18 pages • 36 minutes read
William ShakespeareSonnet 43
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1609A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
The Fair and Imperfect Shadow
Some meanings of the word shadow include the darkness something casts when exposed by light; areas of dark; a sense of gloom; or an inseparable companion. The word shade, by contrast, indicates a color (especially how it relates to light); an area of coolness relative to sunlight; or is another word for ghost. The speaker describes The Fair Youth as both a “shadow” (Lines 5, 6) and a “shade” (Lines 8, 11). At first, the beloved illuminates “shadows” (Line 5) of darkness for the speaker due to the beloved’s brightness. His “shadow’s form” (Line 6) creates a “happy show” (Line 6). However, the use of “shadow’s form” (Line 6) suggests that the beloved is illusory, a figure from the speaker’s dream that comes and goes at will. Although at first this “shade shines” (Line 11), it is later described as a “fair imperfect shade” (Line 11), suggesting that the beloved is both beautiful and flawed. This shows that the speaker views him as an entity that functions both as a beam of light who brightens his days and an oppressive ghost who haunts the speaker. This heightens the tension in the poem itself.
The Presence and Absence of Color
People often note how experience colors their days: Happy occasions make the world bright and vibrant, whereas bouts of depression are described as gray days or a dark mood. In “Sonnet 43,” the speaker uses language of this kind to explain how the beloved’s absence affects their well-being. Without light, the eye fails to register color. The speaker’s description of the beloved as having a “clearer light” (Line 7) than the sun helps to explain why, during their days without him, the world is filled with “things unrespected” (Line 2). Vibrancy only happens when the beloved is there, which explains the paradox of how “all days are nights” (Line 13) and “nights bright days” (Line 14). However, it is important to note how the brightness of the lover eradicates vision in both cases. The brightness of the lover at first appears to show the world to the speaker, but, in reality, too much light creates an empty whiteness as much as no light creates an empty blackness. This use of color imagery symbolizes how the relationship between the speaker and lover is negative at both extremes.
The Sightless Speaker
As Helen Vendler has noted (See: Further Reading & Resources), the speaker’s vision shifts throughout the poem, moving from “eyes [that] best see” (Line 1), to “unseeing” (Line 8), to becoming “sightless” (Line 12) by the poem’s close. This is symbolic of the speaker’s denial. At first, the speaker’s vision is supposedly improved when “wink[ing]” (Line 1) or in a state of “heavy sleep” (Line 12), but these descriptions have a layered meaning. While “unseeing” (Line 8) and “sightless” (Line 12) may suggest sleep or dreaming, the use of the negative (un- and -less) shows that the speaker has become blinded to the reality of their situation. The speaker believes that if only the lover’s dreams would “show [him] me” (Line 14), their relationship might revive. The “imperfect[ion]” (Line 11) of the lover—the reality—is mentioned, but deliberately rejected. This shows that the dream the speaker has of the couple’s reunion is paramount to them, as they are happier “sightless” (Line 12) than awake to the truth of the “living day” (Line 10).
Related Titles
By William Shakespeare
