Sonnet 75: So Are You To My Thoughts As Food To Life
So are you to my thoughts as food to life,
Or as sweet-season’d showers are to the ground;
And for the peace of you I hold such strife
As ‘twixt a miser and his wealth is found.
Now proud as an enjoyer, and anon
Doubting the filching age will steal his treasure;
Now counting best to be with you alone,
Then better’d that the world may see my pleasure:
Sometime all full with feasting on your sight,
And by and by clean starved for a look;
Possessing or pursuing no delight
Save what is had, or must from you be took.
Thus do I pine and surfeit day by day,
Or gluttoning on all, or all away.
This is Shakespeare’s Sonnet 75, a passionate exploration of the speaker’s consuming love for the beloved. The speaker compares their thoughts of the beloved to essential sustenance, like food or rain, and describes the emotional turmoil of longing and fulfillment that comes with such intense love. Let’s break it down line by line.
Line 1:
“So are you to my thoughts as food to life,”
Difficult Words Meaning:
- Thoughts: Mind, consciousness.
- Food to life: Essential nourishment.
Text and Context Explanation:
The speaker begins by comparing the beloved to food, which is essential for life. This metaphor suggests that thoughts of the beloved are as vital to the speaker’s emotional and mental well-being as food is to physical survival. The line sets the tone for the sonnet, emphasizing the intensity and necessity of the speaker’s love.
Line 2:
“Or as sweet-season’d showers are to the ground;”
Difficult Words Meaning:
- Sweet-season’d showers: Gentle, nourishing rain.
Text and Context Explanation:
The speaker extends the metaphor, comparing the beloved to “sweet-season’d showers” that nourish the ground. This imagery suggests that the beloved brings life, growth, and renewal to the speaker’s thoughts and emotions, much like rain revitalizes the earth.
Line 3:
“And for the peace of you I hold such strife”
Difficult Words Meaning:
- Peace: Calm, contentment.
- Strife: Conflict, struggle.
Text and Context Explanation:
The speaker describes the emotional conflict they experience in their desire for the beloved’s presence and peace. This line introduces the idea that the speaker’s love is both a source of comfort and a cause of inner turmoil.
Line 4:
“As ‘twixt a miser and his wealth is found.”
Difficult Words Meaning:
- Miser: A person who hoards wealth.
- ‘Twixt: Between.
Text and Context Explanation:
The speaker compares their emotional struggle to that of a miser who is torn between hoarding and enjoying their wealth. This metaphor suggests that the speaker is caught between wanting to possess the beloved entirely and fearing the loss or diminishment of their love.
Line 5:
“Now proud as an enjoyer, and anon”
Difficult Words Meaning:
- Proud: Satisfied, content.
- Anon: Soon, at times.
Text and Context Explanation:
The speaker describes their fluctuating emotions: at times, they feel proud and satisfied as an “enjoyer” of the beloved’s love, but this feeling is fleeting. This line reflects the instability and intensity of the speaker’s emotions.
Line 6:
“Doubting the filching age will steal his treasure;”
Difficult Words Meaning:
- Filching age: Time, which steals away.
- Treasure: The beloved, or the love they share.
Text and Context Explanation:
The speaker expresses fear that time (“filching age”) will steal their “treasure,” the beloved or the love they share. This line reflects the speaker’s anxiety about the impermanence of love and beauty.
Line 7:
“Now counting best to be with you alone,”
Difficult Words Meaning:
- Counting best: Considering it best.
Text and Context Explanation:
The speaker describes moments when they believe it is best to be alone with the beloved, away from the world. This line reflects the speaker’s desire for intimacy and exclusivity in their relationship.
Line 8:
“Then better’d that the world may see my pleasure:”
Difficult Words Meaning:
- Better’d: Improved, enhanced.
Text and Context Explanation:
The speaker then contradicts themselves, saying that it is even better when the world can see their joy in the beloved. This line reflects the speaker’s pride in their love and their desire to share it with others.
Line 9:
“Sometime all full with feasting on your sight,”
Difficult Words Meaning:
- Feasting: Enjoying, indulging.
Text and Context Explanation:
The speaker describes moments when they are completely satisfied, “feasting” on the sight of the beloved. This line emphasizes the intensity of the speaker’s love and the joy they derive from the beloved’s presence.
Line 10:
“And by and by clean starved for a look;”
Difficult Words Meaning:
- Clean starved: Completely deprived.
Text and Context Explanation:
The speaker contrasts their moments of fulfillment with moments of intense longing, when they are “clean starved” for even a glance from the beloved. This line reflects the emotional extremes the speaker experiences in their love.
Line 11:
“Possessing or pursuing no delight”
Difficult Words Meaning:
- Possessing: Having.
- Pursuing: Seeking.
Text and Context Explanation:
The speaker declares that they find no joy or delight except in the beloved. This line emphasizes the exclusivity and intensity of the speaker’s love, suggesting that nothing else in life brings them happiness.
