Lying with worms is one of Shakespeare’s favourite images, one that he applies in Hamlet. This idea brings death back down to earth in a way that’s almost blasphemous because it’s neglecting the idea of the soul going to heaven in favour of considering where the body lies. To him, once the ‘surly sullen bell’ rings, his soul is not worth thinking of anymore, because all that’s left of him is a corpse. It was common for Renaissance thinkers to consider the temporal world as vile, suggesting that the afterlife, in contrast, would be…well, heavenly! Shakespeare, though, is different. The first thing that intrigues me is the line ‘From this vile world, with vilest worms to dwell’. Shakespeare’s sonnets are usually split into four sections: 4 lines, 4 lines, 4 lines, and the final rhyming couplet (2 lines), so I’d like to go through it that way. Lest the wise world should look into your moan If thinking on me then should make you woe.īut let your love even with my life decay, That I in your sweet thoughts would be forgot Then you shall hear the surly sullen bellįrom this vile world, with vilest worms to dwell: She’s been the one championing for me to discuss Sonnet 71, so here we go! As per most bloggers, my mom is my biggest fan.
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