Another Sonnet

Sonnet 147

My love is as a fever longing still For that which longer nurseth the disease, Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill, Th'uncertain sickly appetite to please. My reason, the physician to my love, Angry that his prescriptions are not kept, Hath left me, and I desperate now approve Desire is death, which physic did except. Past cure I am, now reason is past care, And frantic mad with evermore unrest; My thoughts and my discourse as madmen's are, At random from the truth vainly expressed:
For I have sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright, Who art as black as hell, as dark as night. Cold Read The context of this sonnet is still alive and well, and seems to be the focus of many modern day pop songs. A love that hurts and burns, but keeps both parties coming back for more is a love that everyone loves to hear about and share sympathy over, but never empathy, of course. This is the love that strikes true for Romeo and Juliet, but I will get to that later.First I want to link the painting above with sonnet beneath it. The light colors surrounding the skull, and the glittery eyes, give the impression of an ugly symbol of death fused with the colors usually acquainted with Romantic pictures. I found it on a great blog dedicated to the art of its creator. The painting accomplishes the same affect as the sonnet: the reader and observer learn that deadly conditions are not always ugly. The polar opposites draw me in to the piece, especially those presented in the concluding couplet. I love the term "black as hell." Usually I picture hell red, not black. However, I usually do picture a black haze and aura that emits from hell's grounds. In other words, I would say that hell is black, in the sense that it is filled with black emotions and black regret, if these things have a color. They are the polar opposite to the objects and emotions associated with the word "bright." Therefore, Shakespeare gives me a deeper visual of this lady's character rather than a surface description of her physical traits. A Little Contextualizing I would link this sonnet to Romeo and Juliet. While Juliet's character is not black by any means, the love the two star crossed lovers share causes blackness to erupt out of their previously predictable and orderly lives. I would not picture Romeo mentioning this sonnet, but I could see Juliet going over these words in her head when she learns Romeo has just killed Tybalt. According to Peter Jensen

"He believes he caught both love sickness and venereal disease from the dark lady, who perhaps caught it from her husband. (Today, of course, people have to do such path of infection charts when faced with tracking the much more deadly, sexually transmitted disease, AIDS.)" I found this information interesting. Apparently, the disease goes beyond just the metaphysical.

Conclusions

1. Shakespeare is not always subtle in his poetry, but can be quite literal when called to be.

2. One knows one is in love when there is no benefit for the bearer of the emotion, but is proven when the emotion exists after the relationship has caused pain or a venereal disease.

3. This sonnet makes me glad that I fell in love with someone "bright."

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!