When was sonnet 137 written

But his heart has been swayed by the outward beauty even as it senses that such beauty is only skin deep, and the inner person of this wretched woman is full of deceit. Question: Why does the speaker bemoan lust in Shakespeare's "Sonnet "? Question: Why is love called the "blind fool" in Shakespeare's sonnet ? Answer: Instead of speaking to his mistress directly as he usually does in the "dark lady" sonnets, the speaker is revealing the falseness and foulness of her character, as he speaks directly to "Love.

He labels "Love" the "blind fool," as he makes it clear that he is, indeed, the "blind fool" because of "lust. Marine Biology. Electrical Engineering. Computer Science. Medical Science. Writing Tutorials. Performing Arts. Visual Arts. Student Life. Vocational Training. Standardized Tests. Online Learning. Social Sciences. Legal Studies. Political Science. However, while other poets had represented women as less idealistic, in this sonnet Shakespeare downright insults the object of his desire, calling her "common," like a prostitute, and a "false plague.

The idea of the poet's eyes and heart distorting what they perceive is reminiscent of Sonnets 46 and 47, in which they are "at a mortal war" but end up reaching a compromise regarding the perception of the fair lord. But while those sonnets describe the eyes and heart lying to each other in order to deprive each other of basking in the fair lord's beauty, here the eyes are the main perpetrators, leading the heart behind them; Cupid has "forged hooks" out of them to this end.

Thus the poet is overcome by the "blind fool, Love," who is Cupid; he becomes blind himself in his inability to see the truth.

The term "things" also carried a sexual slang meaning. Ship imagery is employed in line 6 to suggest the woman's promiscuity. The phrase "anchored in the bay" used with "ride," implies a man having sexual intercourse; in this case, it is "all men" that are allowed to have sex with the dark lady. But the subject of this phrase is "eyes," implying that the poet is only visualizing having sex with the woman; thus, "all men" could really mean "all men's eyes," and rather than literally having sex with her, all men are just fantasizing about it like the poet does.

The "forged hooks" into which Cupid makes the poet's eyes would be used to hoist sails and rigging on a ship, as well. As they were mad, unto the wood they hie them, Out-stripping crows that strive to over-fly them. I prophesy they death, my living sorrow, If thou encounter with the boar to-morrow. William Shakespeare Three Songs Come unto these yellow sands, And then take hands: Court'sied when you have, and kiss'd,-- The wild waves whist-- Foot it featly here and there; And, sweet sprites, the burthen bear.

Hark, hark! Bow, wow, The watch-dogs bark: Bow, wow. I hear The strain of strutting chanticleer Cry, Cock-a-diddle-dow! This life is most jolly. Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky, That does not bite so nigh As benefits forgot: Though thou the waters warp, Thy sting is not so sharp As friend remembered not. Academy of American Poets Educator Newsletter. Teach This Poem. Follow Us. Find Poets. Poetry Near You. Jobs for Poets. Read Stanza. Privacy Policy. Press Center.