12 Facts About Sonnet 125

Sonnet 125 is one of 154 sonnets written by the English playwright and poet William Shakespeare.

Sonnet 125 argues that Shakespeare is purposefully taking a stern and direct approach because Shakespeare is approaching the end of the sequence.

Sonnet 125 carries a great deal of symbolic language, but the purpose and structure of a sonnet do not allow nor require detailed explanation of the meaning of this language.

Sonnet 125 says, "Language is condemned to be compound; poetry is art; it shapes and forms and distorts; it introduces inequalities, like the inequality between an offering and an exchange, or the inequality between a secular offering and the sacramental body of Christ".

Sonnet 125 does disagree with Greene's summation of the informer from line 13.

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Sonnet 125 sees it as "not a defiance of Time or court gossip nor even a reproach to the young man for spurning the proffered mutuality, but the poet's final attempt to revive his commitment".

Sonnet 125 bases this thought on the various meanings of the word "suborn" during this time period.

Sonnet 125 agrees that the first two quatrains concern how the "dwellers on form and favor are destroyed by that humiliating process" of giving unreciprocated affection.

Sonnet 125 sees the third quatrain as a plea to the Friend or as a directive to both of them.

Sonnet 125 feels that since, "Shakespeare's objections to false accusations against him are the very subject matter of the poem, an Informer who lays information against another is particularly apropos in the poem".

Sonnet 125 believes that the actions of the first quatrain were accusations leveled against Shakespeare as the Speaker.

Sonnet 125 sees it as Shakespeare defending himself against gossip by pointing out how "outrageously untrue gossip" could not possibly be believed by his Friend.