William Shakespeare‘s Sonnet 147 is an exploration of the destructive power of love, focusing on the irrationality and madness that accompany obsessive desire. In this sonnet, Shakespeare likens love to a disease, using medical imagery to convey the speaker’s inner turmoil. Through the lens of metaphor, tone, and structure, the poem delves deeply into the emotional conflict of the speaker, who finds himself ensnared in a feverish longing that pushes him further into madness. Let us explore the poem’s structure, tone, and line-by-line analysis.
Shakespeare’s Sonnet 147
My love is as a fever, longing still
For that which longer nurseth the disease,
Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill,
Th’ uncertain sickly appetite to please.
My reason, the physician to my love,
Angry that his prescriptions are not kept,
Hath left me, and I desperate now approve
Desire is death, which physic did except.
Past cure I am, now reason is past care,
And, frantic-mad with evermore unrest,
My thoughts and my discourse as madmen’s are,
At random from the truth vainly expressed.
For I have sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright,
Who art as black as hell, as dark as night.
The Structure and Tone of Sonnet 147
Shakespeare’s Sonnet 147 follows the structure of a traditional Shakespearean sonnet, comprising 14 lines written in iambic pentameter with a rhyme scheme of ABABCDCDEFEFGG. This rigid structure contrasts sharply with the wild emotions expressed in the poem, suggesting a tension between order and chaos. The poem is composed of three quatrains and a rhymed couplet, a characteristic structure of Shakespeare’s sonnets that allows for the development of ideas and an emphatic conclusion in the final two lines.
The tone of the sonnet is one of anguish, confusion, and self-loathing. The speaker seems caught in the grip of a feverish love that he cannot control, and his language reflects a sense of desperation and madness. There is a clear sense of conflict between reason and desire, with the former being rendered powerless in the face of the latter. The tone fluctuates between bitterness, regret, and fatalism as the speaker comes to terms with the destructive nature of his emotions.
Analysis of Sonnet 147
Lines 1–4
“My love is as a fever, longing still
For that which longer nurseth the disease,
Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill,
Th’ uncertain sickly appetite to please.”
In these opening lines, the speaker compares his love to a fever, a metaphor that suggests the intensity and irrationality of his emotions. A fever is not only a physical ailment but also a symbol of emotional turmoil. The use of the word “longing” emphasizes the speaker’s insatiable desire, while “nourishing the disease” suggests that the speaker is not only unable to control his love but actively perpetuates its destructive effects. The phrase “feeding on that which doth preserve the ill” further illustrates the cyclical nature of the speaker’s suffering—he continues to indulge in the very thing that keeps his emotional affliction alive. The “sickly appetite” metaphor emphasizes the unhealthy, destructive nature of his desire.
Lines 5–8
“My reason, the physician to my love,
Angry that his prescriptions are not kept,
Hath left me, and I desperate now approve
Desire is death, which physic did except.”
Here, the speaker introduces the idea of reason as a physician, someone who could provide a cure to the emotional illness. However, his “prescriptions” (i.e., rational thoughts or actions) are ignored, and as a result, reason abandons him. This abandonment marks the moment when the speaker fully surrenders to his emotions. In the phrase “Desire is death,” Shakespeare presents desire as a fatal force, something that brings about destruction and irreversible consequences. The word “physic” (meaning medicine) here is ironic—where medicine should bring healing, it is instead rejected in favor of the more lethal “desire.”
Lines 9–12
“Past cure I am, now reason is past care,
And, frantic-mad with evermore unrest,
My thoughts and my discourse as madmen’s are,
At random from the truth vainly expressed.”
In these lines, the speaker confesses that he is beyond cure, with “reason” no longer a concern. The phrase “frantic-mad with evermore unrest” captures the perpetual state of anxiety and agitation that the speaker experiences. His thoughts and speech have become incoherent, as shown by the simile “as madmen’s are.” The randomness of his thoughts is depicted as a sign of his psychological unraveling, and the fact that his discourse is “vainly expressed” suggests that his attempts to communicate his feelings are futile, lost in the chaos of his emotions.
Lines 13–14
“For I have sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright,
Who art as black as hell, as dark as night.”
The final couplet of the sonnet offers a dramatic shift in tone. The speaker admits that he has previously praised the object of his love, calling them “fair” and “bright.” However, in the conclusion, he starkly contrasts these previous declarations by calling the beloved “as black as hell, as dark as night.” This line is one of the most striking in the sonnet, signaling a realization of the destructive nature of the beloved, whose qualities have now become associated with darkness, evil, and the underworld. The reversal from “fair” to “black” underscores the disillusionment the speaker feels, having recognized that the object of his affection is not what he once believed them to be.
Conclusion
Sonnet 147 is a powerful exploration of love’s ability to distort reality and lead to emotional devastation. Through vivid medical metaphors, Shakespeare portrays the speaker’s obsessive desire as a sickness that cannot be cured, with reason and logic powerless against the intense force of passion. The use of contrast—between love as a fever and reason as a physician, between light and darkness—reveals the speaker’s internal conflict and growing disillusionment. In the end, the sonnet portrays the tragedy of love, where the speaker’s idealization of his lover is shattered, and he is left with a bitter recognition of the destructive power of his emotions. Through this masterful use of metaphor and tone, Shakespeare offers a timeless meditation on the dangerous, often irrational nature of love.
