sonnet 89 project

8/2/2019 Sonnet 89 Project

1/16

Sonnet LXXXIXBy Giuliana Mazzotti and Sined Yepez


2/16

Sonnet LXXIXSay that thou didst forsake me for some fault,

And I will comment upon that offense.

Speak of my lameness, and I straight will halt,

Against thy reasons making no defense.

Thou canst not, love, disgrace me half so ill,

To set a form upon desired change,

As Ill myself disgrace, knowing thy will;

I will acquaintance strangle and look strange,

Be absent from thy walks, and in my tongue

Thy sweet belovd name no more shall dwell,

Lest I, too much profane, should do it wrong

And haply of our old acquaintance tell.

For thee against myself Ill vow debate, For I must ne'er love him whom thou dost hate.


3/16

In Summary

Sonnet 89 presents a young man who addresseshis love with the concern that she might bedissatisfied by him. He states, then that if she

finds him flawed, he will accept her criticism, andeven expand upon it to denounce himself evenfurther. He expresses that no amount of bashingdone by her could compare to how much he willdisgrace himself. He vows, in order to keep her

from getting tainted by his being, that he willapart from her physically and mentally. He willeven become his own enemy, for he claims that

he could never like himself knowing that she

disapproves of him.


4/16

Say that thou didst forsake me for some fault,

The sonnet opens in a hypothetical state.

The speaker is unsure of what his love willdeclare, but he is prepared for the worst.


5/16

And I will comment upon that offense.

Here the speaker states what the sonnet will beabout, which is his reaction to his loves

declaration.

This line does not necessarily state that thespeaker will simply respond to his lovers

accusations by defending himself. In fact hestates here that he will instead develop on what

she accuses him of, instantly taking fault andagreeing with her position.


6/16

Speak of my lameness, and I straight will halt,

Lameness= Disability or imperfection

Here the speaker states, perhaps inquiring if thisis his fault, that he will not defend himself against

this claim.

He uses imagery to describe his fault as beinglame to give a picture of great impairment

or inability to do something.


7/16

Against thy reasons making no defense.

He is here again stating that he will not attemptto justify himself.

By repeating how he will fully take fault in what

she accuses him of, he emphasizes hissubmissiveness, and suggests that he could notfind that she is ever wrong because to him she isperfect.


8/16

Thou canst not, love, disgrace me half so ill,To set a form upon desired change,

Here the speaker claims to his love that in tryingto find a fault that she wants him to change, shecould not degrade him half as much as he

himself can (as he later states.)


9/16

As Ill myself disgrace, knowing thy will;

The speaker recurs back to the fact that althoughhe does not know what fault she will find in him,he knows that he would agree with her in any

case because he finds that she could do nowrong.

This line can also be tied into the coupletbecause even though, as mentioned, he does

not know what she finds displeasing in him, hecould never love whom thou dost hate and

therefore would agree with what she saysanyways.


10/16

I will acquaintance strangle and look strange

Acquaintance strangle= Cut our ties

Look strange= Be a stranger to her

The narrators use hyperbolic language throughviolence and negative connotation expressed in theword strangle, whereas he could have used a word

like sever, hints at his extremism and desperation, acause of his strong attachment being in danger of

finalizing.

Paronomasia with words strangle and strange


11/16

Be absent from thy walks, and in my tongue

Absent from thy walks= Avoid you

This line could signify the narrators own shame

in presenting his flawed being to his lover, whom

he finds prestigious.


12/16

Thy sweet belovd name no more shall dwell

(In my tongue)

The narrator does not want to taint his lover inany way, so he will even abstain from saying her

name.

There is personification when stated that thename shall no more dwell


13/16

Lest I, too much profane, should do it wrong

Here, again the narrator stresses the fact that heis so much less than his lover that he believes tobe unworthy of any connection to her.

He achieves the emphasis through hyperbaton,noted in the inversion of too much profane.


14/16

And haply of our old acquaintance tell

And haply= By chance

The narrator states that the only way in which hecould ever fail her is if it accidentally slips from

him that he should not let anyone know of theiracquaintance.


15/16

For thee against myself Ill vow debate,For I must ne'er love him whom thou dost hate.

The couplet

The narrator sums up the reasons for thebehaviors he will take if his lover should find a

fault in him. The reason why he will avoid her,and speak no more of her is because he willautomatically take fault in whatever she claimshim to be responsible for, simply because he

cannot defend himself, going against her will,and because he cant fathom tolerating anything

that she hates.

Anadiplosis used in the repetition of For


16/16

The sonnet as a whole continually features theuse of future tense, presented in order toillustrates the speakers diffidence towards his

relationship. Furthermore, through the usage offuture tense in addressing his love, the speakeralso expresses his hopes in that these eventsmight not occur if she, in fact, does not find a

fault in him.Also, the tone of the overall sonnet is dismal, asthe narrator speaks in the event that his lovershould disapprove of him.

sonnet 89 project

Documents