Summary The end of the relationship between the poet and the woman becomes apparent. Addressing the woman with a sense of shame and outrage, the poet is fully conscious of his own adultery and that of his mistress, as well as her infidelity to him and his lack of moral […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Sonnet 152Summary and Analysis Sonnet 151
Summary If the poet ever hoped that his soul would win out over his body, as he does in Sonnet 146, and that his reason would return to govern his senses, he was sadly mistaken. In Sonnet 151, his body’s lust for the woman completely controls his actions and thoughts. […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Sonnet 151Summary and Analysis Sonnet 150
Summary Using a more rational tone than in the previous sonnet, the poet tries to understand why he cannot completely break from the woman. He shifts his approach, asking what incredible power the woman uses to enslave him; earlier he had asked himself what his own character flaws were that […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Sonnet 150Summary and Analysis Sonnet 149
Summary Sonnet 149 recalls the poet’s abject defense of the youth’s insulting behavior. The main theme, however, is the conflict between reason and infatuation. Bemoaning the woman’s treatment of him even more fervently than before, the poet is quickly slipping into madness: “Canst thou, O cruel, say I love thee […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Sonnet 149Summary and Analysis Sonnet 148
Summary In Sonnet 148, a companion to the previous sonnet, the poet admits that his judgment is blind when it comes to love. Again his eyes are false and misperceive reality, and reason has fled him: “O me, what eyes hath Love put in my head, / Which have no […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Sonnet 148Summary and Analysis Sonnet 147
Summary The final sonnets concerning the mistress, beginning with this one, return the poet to the disturbed state of previous sonnets. The image of feeding in Sonnet 146 continues in Sonnet 147, only now the feeding is not on death but on illness, and there is no possibility of immortality […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Sonnet 147Summary and Analysis Sonnet 146
Summary The poet now somberly ponders why his soul, as “Lord” of his body, spends so much of its time seeking earthly desires when it should be most concerned about ensuring its immortality. The first eight lines are a series of questions addressed to the soul. Why, the poet asks, […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Sonnet 146Summary and Analysis Sonnet 145
Summary As the sequel to the previous sonnet, Sonnet 145 is a trivial treatment of love. The mistress grants pity on the poet in contrast to previous sonnets, in which she was merciless. Before, her only words to the poet were “I hate,” but once she sees how he “languished […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Sonnet 145Summary and Analysis Sonnet 144
Summary Sonnet 144 is the only sonnet that explicitly refers to both the Dark Lady and the young man, the poet’s “Two loves.” Atypically, the poet removes himself from the love triangle and tries to consider the situation with detachment. The humor of the previous sonnet is missing, and the […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Sonnet 144Summary and Analysis Sonnet 143
Summary The image of an errant mistress chasing chickens while neglecting her infant suggests a love triangle between the woman, the young man, and the poet. The youth is “one of her feathered creatures” and the poet “her babe.” Incredibly, and almost pitifully, the poet again begs the woman to […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Sonnet 143