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Sonnet 104
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Literary Devices
Form and Meter
A sonnet is a 14-line poem. The English or Shakespearean sonnet differs from the Petrarchan sonnet in that it consists of three quatrains followed by a concluding couplet. Like all of William Shakespeare’s sonnets, “Sonnet 104” is written in iambic pentameter. An iamb is a poetic foot that consists of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. A pentameter comprises five poetic feet in one line, so iambic pentameter contains 10 syllables per line. Line 2 presents an example, “For as | you were | when first | your eye | I eyed,” as does Line 6, “In pro | cess of | the seas | ons have | I seen.” Line 5, “Three beaut | eous springs | to yell | ow aut | umn turned,” is also in iambic pentameter; the word “beauteous” is pronounced as two syllables rather than three.
Shakespeare employs frequent variations on the iambic meter. In Line 1, for example, he uses a spondee rather than an iamb in the second foot. A spondee consists of two stressed syllables: “fair friend.” The effect for the reader is that this spondaic foot stands out against the expected iambic metrical base and so provides an emphasis. The emphasis straightaway in the sonnet is therefore on the beauty of the friend. Spondees also appear in the fifth foot of Line 7: “Junes burned,” in the second foot of Line 11, “sweet hue,” and in the third foot of Line 13: “hear this.”
Shakespeare also makes a substitution (a metrical variation) in the first foot of Line 10: “Steal from.” This is a trochee, which is the reverse of an iamb, consisting of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable. This type of substitution is common in the first foot of an otherwise iambic line, where it makes a particularly forceful impact.
The sonnet rhymes according to a recurring pattern present in each quatrain. Thus, Line 1 rhymes with Line 3 (“old” and “cold”), and Line 2 rhymes with Line 4 (“eyed” and “pride”). After three of these rhyming quatrains, the sonnet concludes with a rhyming couplet (“unbred” and “dead”). (A couplet is two lines of rhymed verse.) The rhyme scheme can thus be represented, like almost all Shakespearean sonnets, as ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.
Assonance
Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in nearby words. The clearest example in the sonnet is in the “u” sounds in the lines “Three April perfumes in three hot Junes burned, / Since first I saw you” (Lines 7-8). These sounds combine with the “er” sounds in “perfumes,” burned,” and “first,” to create a euphonious effect.
Alliteration
Alliteration is the repetition of initial consonant sounds, as in “fair friend” (Line 1), “such seems” (Line 3), “first [...] fresh” (Line 8), and “pace perceived” (Line 10). The alliteration emphasizes or reinforces the way the words are linked in meaning. The “fair” quality (that is, beauty) of the friend, for example, is fundamental to the thought of the poem. “Steal” and “still doth stand” in Lines 10-11 form an alliterative cluster.
Enjambment
Enjambment, also called a run-on line, is a poetic device in which a phrase is not completed at the end of a line but continues into the next one. Such lines have no punctuation at the end, and the reader goes quickly to the next line to grasp the meaning. Enjambment is typically used to highlight a line, mimic conversational speech, or manipulate the poem’s rhythm. An example occurs in the first quatrain: “Such seems your beauty still. Three winters cold / Have from the forests shook three summers’ pride” (Lines 3-4).
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By William Shakespeare
