Dialogic

This is the most important sequence so far. In these poems, the poet delineates a poetics. In their description of form, the poet discusses the idea that less is more in the expression of love. This has been consistent throughout the poems. Consistency is the strongest attribute of the collection, and at its core is this idea that describes the beloved and also the poetry: Fair, Kind, and True. Fair, meaning beautiful beyond all else; Kind, meaning in service of others; and true, meaning not duplicitous: these are the tenets of Shakespeare's poetry.

The separation is complete. The poet speaks about the reputation of their beloved being both good and bad for the same reasons. They are praised for their youthful easygoing ways and criticized for them too.

The poet meditates on what it is like to live without their beloved. The changing of the seasons is full of shadows of memories.

This sequence of sonnets goes into the questionable relationship between appearance and reality, between beauty and goodness. He is still dependent upon the beloved for a sense of value, of self worth and in order maintain his own will to live he willingly allows himself to be deceived. 

In this sequence, the poet is coming to terms with the finality of their separation. In the first poem, they discuss a recent writer's block and what caused it. Very specifically it was NOT the quality of his rival's poetry. In fact, they go to great pains to discuss how the rival poet relies upon other writers to craft their poems. One of those, he refers to as a ghost. The poet has a ghost writer.

Still, even in despair and being rejected both by their beloved and by their society generally, the faith of their love never vacillates. They continue to place their love in the beloved even if it means speaking poorly of themselves. 

The poet turns a corner and shares their thoughts about their worth in relation to other poets. The premise is that the poet believes they are superior in relation to other poets because they recognize the true worth of the beloved. A person so full of beauty doesn't need embellishment.

We can see that the poet has become more accustomed to their separation. They accuse the beloved of being fond of flattery, which accelerates the proliferation of bad flowery poetry surrounding them.

Thanks for listening! 

This sequence delves into the poetics contained within this collection. It is here in the moment of recognizing the death of a relationship, after meditating on his own mortality, when the poet crystalizes their view of what matters most in poetry.

It is not literary technique that matters most, but the truthfulness of the love the writing contains and expresses.

This cycle of sonnets delves into some thoughts of death, or uses thoughts of mortality to describe the process of breaking up. 

The poet spins out a bunch of metaphors describing their own exhaustion, the end of their time. They meditate on their own death as a way of bringing into focus what remains important. 

The poet doesn't want their name to be remembered. When it boils down to their essence, the distillation of a life, it is only the love that exists in the poetry they care to have considered.

Is this a kind of false grieving, designed to evoke pity? Or is it authentic expression of disappointed love?

The poet reaches a truly dark place in this section of sonnets. 

Sonnet 66 begins with a suicidal pronouncement. The poet says "Tired with all these, for restful death I cry." 

And, following this terrible sentiment they issue a list of complaints. He is over it. The wrong people have power and if it were not for their beloved, the poet would leave the world.

This pain is enhanced by the poet's beloved being with someone else, someone unworthy. Shakespeare looks back to ancient times to find a world suitable to quality of his love for his beloved.

The problem for the poet is that inferior minds are seducing his beloved. He doesn't take credit for knowing that the beloved is beautiful, as that is common knowledge, but remains steadfast in their supposition that their love is different because it is true.

Adding more to the mix, it seems that in addition to being courted by other poets, the beloved has become a target of gossip and slander. The poet attempts to use this as a wedge to create a gap between their beloved and the other poets.

Shakespeare can teach you how to survive the emotional dangers of love. The sonnets are instructive as much as they are beautiful. They are about how a poet can rise above their status through truthful expression. Love is a driving force, but it has many dangers and downsides. 

The first most important thing to know about love is that the love of self is the primary component. While the poet is humble and knows that they have less status than their beloved, the power of that love emanates from within the poet themselves. Though the poet obsesses about their beloved, it is in the service of expressing their own true feelings. The feelings attach to the love object but originate from within.

One of the overarching arguments made in the poems is that true love is always the most important and powerful and can overcome not only status and class but also time and death. So much of the poetry speaks to it being read in the future. This is based on the idea that the truth of the love motivating the expression is stronger than the present moment.

Thanks for tuning into another episode of the Dialogic Podcast, the Changing the Conversation series.

If you want to follow along, you can find the sonnets for free online at the Folger Shakespeare Library's online edition.

In this sequence, Shakespeare begins with a call for moderation. He suggests that greed spoils love, and that it is possible to regenerate your powers by fasting. Waiting makes the moment of communion more powerful.

He then goes on to describe himself as a slave to the beloved. The poet's self abnegation reaches a new nadir as he identifies as a slave helpless to make decisions for himself under the rule of his beloved. 

He also makes an argument that his beloved should be his master and should do whatever it is that pleases him, even it that means going somewhere else. 

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