona does not want his lover to think of him at all lest these thoughts bring additional grief.īut Shakespeare was a sly and subtle author. He states that he does not want the younger man to speak of him, to reread the things he wrote or even to think of him.Īt first the meaning of the sonnet appears obvious. Than you shall hear the surly sullen bellįrom this vile world, with vilest worms to dwell” In any event, “Sonnet 71” tells the younger man how to deal with the persona’s death. It was not unusual for a man to have a wife and children and a “companion” on the side. In Shakespeare’s day, these kinds of relationships were not ordinarily discussed but neither were they uncommon. This sequence takes the point of view, or persona, of an older man in love with a younger man. “Sonnet 71” was part of a series of poems known as the “Fair Youth” sequence.

Sonnet 71 shakespeare