3
When my love swears that she is made of truth
Sonnet 138 William Shakespeare
‘Sonnet 138′ is one of William
Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets. It was published along with some other sonnets in 1599 in The Passionate Pilgrim. It is part of the Dark Lady sequence of sonnets.
They deal with the speaker (who is usually considered to be William
Shakespeare himself) and his relationship with his mistress, the Dark Lady.
This particular sonnet further elaborates on the difficult
relationship the two have. They take comfort in one another’s lies rather than
the love they should share.
Sonnet
138
William
Shakespeare
When
my love swears that she is made of truth,
I
do believe her though I know she lies,
That
she might think me some untutored youth,
Unlearned
in the world's false subtleties.
Thus
vainly thinking that she thinks me young,
Although
she knows my days are past the best,
Simply
I credit her false-speaking tongue:
On
both sides thus is simple truth suppressed:
But
wherefore says she not she is unjust?
And
wherefore say not I that I am old?
O!
love's best habit is in seeming trust,
And
age in love, loves not to have years told:
Therefore
I lie with her, and she with me,
And
in our faults by lies we flattered be.
Summary
’Sonnet 138’ by William
Shakespeare is a poem about the deceitful relationship the
speaker has with the Dark Lady.
In the first lines
of ‘Sonnet 138,’ the speaker begins by saying he believes the
Dark Lady when she tells him that she’s honest. Despite this, he knows on a
deeper level that she is actually lying. This presents him in a certain light,
as a naive man, something he thinks benefits him. She’ll think he’s young and
inexperienced when he’s not. He’s actually aging, something she’s well aware
of.
Continuing, the
speaker wonders why the two can’t admit to one another that they’re lying. It
seems to be an integral part of their relationship. The best thing, he decides,
is to pretend to trust one another and continue to lie. No matter how strange
and complicated this is, the two take comfort in one another’s deceit.
Themes
Throughout this
poem, the poet engages with themes of truth/lies and relationships. Their
complex and incredibly unhealthy relationship is built on lies. But,
interestingly enough, lies they’re both aware of. The mutual deception appears
to be what’s holding them together. He knows the Dark Lady has been unfaithful
to him just as she knows he’s old and getting older. Without their lies, their
relationship (whatever it might be) would fall apart.
Structure
and Form
‘Sonnet 138’ by
William Shakespeare is a traditional Shakespearean
sonnet. This means that it contains fourteen lines that are divided into
two quatrains,
or sets of four lines, and one sestet, or set of six
lines. They rhyme ABABCDCDEFEFGG
as the vast majority of Shakespeare’s sonnets do. The poem is also written
in iambic
pentameter. This means that each line contains five sets of two beats,
known as metrical feet. The first is unstressed and the second stressed. It
sounds something like da-DUM, da-DUM. The poem can also be divided into three
sets of four lines and a final two-line couplet.
Literary
Devices
Shakespeare makes
use of several poetic techniques in ‘Sonnet 138’. These
include but are not limited to examples of:
- Alliteration:
the repetition of
words with the same consonant sound. For example, “faults” and “flattered”
in line fourteen and “sides” and “simple” in line eight.
- Caesura: occurs
when the poet inserts a pause in
the middle of a line. For example, line two reads: “I do believe her,
though I know she lies.” This is an example of how punctuation is used to
create an example of caesura.
There is another example in line five in which Shakespeare uses a natural
pause in the middle of the metrical line. It reads: “Thus vainly thinking
that she thinks me young.”
- Allusion:
throughout this piece, the poet’s speaker alludes to the Dark Lady’s
morality and the fact that she sleeps with a lot of other people.
Detailed
Analysis
Lines
1-4
When my love swears
that she is made of truth,
I do believe her,
though I know she lies,
That she might
think me some untutored youth,
Unlearnèd in the
world’s false subtleties.
In the first lines
of ‘Sonnet 138,’ the speaker begins by saying that his love
“swears that she is made of truth,” and he believes her. Meaning, that whenever
she says she’s telling the truth, he’s willing to take her at her word. But,
the second line adds to this, complicating it. He adds that he believes her,
even though he knows “she lies.” This sets the tone for the rest of
the poem as the speaker outlines the crucial role that lies play in this
relationship.
She’s not the only
one who lies, he says in lines three and four. He lies too. He acts naive about
her falsehoods so that she will think he’s inexperienced and naive, like a
young person. His age is a weakness, he thinks, and therefore making himself
seem younger will benefit him in her eyes. But, just like he knows she’s lying,
she knows he’s lying about not understanding “the world’s false subtleties.”
Lines
5-8
Thus vainly
thinking that she thinks me young,
Although she knows
my days are past the best,
Simply I credit her
false-speaking tongue:
On both sides thus
is simple truth suppressed.
In the second quatrain of ‘Sonnet
138,’ the speaker reveals that the Dark Lady is well aware that he’s
not young. His “days are past the best,” meaning that he’s old. This is
indirectly connected to his age being unattractive to her. He knows that since
she has her pick of lovers that he needs to appear as attractive as possible to
keep her attention (or to gain it at all).
The speaker
summarizes this situation with the next two lines. He says that he pretends to
believe her lies just as she pretends to believe his act. This balances out the
scales. Both sides are untruthful.
Lines
9-14
But wherefore says
she not she is unjust?
And wherefore say
not I that I am old?
Oh, love’s best
habit is in seeming trust,
And age in love
loves not to have years told.
Therefore I lie
with her and she with me,
And in our faults
by lies we flattered be.
The poem has the
first of two turns between lines eight and nine. Here, the speaker asks two
questions. He wonders why she lies to him and doesn’t simply admit the truth.
Then, also why he doesn’t just say he’s “old.” It would certainly be easier
that way. He says, as an answer, that the best thing about their love is
pretending to trust one another. Plus, old people, like the speaker, don’t like
sharing their “years.”
In the last two
lines of the poem, the speaker reveals that these lies they share with one
after aren’t an issue. In fact, they both take comfort in them.