William Shakespeare's "Sonnet 30" is a poetic reflection on aging, regret, and friendship. Shakespeare's language in this sonnet is particularly mellifluous and lyrical, as in the first two lines:
"When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
I summon up remembrance of things past." (See Shakespeare's "Sonnet 30.")
Many a capable reader comes away with a feeling of gratitude for friendship and a renewed appreciation that friendship is the cure for sorrowful memories or regrets. And this isn't a bad understanding of the poem.
But on third or fourth readings, the perceptive reader may begin to discern a pattern of imagery within the poem, creating a metaphor of financial loss and gain. Does this materialistic metaphor detract from the sweetness of the poem? Or does it actually enrich the poem? (You'll excuse the pun.)
Shakespeare's Real Financial Dealings
Shakespeare, as far as we know from certain records, was quite the businessman. He started investing in real estate at the young age of 15, at which time he purchased a handsome piece of property in Stratford, called The New Place. He purchased several other pieces of investment property, and many years later made a very smart deal, investing in enough real estate leases to buy himself the time - in the form of a nice annual income - he needed to write. We also know that Shakespeare's father experienced serious financial difficulties, which deeply affected him and his family.
So given these facts of Shakespeare's life, we needn't be surprised that his eloquent, elegant sonnets now and then make poetic use of imagery drawn from financial dealings. And that is just what happens in "Sonnet 30."
Pattern of Imagery in "Sonnet 30"
In coming to understand the metaphor that a poet uses to carry his idea, the perceptive reader will look for a pattern of language. Is there a Big Thing to which several words dispersed throughout the poem relate? In "Sonnet 30," the reader can detect at least 10 words dispersed throughout the 14 lines that seem to add up to a Bigger Idea. Consider these words: lack, waste, dateless, canceled, expense, account, pay, paid, losses, restored.
When a poet sets down and arranges a pattern such as this, the reader must take note and ask herself a few questions: What is this pattern about? What Big Thing does it add up to? How does that referent help me, the reader, understand the meaning and experience of this poem?
In this case, it is not hard to see that the 10 words listed above have something to do with financial reckoning: losses and gains. And on this vehicle of financial losses and gains is carried the idea that in summoning up "remembrance of things past," the speaker recalls regretfully a great deal of waste, expense and double payment, right up to the resolving couplet.
Shakespeare Adds up the Losses
In the first eight lines, or octet, the speaker does an accounting of all his losses: he wasted time, lost friends to death's "dateless night;" old loves were canceled like old debts. There was the "expense of many a vanished sight."
All this adds up, in line 10, to a "sad account" of emotional debt which he just can't seem to get out of. In fact, he pays these debts in sorrow, yet finds he must "new pay as if not paid before." He cannot, in a sense, get out of his emotional debt, just as, perhaps, his father could not get out of financial debt. In its way, financial debt is as painful and even more devastating as losses of the spirit and heart.
Losses Restored in the Closing Couplet
Just as the debtor seeks to recover his losses, so the speaker in "Sonnet 30" seeks to pay down his emotional losses, once and for all, and not stay in "emotional debt."
Sadly, material losses cannot be restored simply by indulging in "sessions of sweet silent thought." But emotional loss - or sorrows - can be terminated by reflecting on the happiness derived from one dear friend.
So in the end, The Bard lifts us up. Rather than having to declare emotional bankruptcy, the poem's speaker has only to "think on his dear friend." Doing so, "All losses are restored, and sorrows end."
Source:
Absolute Shakespeare, "Shakespeare Biography."
Leah Abramovitz - Laura Bernell, Professional Writer since 1984; Community College Adjunct English Instructor since 1982.
