The speaker's depressive state
The speaker of this poem appears to be in a depressive state. He begins by declaring himself to be "in disgrace with fate," or having poor luck in life. He also states in this line of the stanza that he is "in disgrace with men's eyes," and it is clear that he is referring to the general public who do not view him favorably or with value. (Ebrahimi et al., 185). This is not guaranteed the meaning, but the persona goes further to enforce the reader into believing that he or she is either poor or sad in life in the second line of the poem. The writer here is viewing himself as an outcast from the society and someone not appreciated or accepted either (Finkelstein, & Richard, 330). The author says and I quote, "I all alone be wept my outcast state." The poet finds himself when his prayers and quest to seek the intervention of the Almighty God is not bearing any fruit. He seems to be lamenting on how he is praying without any answers and believes his prayers are landing in deaf hears. This is affirmed in line three where he says, and I quote, "And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries." He the persona seemingly in the fourth line is losing hope and has made a ruling to his fate. There is a complete mood of hopelessness in him as his prayers are to no avail. He says "...curse my fate."
Envy and longing for better circumstances
In line 5 to 9 of this poem, the speaker is seen to be acknowledging the fact that some people are so much better than him and sees himself not to be having anything close to what they have or capable of (Lencina, & María, 221). He wishes to be wealthy like others as he says, "one more rich in hope." He goes further to wish to be of good posture and appearance. He seems to be wondering why some people are more appealing in appearance than others, and he wishes to be like them as he says, "featured like him." In line 7 of the poem, the persona is clearly full of jealousy of someone who seems to be artistically talented and why such kind of talent are not accorded to him (Berg, & Gregory, 497). Hope sets in upon the speaker in stanza 10 to 12. In these lines, he says, that the lark rises from the "sullen earth at a break of the day," by saying this the persona is simply implying that change and a feeling of happiness is slowly cropping in as the larks and morning breaks are usually associated and signifies happiness and brighter day ahead. The persona also seems not to have been distanced from the Lord and is confident of a Lord who never abandons his people (Barber, & Rosalind, 165). There is a sign of hope from the persona, and it is clear he believes the Lord is with his soul, as he says in this line, "as the lark sings hymns at heaven's gate."
Hope and a longing for a better future
The speaker's hopes are finally turning into a joyous one as he is sure of God's love that he is certain will bring wealth to him. There is hope, and the persona is pretty convinced that one day he will be dining with the royal class and that his status will change in the society forever (ana Percec, 19). He summarizes this in the last two stanzas as he says, "sweet love…wealth brings" and finally says "That then I scorn to change my state with kings."
Works Cited
ana Percec, D. "Shakespeare-Between the Literary Canon and Contemporary Visual Culture. An apology." Romanian Cultural History Review: 19.
Barber, Rosalind. "Exploring biographical fictions: The role of imagination in writing and reading narrative." Rethinking history 14.2 (2010): 165-187.
Berg, Gregory. "" Who Will Believe My Verse in Time to Come?"-Sonnets by William Shakespeare-Musical Settings by David Duvall." Journal of Singing 66.4 (2010): 497.
Ebrahimi, Mokhtar, and Maryam Ebrahimi. "The Aesthetic Comparison of Hafez Shirazi's and William." The Iranian EFL Journal 4.8 (2014): 185.
Finkelstein, Richard. "The Comedy of Errors and the Theology of Things." SEL Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 52.2 (2012): 325-344.
Lencina, María Alejandra. "Translation of Shakespeare's sonnets as a means to achieve pragmatic awareness on the second language and enhance lexical acquisition." (2015): 221.
