Sonnet · Fair Youth Sonnets

Sonnet 29

When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes

I all alone beweep my outcast state,

And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,

And look upon myself, and curse my fate,

Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,

Featur’d like him, like him with friends possess’d,

Desiring this man’s art, and that man’s scope,

With what I most enjoy contented least;

Yet in these thoughts my self almost despising,

Haply I think on thee, and then my state,

Like to the lark at break of day arising

From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate;

For thy sweet love remember’d such wealth brings

That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

What it's about

A dramatic turn from self-pity to transcendence. The sonnet argues that love—or more precisely, remembering the beloved—has the power to overturn despair and make poverty feel like wealth. It's about the force of affection to reframe everything.

In plain English

The speaker is miserable—fallen out of favor, alone, jealous of others who seem luckier or better-looking or more connected. He's angry at himself, wishing he had someone else's talents or opportunities, and even the things he does love feel hollow.

Then, almost by accident, he thinks of you. Suddenly his mood lifts completely—like a lark climbing from dark ground into the dawn sky, singing at heaven's door. The memory of your love floods him with such richness that he wouldn't trade places with any king alive.

Lines that stick

  • When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes
  • Haply I think on thee, and then my state, / Like to the lark at break of day arising
  • For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth brings / That then I scorn to change my state with kings

Themes

  • love's power
  • despair and recovery
  • self-worth
  • memory
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