5. [1] John Klause, " Shakespeare's Sonnets: Age In Love And The Goring Of Thoughts," Studies in
Philology, vol. 80, no. 3, pp. 300, 1983. License: Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/legalcode
2] Don Paterson, " Shakespeare's sonnets," The Guardian, 2010. License: Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0
Unported. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/legalcode
[3] D. Petrescu, " Analysis of Shakespeare's Sonnet no. 35," Quicken DocStoc, 2009. . License: Attribution-
NonCommercial 3.0 Unported http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/legalcode
[4] Christine E. Hutchins, " English Anti-Petrarchism: Imbalance and Excess In "The Englishe Straine","
Studies in Philology, vol. 109, no. 5, pp. 552-580, 2012.License: Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0
Unported http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/legalcode
[5] William Shakespeare, Amanda Mabillard, " Sonnet 35," Shakespeare-Online, 2009.
âThis Way to Shakespeareâs graveâ. Elliot Brown. Flickr.com. License: Attribution 2.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode
âQuestion Mark Cloudâ. Micky Aldridge. Flickr.com. License: Attribution 2.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode
âHeisenburgâ. Vince Gilligan. Wikipedia.org. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported
License. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_Attribution-
ShareAlike_3.0_Unported_License
âConfused Dogâ. Laura F. Deviantart.com. License: Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Jesse Pinkman Mix. Y4AMIUZI. Archive.org. Creative Commons license: Public Domain Mark
1.0
Editor's Notes
âAll men make faults, and even I in this, Authorizing thy trespass with compare, Myself corrupting, salving thy amiss, Excusing thy sins more than thy sins are.â [5]âEverybody makes faults, and even I in doing this,Justifying your crimes by comparisons,Making myself a corrupt leader by trying to remedy your misdeeds.Excusing your sins and even sins you havenât committed.â [5]
Not only is the who important, but what about when it was made? Since Shakespeares sonnets were not written or assembled in chronological order, itâs hard to tell exactly when Sonnet 35 was written. But, you can tell by the use of certain writing techniques approximately when he may have done it in his lifetime. This was most likely written later in his lifetime. According to Petrescu, in the third quatrain, Shakespeare begins to use legal terms to break away from the biblical language of sin at the time [3]. This leads him into the fourth quatrain. The significance of the couplet is that he emphasizes how badly the poet feels, however his strong, emotional feelings for the sinner are much stronger than whatever damage was caused by the sinnerâs sins [3]. Shakespeare also integrated some anti-Petrarchism style into his sonnets. Audiences were horrified at the dark imagery Shakespeare uses, according to Hutchins [4]. He would have used these techniques later in his lifetime; around the time many others had started doing the same. Hutchins says that those who opposed English Petrarchan tradition or love poetry would say that style of using intense romance and sexual imagery was only unique to Shakespeare. However, plenty of Italian, French and English sonnet writers also used Petrarchan tradition in their poetry [4].
According to Scottish poet and writer Don Paterson, it is not known when exactly each sonnet (including 35) was created in relation to which stage of Shakespeareâs life [1]. This could be either a young or older Shakespeare, but it is unclear exactly when he wrote his sonnets in his lifetime. One piece of evidence that shows incongruence is Sonnet 117 [1]. This sonnet (117) sounds like a younger Shakespeare judging by how it was written, versus the mature Shakespeare we see in Sonnet 35 [1]. According to Professor of English John Klause, there was a lot of speculation as to who the poet of these sonnets was supposed to be. Klause claims he may have been an older man, due to the fact that Shakespeare refers to his old age and knowledge in some of his later sonnets [2]. But it is not the age of the poet that is important, but it is the expected fact that the man has lived a long, exhausting life [2]. It is hard to say whom exactly the poet is addressing, but according to writer D. Petrescu, whomever the poet is addressing is a person who committed sin (either towards or to the knowledge of the poet) and it is a man committing this sin [3]. Petrescu states it is unclear what exactly the sin committed was, for it does not say [3]. This sin committed may have been something dark or extreme because in line three Shakespeare refers to âclouds and eclipsesâ. According to Petrescu, in those times clouds and eclipses were a sign of illness [3]. It is possible that this man was a lover or a close acquaintance. According to Christine Hutchins, if it were his lover, Shakespeareâs lovers seemed to not only be single, but also extremely physically available [4]. Shakespeare was said to have been credited with the first sonnet sequence to show lovers being tortured due to unfaithful actions [4].
Why did Shakespeare use this certain style of intense and somewhat horrific imagery in this sonnet? Many English sonnet writers were credited for adding a lot of praise and blame (both self and on others) as well asoveremphasizing conflicting states of pleasure and pain according to Hutchins [4]. So, this was a very popular style to use in this time period. This sonnet can even be read with a sarcastic or over-exaggerated Klause points out where Shakespeare somewhat over exaggerates in sonnet 35: âThe Poet goes so far as to take upon himself the âsinâ and âexcusingâ his Friendâs amissââ [1]. The poet claims he was robbed (of a lover) when really he or she really could have just left him for someone else. Klause states that Shakespeareâs sonnets can be read as rhetorical. If this is the case, the meaning and tone of the pieces change in their entirety. Shakespeare makes multiple references to love, friendship, betrayal and self-examination in his sonnets and if they were to be taken as rhetorical and not serious as though it sounds, they lose their meaning [1]. It can be seen rhetorical in sonnet 40 when his friend commits an infidelity. Klause claims that Shakespeare wants to show despair from the infidelity, but then shows a notion that the poet has known the truth and has been at terms with it all along [1]. Petrescu shows something interesting about line 4. When the poet is talking about a canker in a bud, it sounds like the speaker is referring to an actual flower. However, Petrescu points out that bud being used in that context has a double meaning; the meaning it has is buddy or friend [3]. According to Petrescu, Shakespeare is referring to the worm in the bud as there is bad in my friend [3].
