Sonnet 83


Sonnet 83 is one of 154 sonnets published by William Shakespeare in a quarto titled Shakespeare's Sonnets in 1609. It is a part of the Fair Youth group of sonnets, and the sixth sonnet of the Rival Poet group.

Exegesis

The poet says that he has not seen that the young man needed to be described in a flattering way, and so he has not attempted it. Line 4 suggests that he has been rebuked for being silent, which is also suggested in line 9. "Modern quill" suggests an inadequately ordinary kind of writing, and the whole of line 7 contains a sexual inadequacy pun aimed the rival poet or poets. The third quatrain is so insistent on the poet's silence that it suggests deliberateness. Line 12 suggests that when other poets attempt to bring the young man to life in their descriptions, they in fact do the opposite.

Structure

Sonnet 83 is an English or Shakespearean sonnet, which has three quatrains, followed by a final rhyming couplet. It follows the rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG and is composed in iambic pentameter, a metre of five feet per line, with two syllables in each foot accented weak/strong. Most of the lines are examples of regular iambic pentameter, including the 7th line:

 × / × / × / × / × / 
How far a modern quill doth come too short,
 / × × / × / × / × / 
Speaking of worth, what worth in you doth grow.

It is followed by an initial reversal, a common metrical variation.
The meter calls for line 6's "being" to function as 1 syllable.

Interpretations