每日一首Sonnet (71)

LXXI

1. No longer mourn for me when I am dead
2. Than you shall hear the surly sullen bell
3. Give warning to the world that I am fled
4. From this vile world with vilest worms to dwell:
5. Nay, if you read this line, remember not
6. The hand that writ it, for I love you so,
7. That I in your sweet thoughts would be forgot,
8. If thinking on me then should make you woe.
9. O! if, I say, you look upon this verse,
10. When I perhaps compounded am with clay,
11. Do not so much as my poor name rehearse;
12. But let your love even with my life decay;
13. Lest the wise world should look into your moan,
14. And mock you with me after I am gone.

Commentary:

Sonnets 71- 4 are a group which anticipatethe poet's death and speculate on the memory which might remain afterhimin the mind of his beloved. It is appropriate that the group should beplacedhere, because, with 70 sonnets completed, the poet has figurativelyreachedthe end of his alloted span of three score and ten years. Mortalitythereforere-establishes itself as a prime and predominant actor in the pantomimeof life. Critics have notedthe essential and inherent contradictionof this sonnet. You cannot read a poem which asks you to forget itswriter,without at the same time having the memory of that writer continuouslythrustinto your thoughts. It is somewhat akin to the philosophical conundrum'Donot read this sentence!'
Thepoem need not however be interpretedas an ironic or absurd portrayal of turning the tables. Its primarymessageseems to be the depth of commitment in love that the writer experiences- it is a love which has no boundary, even to the extent of submittingitselfto full and final annihilation, without even the lingering memoryremainingof what he once was.

Two forces areopposed to each other in the poem,the force of love which knows no limits and would not have the belovedsufferone least pang on account of that love, and the force of memory whichdeepestlove instils, which seeks to remain forever, even after death.
In the first quatrainthe tolling of the deathbell, which seems to recur with each passing line, is a forcefulreminderof the love which survives after death, a reminder of the love which isand was. The conjuration not to mourn occurs at the beginning of thequatrain,and it is almost forgotten by the end of the four lines. It isthereforenecessary to call on some other reasons to stop the woe, some otherforce,and this is found, where else, but in the love that the poet has fortheyouth. That love will insist that the youth is not allowed to sufferonejot of pain, and therefore he himself, the poet, must be forgotten assoonas he is gone.
The finalcouplet provides the clinchingreason and justification for forgetting the loved one, but itsessentialweakness undermines it. To abandon precious memories simply because afewcynics in the world might laugh at them would be a poor and calculatingresponse to love. Much more compelling are the reasons already advanced- I love you so, and I would not wish that memories of me might causeyoupain. The failure of thecouplet forces us to re-examineits wider implications. Is the beloved youth likely to use this (theworld'sopinion) as an excuse not to value or to preserve his love? In factsonnets49, 57 & 58 have already suggested that this has alreadyhappened, soit would be no surprise to find that death brought no change. On theotherhand there is nothing immediately nasty or cynical in these two lines -the focus is on the young man's grief (his moan) and the inevitableharshnessand mockery of the world. The youth is mocked as much as the ageingpoet(now dead). Therefore we are invited not to judge him too harshly. Ifwetake the words of the poem at face value we are not to judge himharshlyat all.

Howeversome residue does remain of an impressionthat the poet's love is one- sided, and that the object of his love issomewhatshallow. Despite the speaker's protestations of unworthiness, and oftheyouth's sweetness, the reader has to modify the epithets, and to acertainextent reverse them. It is the poet's love which is sweet, lofty andeverlasting,and the youth who is poor, unworthy, and liable to be forgotten.

Note: 1.No longer = For no longer a periodthan etc. Normally the period of mourning would last for several weeks,more or less depending on the closeness of kin to the dead person.

