Sonnet 34 portrays with an extended metaphor of weather, sun, and clouds the crests and troughs of the ever-evolving activity of the speaker's writing talent.
First Quatrain: “Why didst thou promise such a beauteous day”
In the first quatrain of Sonnet 34, the speaker addresses someone or some thing asking the fairly straightforward question that portends a complaint: “Why didst thou promise such a beauteous day / And make me travel forth without my cloak?”
Then he continues the complaint, “To let base clouds o’ertake me in my way, / Hiding thy bravery in their rotten smoke?” He failed to wear his cloak, because he thought the weather was going to be fine and sunny, but instead the clouds amassed and proved the fair weather prediction false. Their “rotten smoke” resulted in giving the speaker a drenching, and he is not amused.
Second Quatrain: “’Tis not enough that through the cloud thou break”
Then the speaker reveals that he must be addressing the sun: “’Tis not enough that through the cloud thou break, / To dry the rain on my storm-beaten face.” The sun has broken through the clouds and is drying the “storm-beaten face” of the speaker.
But he is not so quick to forgive the bright star, because although the sun is drying his face, the speaker is still counting himself as being injured by the drenching: the “salve” is healing the “wound” but “cures not the disgrace.” He has been inconvenienced by having been rained on when he thought the weather was clear, and he is offended that the sun had allowed him not to be prepared by bringing his cloak
Third Quatrain: “Nor can thy shame give physic to my grief”
The speaker then chides the sun again, claiming that despite the fact that the offender has admitted fault and tried to offer restitution, “the offender’s sorrow lends but weak relief / To him that bears the strong offence’s cross.” It does not help the victim that the offender has said he’s sorry; the victim still suffers from the offender’s negligence.
The Couplet: “ Ah! but those tears are pearl which thy love sheds”
But in the couplet, the speaker relents and retracts his harsh rebuke, realizing that the sun and weather have merely shed “tears” of “pearl.” The rain offers richness, aiding the fertility of the earth, and the sun’s participation in the creative process “ransom[s] all ill deeds.”
Commentary
The speaker again engages an extended metaphor of weather, sun, and cloud to dramatize the constantly evolving activity of his writing talent. He thought when setting out to write a poem that his muse was shining strongly on him, and so he set forth with a cheery attitude, not realizing that his muse would suddenly stop short and let the darkening clouds of uncertainly amass around him.
Then his creative juices start flowing again, and he not amused that his muse seemed to abandon him even temporarily; thus, he chides the muse and complains that has been offended. Finally, he realizes that all is well, and even the muse’s uninspired moments can eventually fertilize the plowed field of his inspiration.
Other articles on Shakespeare: Who is Shakespeare?
Sonnet Commentaries: Sonnet 1, Sonnet 2, Sonnet 3, Sonnet 4, Sonnet 5, Sonnet 6, Sonnet 7, Sonnet 8, Sonnet 9, Sonnet 10, Sonnet 11, Sonnet 12, Sonnet 13, Sonnet 14, Sonnet 15, Sonnet 16, Sonnet 17, Sonnet 18, Sonnet 19, Sonnet 20, Sonnet 21, Sonnet 22, Sonnet 23, Sonnet 24, Sonnet 25, Sonnet 26, Sonnet 27, Sonnet 28, Sonnet 29, Sonnet 30, Sonnet 31, Sonnet 32, Sonnet 33, Sonnet 73, Sonnet 116, Sonnet 126, Sonnet 130, Sonnet 138
