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Analysis of Shakespeares Sonnet 81

Suzana Jerkovi

William Shakespeare, known as the Bard of Avon, wrote a total of 154 sonnets. One of these
sonnets is Sonnet 81 which is, because of the first line in a sonnet, usually called Or I shall
live your epitaph to make. It is believed that Sonnet 81 is addressed to an unnamed young
man who has become known as the Fair Youth.
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Not only is this sonnet addressed to a
young man but almost each sonnet in a sequence 1-126, a sequence known as the young man
sequence or the Fair Youth sequence.
Sonnet 81 is, of course, Shakespearean or English sonnet which therefore consists of fourteen
lines. Each line has ten syllables which means that it is written in a meter called iambic
pentameter. The first twelve lines are divided into three quatrains with four lines each. In the
three quatrains the poet establishes a theme or problem and then resolves it in the final two
lines, called the couplet. The rhyme scheme of the quatrains is abab cdcd efef. The couplet
has the rhyme scheme gg.
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In Sonnet 81 the poet speaks directly to someone. It is easily noticeable because of the usage
of the personal pronouns I and you throughout a sonnet. There is almost no line in which
the poet does not use these pronouns. It would be difficult to find out from a sonnet who is the
person the poet speaks to but it is considered that it is a young man, as mentioned above. It
would be difficult to understand because the poet does not use the personal pronouns like he
or she and, also, mentions nothing about persons physical appearance, and therefore to find
out who that might be would be quite impossible. However, other sonnets which precede and
follow Sonnet 81 help us to understand that it is a young man who is addressed. Also, we
cannot be sure that a young man, to whom the poet speaks to, is the one he is in love with. It
may be his friend or someone he respects or admire. It is worth remembering that, at that

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From:
http://hudsonshakespeare.org/Shakespeare%20Library/Poetry/Young%20Man%20sonnets.ht
m
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From: http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/sonnetstyle.html
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time, it was not uncommon for men to refer to and revere the beauty of other men, especially
that of young men and teenage boys.
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First two lines of a sonnet begin with the conjunction or which indicates that the poet puts
two possible outcomes. Or the poet will outlive a young man or vice versa. If it happens that a
young man dies before the poet it would be only because the poet needs to write him an
epitaph. The poet uses the modal verb shall, not will, because he probably wants to
emphasize that he is the one who should live longer. It is almost possible to feel that the poet
wants to live longer so that he can give a gift to a young man. An epitaph is usually a short
piece of writing written on a gravestone, but here this sonnet represents an epitaph. We could
say that an epitaph and a sonnet are used as synonyms here.
A word rotten poet applies to himself in the second line. That word is very harsh and
picturesque. It is possible to imagine his dead body which rotten. There would be no
possibility that the poet would apply that word to a young man because it is not appropriate
for him. Moreover, there is a huge difference between a gentle voice, which a reader can
sense when reading about a young man, and unkind voice and words which the poet uses
when speaking about himself.
The poet decided to write an epitaph to a young man and that is the reason why death will not
take a memory of him. That epitaph which will be written will stand as a reminder of him. If
there would be no epitaph other people would probably forget that a young man even lived
but the poet decides to take care of that in a way that everybody will be aware, in a distant
future, that a young man existed. From the moment when epitaph, which is obviously this
sonnet, is written there is no possibility that a young man will be forgotten. On the contrary,
the poet will not be known, nobody will know that he lived somewhere in the past.
There is a contrast in the first two iambic pentameters. That contrast is between life and death.
In the second two iambic pentameters, which also belong to a first quatrain, also exist contrast
but this time between memory and oblivion. When speaking about oblivion the poet stresses
that each part of him will be forgotten. What put together these two contrasts from the first
quatrain are the poet and a young man.

