Metaphysical Conceits in Shakespeare's Sonnets

In the study of literature, the term "Metaphysical" refers to a type of poetry initiated by John Donne in the early seventeenth century--it is characterized by "conceits," elaborate, sustained metaphors (Abrams, 1993, 1081). In his use of such conceits, a Metaphysical poet "displays his own ingenuity but may express a deep vision of the world and the strands of analogy that seem to hold it together" (Abrams, 1993, 1081). Although William Shakespeare wrote and published his sonnet cycle before Donne's Metaphysical poetry was published, there are traces of what could be argued to be Metaphysical images and conceits within Shakespeare's work. This research will examine a number of sonnets from Shakespeare's sonnet cycle and decipher them, explain how they are constructed, and explore the ways in which Shakespeare anticipated the Metaphysical movement.

Shakespeare's sonnet cycle can be divided into three parts: the first part is addressed to a beautiful young man, urging him to marry and father children in order to preserve his beauty for the future; the second part laments the ephemeral nature of youth and beauty, which can only be "preserved" in poetry; the third part concerns the Dark Lady, who is a "tempting but degrading object of desire" (Abrams, 1993, 802). It is the second section, that which concerns the nature of youth and beauty and the inevitable effects of time, which most clearly anticipates the later Metaphysical poetry of Donne and his followers, so it is p

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ht That in black ink my love may still shine bright (13-14). All of these closing couplets marry the themes of the mortality of the flesh with the immortality of verse, and Shakespeare promises (or at least wishes aloud) that he can preserve youth in his poetry. In addition to the above examples, the whole of Sonnet 55 is devoted to this theme of the ability of verse to counteract the effects of time and age: Not marble, nor the gilded monuments Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme; But you shall shine more bright in these contents Than unswept stone, besmeared with sluttish time. When wasteful war shall statues overturn, And broils root out the work of masonry, Nor Mars his sword nor war's quick fire shall burn The living record of your memory. 'Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room Even in the eyes of all posterity That wear this world out to the ending doom. So, till the judgment that yourself arise, You live in this, and dwell in lovers' eyes. (1-14). This poem, like Sonnet 18, acknowledges the fact that time robs us of everything--youth, beauty, and life--just as it manages to destroy things which seem to us indestructible, like marble

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