Introduction
The triumph of death or ‘No longer mourn for me when I am dead’ is sonnet 71 of William Shakespeare. This poem was also published with other sonnets of William Shakespeare in the year 1609. This poem also belongs to the fair youth. Shakespeare shows the nature of selfless love in this poem. Few other important sonnets of Shakespeare are sonnet 29, sonnet 146 etc.
Central Idea
Poem talks about the selfless love of the poet towards hi dear friend. Poet wants himself to be in oblivion for his dear friend as death will take the poet away from the life of his dear friend and his absence would make his friend woeful. Poem also focuses that the nature of their love relationship might come under social scrutiny and his friend may face the mockery of this world hence his friend should forget the poet.
Themes
- Selfless love – Poet loves his dear friend so much that he (poet) doesn’t want him (his friend) to be sad after his (poet’s) death hence he says that his friend should forget him (poet) after the poet’s death. Poet’s friend should not remember who wrote this poem as it will make him recall him (poet) and infuse sadness in his life. At the end the poet wants his friend to let his ‘love even with my life decay.’ So that people couldn’t see him sad about the poet’s death and mock their relationship.
- Death to be the ultimate winner – It is among those poems where the poet is letting death win against his love. He is doing it for his dear friend as if love persists after the poet’s death then it will be the cause of grief for the poet’s dear friend.
Figure of speech
- Alliteration – ‘Surly sullen’, ‘wise world’ and ‘vile world with vilest worms’ have repetition of consonant sounds of /s/, /w/and /v or w/ respectively at the starting of words.
- Synecdoche – In the sixth line of the poem ‘The hand that writ it’ hand is used for the whole person i.e. poet. This is case of synecdoche where a body part is used to represent the whole person.
- Metaphor – ‘Vilest worms’ is an instance of metaphor used for vile or bad people who are the cause of disturbance in the society. Here the poet is basically indicating towards people who don’t understand other’s love as at the end of the poem the poet wants his friend to let his (poet’ s friend ) love decay with the body of the poet because this society won’t understand a man loving man.
- Enjambment – When a statement is not complete in a line of the poem and continues in the next line it is an example of enjambment. Such as -Nay, if you read this line, remember not The hand that writ it;
Gay relationship
William Shakespeare has written 124 poems on fair youth or some secretive person. These sonnets reflect their intense love. But this poem actually shows love along with fear of society. Gay relationship was not acceptable in those times hence the poet had the fear that after his death his friend might have to face the society’s scrutiny and mockery of their relationship. Hence he demands his friend to forget him and his love. These lines clearly explain this -“Lest the wise world should look into your moan, And mock you with me after I am gone”
Not so selfless
It is quite interesting that in the whole poem the poet is asking his friend to forget the poet after the poet’s death as it would cause pain to the poet’s friend by remembering the poet. It was a great example of selfless love. But in the last line poet writes that this world will mock both of them if people watches his friend moan over poet’s death. They will question about their relationship and it will deface image of poet too along with his friend. Poet certainly don’t want that. Hence this concern about personal mockery reveals in the last line shows personal interest also of the poet in whole appeal.
Against Elizabethan trend
It is well known that Elizabethan age is known for defeating death through poetry. Poet often tried to make dear ones immortal through poetry but in this poem poet wants his friend to forget him, never remember him by reading his poetry and let the death devour his identity. The title of the poem shows that.
Structure and Rhyme scheme
Poem is a classical Shakespearean sonnet with three quatrains (four line stanza) and a concluding couplet. It has rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.
William Shakespeare : Critical Appreciation of ‘A Consolation’ (Sonnet 29) – http://ourguruji.in/2023/11/21/critical-appreciation-of-on-consolation-sonnet-29th-william-shakespeare/
William Shakespeare : Critical Appreciation of ‘Soul and Body’ (Sonnet 146) – http://ourguruji.in/2023/11/21/critical-appreciation-of-soul-and-bodysonnet-146-william-shakespeare/
William Shakespeare : Critical Analysis of play ‘Twelfth Night’ - http://ourguruji.in/2023/12/18/critical-analysis-of-play-twelfth-night-of-william-shakespeare/
Ben Jonson : Critical Appreciation of ‘The Noble Nature’ – http://ourguruji.in/2023/12/16/critical-appreciation-of-the-noble-nature-ben-jonson/
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Ru mai iss format se pass kar de ge??? ya fir reference to context about the writing background development of…
I have made the corrections in other poems too. Thanks for telling me. I didn’t know that the two sections…
Thank you so much. This might be a bit of work to ask but other poems have the same issue…
I have made the changes…
reference to context alag cheej hai…wo explanation me chahiye hoti hai critical appreciation me nahin…critical appreciation to aap is format…