Shakespeare Sonnet 80

‘O! How I faint when I of you do write’

Oct 8, 2008

The speaker in sonnet 80 examines the nature of his most important subject, love, as he recognizes the intervention of not only the muse, but also the Divine Muse.

In sonnet 80, the speaker addresses the Divine, the Over-Soul, although he never uses any term to indicate so, save the word “spirit” in the first quatrain, which refers to the individual soul, not the Over-Soul.

In the first quatrain, the speaker exclaims, “O! How I faint when I of you do write.” He is overcome with a weakness that keeps him humble. He essentially divides his consciousness into two parts, referring to one as “I” and “he.” The “better spirit” refers to the muse or his native talent; he separates his various “selves” in order to explore them. The entity becomes tri-partite, representing the physical, mental, and spiritual levels of being that all unite to produce fine art.

The speaker’s self qua self becomes “tongue-tied” when “speaking of the fame” of the Over-Soul’s Divinity. He spends “all of his might” praising the Divine, and thus he transforms into a humble servant as he compares his lesser talents to those of the Over-Soul or Super Muse.

Second Quatrain: “But since your worth—wide as the ocean is”

The speaker then avers that the value of the Divine is “wide as the ocean,” clearly an understatement, yet suitable for his purposes. He than metaphorically likens himself to a small boat which competes with a much larger vessel.

The speaker asserts that the Divine includes and recognizes all from the humblest to the “proudest.” His own small boat, which he labels a “saucy bark” and claims its inferiority, still finds favor enough to “appear” with the “proudest” on this all-encompassing sea. This sea, of course, metaphorically represents the art world and by extension the entire cosmos.

Third Quatrain: “Your shallowest help will hold me up afloat”

Addressing the Divine, the speaker avers that even the smallest aid offered by His Greatness “will hold me up afloat.” This upliftment happens simultaneously with his other self “rid[ing]” “upon your soundless deep.” While the muse remains silent, the speaker is permitted voice by the same grace that creates the muse and his own creative self.

He thus demonstrates the unity of the muse and his own creative self, even as he has separated them, merely for the purpose of examining them. Again, the speaker displays his humility by claiming, “I am a worthless boat,” at the same time averring, “He (his self that functions as the muse) appears “of tall building and of goodly pride.” This convenient splitting allows the speaker to remain humble yet retain his pride.

The Couplet: “Then if he thrive and I be cast away”

The couplet ties the three-part self together again with the speaker’s usual and most important subject—“love.” If the writing self, who is the most ordinary self, fails while his muse succeeds, then the ordinary self gets the better part of it all, because he has remained true to his love, and they continue united as they age together.

The copyright of the article Shakespeare Sonnet 80 in British Poetry is owned by Linda Sue Grimes. Permission to republish Shakespeare Sonnet 80 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.