How much is true love worth? Would you pay ten dollars, a hundred dollars, or all the money of the world for true love? In sonnet 29, William Shakespeare demonstrates the fact that even though a person may be poor and without any honor, if he has true love, he is richer than kings. The poem's theme is that even though you may be poor physically and in the eyes of people, true love is worth more than all the wealth of the world.
From the start of the first stanza of the poem, the sadness of the speaker is very easy to see. We learn that the reason for his sadness is that he is "in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes". He has neither money, nor honor. He cries to himself because he is an outcast in society. He also complains to heaven but his complaints remain unanswered.
This was long thought to be the only portrait of W...
List of titles of works based on Shakespearean phr...
English: William Shakespeare statue in Lincoln Par...The imagery of crying and complaining suggest that the speaker is very unhappy with his state. The line "And look upon myself and curse my fate" depicts the intensity of unhappiness that the speaker has. The speaker is so unhappy that he is cursing himself. The reason for his unhappiness is that he himself has not found the true value of love yet.
In the second stanza, the speaker decides that he is fed up with himself and wants to be someone else. In the line "Wishing me like one more rich in hope" he tells us that he wants to be someone who is richer both in the sense of money and hope. He also wants to be someone who has friends and a place in society. He wants "this man's art and that man's scope." His sadness has put him into such a situation that he...