Question

Write a paragraph analyzing the central ideas in "Sonnet 71” by William Shakespeare. Be sure to explain how the sonnet’s form supports the development of the central ideas, and examine whether the ideas in the poem remain consistent.
Here is the sonnet:

No longer mourn for me when I am dead

Than you shall hear the surly sullen bell

Give warning to the world that I am fled

From this vile world, with vilest worms to dwell:

Nay, if you read this line, remember not

The hand that writ it; for I love you so,

That I in your sweet thoughts would be forgot,

If thinking on me then should make you woe.

O! if,—I say, you look upon this verse,

When I perhaps compounded am with clay,

Do not so much as my poor name rehearse,

But let your love even with my life decay;

Lest the wise world should look into your moan,

And mock you with me after I am gone.

–“Sonnet 71,”
William Shakespeare

Answer 1

Sonnets 71-74 are usually grouped together and are linked by the poet's thoughts on his own mortality. In the relationship with his dear friend, the poet is the older man, and, believing he will die before his young man, he creates this verse, in part, to help console his friend. It becomes clear as we read the many sonnets focused on the ravages of time that Shakespeare was consumed by a profound melancholia brought about by persistent pondering on loss and death. In other sonnets, the poet finds solace in his dear friend, who is presented as his redeemer, both spiritually and emotionally. But even his lover cannot release him from the sadness that comes with knowing he will die, and "with vilest worms to dwell." The hopelessness expressed in this sonnet seems to indicate that the poet's faith, at least at the time of writing this particular poem, was deeply lacking. Moreover, the last two lines reveal the poet's intense insecurity and anxiety over his relationship with the idealized young man, as he fears that their friends will mock the lover's regard for him, illustrating the lover's lack of good taste and judgment. 

Answer 2

The structure of this sonnet helps develop the ideas. In the first quatrain the speaker tells someone to mourn for as long as a church bell rings; that is, to forget about him quickly. In the second quatrain, the speaker says that if remembering him would make his beloved sad, it is better to be forgotten completely. Then, in the third quatrain, the speaker says that, if reading the poem, his beloved should not even say the speaker’s name, but instead let love decay like the speaker’s body. In the final couplet, the ideas shift. The speaker worries that people will judge both of them and make fun of them. This is a move from thinking only about the speaker and the beloved to discussing what others think.