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When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes- William Shakespeare ( sonnet 29 )

When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,


Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;


Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
(Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven’s gate;


For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.



- William Shakespeare





Summary And Theme :

According To Gradesaver.com, In the Sonnet 'When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes'. The emotional state of the speaker is one of depression: in the first line, he assumes himself to be "in disgrace with fortune," meaning he has been having bad luck. He also feels in disgrace with "men's eyes," implying that the general public looks on him unfavorably. This could be real or imagined, but it is enforced inline 2, when he bemoans his "outcast state." Here, "state" refers to a state of being, and in this case, he is cast out from society.


The final couplet of the Sonnet declares that this joyfulness brought about by a thought of the fair lord is enough to convince the speaker that he is better off than royalty. Here, "state" is a pun: it carries the meaning of emotional well-being, as it did earlier in the poem, and suggests that the love of the fair lord makes the speaker so happy that all the wealth of a king would not be better. But it also refers to a nation or a kingdom.




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