An Analysis Of "Sonnet 30"

An Analysis of "Sonnet 30" by William Shakespeare

"Sonnet 30" by the great William Shakespeare is a vastly contrasting poem in the sense that it presents its rather large main problem in twelve sorrow filled lines and solves this same rather large problem with a simplistic two lines. The poem starts by painting a vivid mental picture of a forlorn person who is lounging all by themselves in a solitary and placid place while pondering deeply on all the memories of the past. The author illustrates this mental image throughout the entire poem by using diction that conjures up deep feelings of reminiscence, regrets and sorrows of the past. Much of this diction depends on negative words that have a common thread. The thread that connects all this diction together is that a large majority of these chosen words have to do with weeping and mourning. Like many people who choose to conjure up the past, the subject of this poem looks down on his past and regrets the things that he sought after but just never seemed to have the power to be able to obtain. By saying, "And with old woes new wail my dear times waste:" the subject shows that he is not turning a blind eye regarding the fact that he is wasting his valuable and present time by looking at his past sorrows, but yet he does nothing to avoid this waste. The subject goes on to say that he drowns his usually arid eyes in mourning tears for his friends of the past who, in the end, were ultimately consumed by death. With this thought still sitting in his mind the thought drifts in of the weeping memories of love that has been lost and the memories of sights that have long since vanished into time. In midst of all this mourning taking place and ravaging the subject, he goes on to say that he can grieve over things that he used to grieve over that have already come to pass. He continues on to say that he goes heavily from bad thoughts to more bad thoughts