A summary of Shakespeare’s 50th sonnet
And so we come to the 50th sonnet in Shakespeare’s sequence of 154 sonnets. In this poem, Shakespeare describes a journey on horseback in which he travels away from his beloved. From the sonnet’s second word, ‘heavy’, onwards, the language of Sonnet 50 invites close analysis as the emotion joins with the physical in a fine example of pathetic fallacy.
How heavy do I journey on the way,
When what I seek, my weary travel’s end,
Doth teach that ease and that repose to say,
‘Thus far the miles are measured from thy friend!’
The beast that bears me, tired with my woe,
Plods dully on, to bear that weight in me,
As if by some instinct the wretch did know
His rider lov’d not speed being made from thee.
The bloody spur cannot provoke him on,
That sometimes anger thrusts into his hide,
Which heavily he answers with a groan,
More sharp to me than spurring to his side;
For that same groan doth put this in my mind,
My grief lies onward, and my joy behind.
First, a brief paraphrase of Sonnet 50: ‘How wearily and miserably do I travel when my destination, as it comes into view, only reminds me of how far I have travelled away from my friend. My horse, tired of bearing such a miserable rider, plods along slowly and dully, bearing both my physical weight and the misery that weighs me down