Briefly Explain a pain of love as Expressed in sonnet 147
Answers
"Sonnet 147" is part of a series of Shakespeare's sonnets addressed to a figure known as the "Dark Lady." In the poem, the speaker compares his love and desire for this person to an illness, one that's robbed him of the ability to act or think rationally. The speaker doesn't even really want help—he just wants more of the same love that's making him so sick! The poem, then, presents obsessive love (and lust) as a painful, irrational, and decidedly unhealthy experience. And while many of Shakespeare's earlier sonnets are filled with adoring praise for a figure known as the "Fair Youth," this poem is far less kind to its subject. In the closing couplet, he turns on the "Dark Lady" and bitterly accuses her of being "black as hell" and "dark as night."
Read the full text of “Sonnet 147: My love is as a fever, longing still”
“Sonnet 147: My love is as a fever, longing still” Summary
My love is like a sickness that wants nothing more than the one thing that will make this disease last longer. It feeds on the very thing that's making me so ill, in an attempt to satisfy my sickening appetite.
My sense of reason—which is like a doctor treating my lovesickness—is furious that I haven't followed any of his advice. He's abandoned me—and now I know that my desire will kill me, something he could have prevented.
I can't be cured, and I don't even care. I'm frantic and anxious, constantly restless. I think and sound just like a madman, spouting out pointless nonsense.
Because I thought you were beautiful and virtuous, but you're as black and evil as hell itself, and as dark as the night.
“Sonnet 147: My love is as a fever, longing still” Themes
Theme Love and Desire vs. Reason
Love and Desire vs. Reason
Part of Shakespeare’s “Dark Lady” sonnet sequence, “Sonnet 147” describes love sickness at its most maddening and frightening. The speaker says his “love” is like a disease that's robbed him of his ability to act rationally. Despite being fully aware that his desire is making him sick and mad, he can’t help but long for more. The poem thus presents the dark side of love, depicting it as an all-consuming force capable of defying reason—and, in doing so, filling people with both passion and misery.
The speaker presents himself as a sick patient beyond saving. He deems his “love” a “fever” that makes him “long[]” for the very same thing that made him so sick in the first place (i.e., more love!). He's trapped in a destructive cycle that overrides his sense of reason.
The poem, then, shows how love can destroy a person’s capacity to think or act logically. The speaker, after all, knows that this relationship is damaging and toxic. He even personifies his sense of reason as a doctor who's finally abandoned the speaker because he won’t take his medicine. The speaker can logically understand that his desire is unhealthy, but he simply can't stop indulging his passion.