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From: http://whatsitallaboutshakespeare.blogspot.com/2012/08/who-was-shakespeares-fair-
youth.html
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It was mentioned above that the poet gave a possible outcome of who will live longer, but in
the second two lines the poet describes what will happen in a future when two of them are
dead. We can recognize a shift in time because at the start of a sonnet the poet talks about
present time, when both of them are alive, and now he talks about a certain moment in a
future when both of them are dead.
Second quatrain also contains a group of words from hence which means that from the time
when the sonnet is written the persons name will get immortal life. This is the first time that
the poet talks about name, but a young mans name has not been mentioned yet. Although a
young man will die, because every single one of us has a future like that, his name will not be
dead, it will not be forgotten. It will, as the poet says, have immortal life. We may ask
ourselves how it is possible that his name will be immortal when a young man will no longer
be alive. It is possible because the poet knows how to make someones name immortal. We
can predict that immortality will happen through the poets pen.
The poet now speaks about the time when both, him and the person, will be dead. That time is
also in the future. When it happens that the poet dies he only can be entombed in a common,
ordinary grave, like every other person. He writes that the earth can give him that kind of
grave and when speaking about the earth he probably means on people. On the contrary, a
young man will be entombed in men's eyes. Now he puts comparison between a common
grave which is applied to him and eyes which are applied to a young man. It may be possible
to say that he does not think about body, about where body may lie, but about the memory of
them. The poet is sure that people would not remember him. He will be entombed in a grave
and no one would care about that. On the other hand, a young man, or to be more precise, the
memory of him will be in mens eyes each time when certain person reads this epitaph or
sonnet. The poet probably thinks that better grave cannot exist than this one which he will
provide for a young man. He will entomb him in mens eyes which are connected with the
present moment. If we see something then we are sure that it is in front of us, and that it
belongs to this very moment. Each time when someone, far in the future, reads this sonnet he
will give a glory to a young man. There is no better monument than something what can be
read. That is what the poet brings to us at the end of a second quatrain.
The next quatrain contains an adjective gentle which is connected to a word verse. There
cannot be any other kind of verses applied to a young man. From every single line it is
obvious that a young man is so important to the poet. He delicately uses words which are
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applied to him. In the first line of the last quatrain we realises that this sonnet will serve as a
monument. Previously, we could only assume that, but now the poet reveals that.
It is obvious in the second line that the poet talks about the distant future when he writes
eyes not yet created. He is sure that this epitaph will be read even then. In the next line he
mentions tongues which also do not exist yet. He does not only say that people will read it
but oer read which means that they will read it over and over. Those people in a distant future
will probably see the value of these lines and that would be the reason why they will over read
it. And of course each time when they read it the memory of a young man will grow and
become bigger and bigger. People will know that he existed while the poet, in that time, will
not be remembered. Eyes will read it, and it is connected with the second quatrain when he
said that there, in their eyes, a young man will lie. But not only that the mens eyes will read
it, but also their tongues will read it aloud, rehearse prepare it for public performance. That
is how great this verse will be.
Then again, he stresses the importance of a time when it will be read. When even the people,
breathers, who are now alive are dead, even then when are people are alive this sonnet will be
read. We could say that a young man will truly live forever, and the poet was right when he
said that he will have immortal life.
He resolves everything in the couplet when he brings the word still. Couplet finally brings
conclusion of all the things written above. He mentioned, previously, eyes not yet created,
tongues not yet created, when all breathers are dead and all these groups of words show us
that even then this sonnet will be read. That all serve to show us that a young man will truly
be immortal.
But how is that so, we asked ourselves above, how is he going to do all of that. The poet in
the couplet gives us an answer by himself. He declares that his pen will do that. He puts the
word virtue. He is aware that he is capable of making someone immortal and he really can
do that. We could say that Shakespeare was narcissistic when he wanted to make someone
immortal through his verses but he actually did it. Even today, after so many years, we read
this sonnet and each time we do it we alive a young man and a memory of him. May be
strange but Shakespeares verses are really powerful. We do not know what that person was
like; the poet did not want us to know that. He mentioned your name but never actually
mentioned his name. However, even now, when all the breathers of his world are dead we
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read this sonnet, epitaph, we over read it, and many people rehearse it. That was
Shakespeares power.
To conclude, even though we cannot be sure that this sonnet is about Shakespeares love
toward someone, it is definitely a sonnet dedicated to someone who was very important to the
poet. That importance can be easily noticed throughout a whole sonnet. For example, we
could only look at the usage of words which poet applies to himself and to a young man.
More than one time the poet stresses how unimportant he is, while a young man is the only
object of admiration. As I showed above, the poet was sure that he can make a young man
immortal and he succeeded. However, although Shakespeare approached himself in an
insignificant matter and because of that focussed only to a young man, he was wrong when he
thought that his being will be forgotten. Not only this sonnet serves as an epitaph to a young
man but also evokes the memory of Shakespeare himself.