The speaker describes his love as a sickness or fever that has driven him to madness. He initially viewed his love as fair and bright, but has come to see her as dark, suggesting she is not as pure as he first believed. His love has caused him to abandon reason, leaving him restless and irrational. It has progressed from a sickness to a state of madness, from which there is no cure.

1. Sonnet 147
By William Shakespeare

2. A Brief History
One of the Dark Lady sonnets – compared to earlier
sonnets, these are more spiteful and darker in
nature.
Possibly addresses Emilia Lanier – she was a patron
of Shakespeare‟s theater company. She was a
musician (and also a poet); Sonnet 128 mentions
watching his love play an early version of the piano.
Or they may literally address a “dark lady” –
someone with dark hair and a dark complexion.
Because knowledge of Shakespeare is limited, no
one knows for certain.
There is no information in this poem specifically to
address whether the object or the speaker is male or
female.

3. A
B
A
B
My love is as a fever, longing still
For that which longer nurseth the disease,
Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill,
The‟uncertain sickly appetite to please.
C
D
C
D
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.
E
F
E
F
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:
G For I have sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright,
G who are black as hell, as dark as night.
Set Up
Proposition
Resolution

4. My love is as a fever, longing still
For that which longer nurseth the disease,
Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill,
The‟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 are black as hell, as dark as night.
First Quatrain

5. - First Quatrain My love is as a fever, longing still
For that which longer nurseth the disease,
Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill,
The’uncertain sickly appetite to please.
uncertain = unstable
(to please the uncertain sickly appetite)
•
•
•
•
•
Figuratively, the speaker is a sick man who
still craves that which is making him sick.
Literally, he is a man who has been made sick
by love, but he still longs for that love.
Introduces the idea that the speaker‟s love is
a sickness.
By the time this poem was written, the idea
that fevers were caused by something that
had been eaten had sprung up. Thus, there
are a few of references to food and eating.
A fever also suggests that what he feels is not
truly love but lust. This is further supported
by the choice of the word „appetite.‟

6. My love is as a fever, longing still
For that which longer nurseth the disease,
Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill,
The‟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 are black as hell, as dark as night.
Second Quatrain

7. - Second Quatrain 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.
• Figuratively, he hasn‟t kept his doctors
prescriptions, so his doctor got angry and left.
• Literally, he hasn‟t been listening to reason, so
even his reason is failing him.
• “Desire is death” – A declarative statement that
he is proving to be true. His cravings and his love
(or lust) is killing him.
• “Physic did except” – Reason doesn‟t approve of
this statement. Reason would have given him a
cure and prevented death.
• Continues the idea that love is a sickness, but
he‟s abandoned reason and abandon hope for a
cure.
• The choice of the word „desire‟ also implies that
he truly feels lust rather than love.
approve = demonstrate
physic = reason
except = to exclude (not to
be confused with accept)
Bloodletting was a cure for
fever in Shakepeare‟s time.

8. My love is as a fever, longing still
For that which longer nurseth the disease,
Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill,
The‟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 are black as hell, as dark as night.
Third Quatrain

9. - Second Quatrain evermore = constantly more, or forever
unrest = restlessness
discourse = reason and speech
random = (randon) rushing violently
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:
vainly expressed = explained senselessly
• Figuratively, he‟s past cure. His doctor has left
and his sickness has driven him to lunacy.
• Literally, his love or lust has made him mad.
• He‟s become restless. His thoughts are racing and
senseless.
• Loss of reasoning– he‟s like madman now. His
love or his disease have driven him crazy.
• Love is a sickness is again supported here.
• The colon creates a set up for the resolution of the
conflict, the answer to the question “what is it
about this love that has driven him crazy?”
• “At random from the truth vainly expressed” – I
have been left erratic and irrational because…

10. My love is as a fever, longing still
For that which longer nurseth the disease,
Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill,
The‟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 are black as hell, as dark as night.
Rhyming Couplet

11. - Rhyming Couplet For I have sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright,
who are black as hell, as dark as night.
• …you were not what you appeared to be.
• The answer to the question & the resolution
to the proposition.
• The object of the speaker’s desire was not
as morally or physically pure as he first
believed.
• This change in the object (or his perception of
the object) left the speaker betrayed and
drove him to madness.
• Two similes to compare this object to hell
and night, common motifs for evil and bad
things. Because there are only two lines,
there is no room for qualification and the
assertions are firm and unrelenting.