Line 12:
“Save what is had, or must from you be took.”
Difficult Words Meaning:
- Save: Except.
- Took: Taken.
Text and Context Explanation:
The speaker reiterates that their only source of delight is the beloved, whether it is something they already possess or something they must seek from the beloved. This line underscores the speaker’s complete dependence on the beloved for happiness.
Line 13:
“Thus do I pine and surfeit day by day,”
Difficult Words Meaning:
- Pine: Long for, yearn.
- Surfeit: Overindulge, become sick from excess.
Text and Context Explanation:
The speaker describes their daily emotional state as a cycle of pining (longing) and surfeiting (overindulging). This line reflects the speaker’s inability to find balance in their love, as they oscillate between extremes of desire and fulfillment.
Line 14:
“Or gluttoning on all, or all away.”
Difficult Words Meaning:
- Gluttoning: Overindulging.
Text and Context Explanation:
The speaker concludes by describing their love as either consuming everything (“gluttoning on all”) or being completely deprived (“all away”). This line encapsulates the speaker’s emotional turmoil, as their love brings both intense joy and profound longing.
Summary of the Sonnet:
Sonnet 75 explores the consuming and tumultuous nature of the speaker’s love for the beloved. The speaker compares their thoughts of the beloved to essential sustenance, like food or rain, emphasizing the necessity and intensity of their love. However, this love also brings emotional conflict, as the speaker oscillates between moments of fulfillment and longing, pride and fear, intimacy and public display. The sonnet captures the paradox of love as both a source of profound joy and deep emotional turmoil, reflecting the speaker’s inability to find balance or peace in their feelings.
In-Depth Analysis of Sonnet 75
Summary
In Sonnet 75, Shakespeare compares his love for the beloved to essential sustenance, likening them to “food to life” and “sweet-season’d showers” that nourish the earth. He describes an emotional turmoil similar to that of a miser, torn between the joy of possessing his wealth and the fear of losing it. This internal struggle manifests in his shifting desires—sometimes he wants to be alone with the beloved, other times he wants to share his love with the world. The sonnet conveys the speaker’s intense emotional swings between abundance and deprivation, concluding with the paradox of simultaneously feasting and starving on love.
Critical Analysis
1. Love as an Essential Need
- The comparisons of the beloved to “food to life” and “sweet-season’d showers” suggest that love is not just a desire but a fundamental necessity.
- This idea reinforces Shakespeare’s frequent theme that love is as vital as air, water, or sustenance.
2. The Miser Metaphor: Possessiveness vs. Fear of Loss
- The speaker likens his feelings to those of a miser obsessed with his wealth:
- “Now proud as an enjoyer, and anon / Doubting the filching age will steal his treasure.”
- He delights in the beloved’s presence but simultaneously fears losing them to time or circumstance.
- This duality reflects the speaker’s inner conflict—he is torn between savoring love and dreading its potential loss.
3. The Paradox of Fulfillment and Longing
- The poet experiences an emotional cycle of gluttony and starvation:
- “Sometime all full with feasting on your sight, / And by and by clean starved for a look.”
- Love is portrayed as an intense hunger, which, once satisfied, leads only to renewed craving.
- The final couplet encapsulates this oscillation: “Thus do I pine and surfeit day by day, / Or gluttoning on all, or all away.”
Theme Analysis
1. Love as Sustenance and Obsession
- The beloved is likened to nourishment, reinforcing the idea that love is a life-sustaining force.
- However, love also becomes an obsession, much like a miser’s hoarded gold.
2. The Insecurity of Possession
- The speaker struggles with how to love—whether to keep his joy private or display it openly.
- This tension mirrors human anxieties about relationships: the fear of losing what one cherishes most.
3. Love’s Cyclical Nature
- The poem captures the cyclical pattern of desire:
- Love satisfies but then leaves one yearning again.
- This reflects an endless pursuit of fulfillment that is never permanent.
Literary Devices
1. Simile
- The beloved is compared to “food to life” and “sweet-season’d showers”, emphasizing their necessity and restorative power.
2. Metaphor
- The miser metaphor equates love with wealth, highlighting possessiveness, greed, and anxiety over loss.
3. Antithesis (Contrasting Ideas)
- “Now proud as an enjoyer, and anon / Doubting the filching age will steal his treasure.”
- Pride and doubt are placed in contrast, reflecting emotional instability.
- “Or gluttoning on all, or all away.”
- This final contrast sums up the speaker’s experience of oscillating between overindulgence and deprivation.
Conclusion
Sonnet 75 vividly portrays the tension between love’s fulfillment and its inevitable longing. Shakespeare uses rich metaphors of sustenance and wealth to depict the speaker’s emotional highs and lows. The poem encapsulates the paradox of love—how it both satisfies and creates an insatiable hunger—making it a timeless meditation on human desire and attachment.