2. thesurly, sullen bell - the deathbell. Although frequently referred to in literature, it is seldom heardnowadays. The tenor bell of a peal is used, which is heavy and of asombretone. It was tolled at the rate of about one stroke every half minute,eitherbefore or immediately after a funeral service. For important people thedeath bell might be tolled once for each year of their life. For kings,once for each year of the reign. In a world in which noise was so muchlessthan in our own, the sound of the death bell tolling was especiallynoticeableand memorable. All would have experienced hearing it. Even in London itwould be heard above the sound of daily life. It is thought thatShakespearepaid for the bell to be rung at the funeral of his actor brother Edmundin 1607. (KDJ p.252.n1-2).
surly = gloomy, melancholic, grudging.
Or if that surly spirit, melancholy,
Had baked thy blood and made it heavy-thick, KJ.III.3.42-3.
sullen = sombre, unresponsive, dull sounding.
Yet the first bringer of unwelcome news
Hath but a losing office, and his tongue
Sounds ever after as a sullen bell,
Remember'd tolling a departing friend. 2H4.I.1.100-4
The passing bell was supposedly rung at the hour of a person's death.OEDgives, for 'passing bell' -‘The bell which rings at the hour ofdeparture,to obtain prayers for the passing soul: often used for the bell whichringsimmediately after death’ (J.) The next line possibly implies that thepoet refers to the passing bell, rather than the bell tolled at burial.

3. Givewarning - the death bell wasrung to notify the world of a death, but also as a memorial and areminderof mortality. As in Donne's famous line: Therefore never sendto knowfor whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

4. vileworld - Sonnet 66 gives amplereasons for thinking the world a vile place.
with vilest worms - worms eat the body when itis buried in the ground.vildest (Q) is a variant form. Cremation is a20th century practice,but inhumation was the usual practice for Elizabethans. Worms arementionedby Shakespeare almost always in association with death.
....................shall I believe
That unsubstantial death is amorous,
And that the lean abhorred monster keeps
Thee here in dark to be his paramour?
For fear of that, I still will stay with thee;
And never from this palace of dim night
Depart again: here, here will I remain
With worms that are thy chamber-maids; O, here
Will I set up my everlasting rest, RJ.V.3.102-110.

5. Nay- used as an introductory word(OED A.1.d.), but also as a word which denies or objects to a precedingstatement. Here it could be taken to imply an expected protest on thepartof the friend -'Of course I will remember you!. In any case I have yourverses as reminders'.

6. thehand that writ it = my hand thatwrote these verses, hence me. Some at least of Shakespeare's sonnetscirculatedin manuscript long before they were published.
for I love you so - the simplicity anddirectness of the Anglo-Saxonwords seems to underline the utter hopelessness and completeness of theself-abnegation, as well as the totality of the poet's all-consuminglove.

7. inyour sweet thoughts - nothing canbe sweeter than being in the thoughts of one's beloved. Even thatdelightthe poet offers to relinquish. would be forgot =desire to be forgotten.forgot is an old form of the past participle.

8. shouldmake you woe - might causeyou distress, might make you sorrowful.

9. O!if, I say, - The interjection Isay adds a further touch of pathos, by reminding the reader(and theyouth) that this is not only a poem, not even primarily so, but that itis a personal testament, a cry from the heart, an appeal made in theintimacyof love's confidences.

10. When Iam intermingled with the clay inwhich I have been buried. HV draws attention to the progressivereductionof the lingering memory, which is not to be preserved, from meinthe first line, to hand, then to thisverse, then mere dustcompounded with clay, and finally only a poor name.But even thatlast remnant of the poet must be forgotten.

11. Do noteven repeat my name. pooremphasises the poet's sense of his own worthlessness. Even his name ispoor.But there is also a suggestion that he is poor and wretched because ofabandonmentby the beloved.
reherarse = repeat, say over.

12. Whenmy life ends, let your love end also.decay returns to the imagery of the tomb andthe body's corruption.The advice offered is painful because of the lingering suspicion thatitis not needed. The youth was going to forget him anyway.

13. Lest= for fear that;
the wise world - ironic. There is a suggestionthat the world isoverwise, a busybody and a know-all, and that it is not wise at all.
should look into your moan = might investigatethe cause of yoursorrow. The prying world becomes like an Inquisition. moan isusedelsewhere in the sonnets to signifiy sorrow. Compare:
The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan, 30
and
Thou hast finished joy and moan. Cym.IV.2.274.

14. mockyou with me = mock you on accountof your friendship with me (and on account of my unworthiness); mockyouand me together.