Sonnet XXX

Roep ik ter zitting van gemijmer zoet
Gedachten op aan zaken lang vergaan,
Dan zucht ik diep om wat ik missen moet
En lijd nieuw leed om oude tijd verdaan.

Dan laat ik graag een traan (die niet gauw vloeit)
Om vrienden in hun doodsnacht zonder tijd,
Beween weer liefde mij al lang ontgroeid,
En treur om schuld door veel vergetelheid.

Dan klaag ik graag om een belegen klacht,
En tel bedrukt weer neer, van leed tot leed,
De droeve som van wat oud onheil bracht,
Die ’k kwijt alsof ik die niet eerder kweet.

Maar denk ik dan aan jou, mijn liefste vriend,
Zijn tranen weg, verliezen terugverdiend.

Vertaling: Cornelis W. Schoneveld
 

Alternatieve vertaling

 

Sonnet XXX

Wanneer ik als schout in eigen hartsgeding
de geest het verleden voorgeleiden laat,
bedroeft mij het gemis, de ontgoocheling,
zie ik oud zeer nieuw, hoe kostbare tijd vergaat.

Het oog verdrinkt dan, dat niet vaak meer schreide,
om dierbare vrienden dood in eeuwige nacht;
verwerkte liefdesmart doet mij weer lijden,
vergankelijkheid van wat ik schoonheid dacht.

Weer ween ik om de weedom die mij wachtte,
en tel zwaarmoedig al mijn tegenspoed;
de droefenis keert weer in mijn gedachten,
weer bloedt het hart, dat eerder heeft geboet.

Maar denk ik, vriendlief, aan ons samenzijn,
dan is het verlies vergoed, verdwijnt de pijn.

Vertaling: Jan Jonk

Listen to this poem in English.
Voiced by: Jack Smith

This poem in 60 seconds

In a few year’s time Shakespeare wrote a great number of sonnets, addressing a young friend. Who this friend was, and what exactly the nature of their relationship was, is unknown. But even without this knowledge, the sonnet is inspiring. Friendship and love are of immense value, Shakespeare seems to tell us: when taking stock of one’s life, they outweigh all prior obligations and dark memories.

Want to know more? On this website you can listen to the poem, discover its origins and its author and find out what the poem means to the people of Leiden.

William Shakespeare

Stratford-upon-Avon 1564 - 1616

Although William Shakespeare is quite possibly the world’s most famous writer, relatively little is known about his private life. His mother was the daughter of a wealthy landowning farmer and his father was a merchant and an alderman of Stratford. Growing up in an affluent family, Shakespeare attended the best school in town, where special attention was paid to Ancient Greek, Latin, rhetoric and Bible studies. Shakespeare did not go onto university. Instead, he got married at age 18 to Anne Hathaway, who was 8 years his senior, and six months later their first child was born. Two years later, in 1585, the couple had twins. Anne remained in Stratford her entire life, but Shakespeare left for London in 1585. Where he lived in London and why he initially moved there is unclear, as there is no information available about him from this period, which is therefore commonly referred to as the ‘lost years.’

Success in London

In 1592, he resurfaces as a London playwright. It is during this period that Shakespeare wrote his first sonnets. He made a living in London as an actor, poet and successful playwright, but also made his fortune as an investor due to a 12.5% share in the theater company The Chamberlain’s Men. This group of players was one of the most popular theater companies in London; they had their own theater, the Globe, and regularly performed for Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603).

Legacy

In 1613, Shakespeare returned to Stratford, where he died at the age of 55. Shakespeare had led an incredibly productive life: his legacy includes at least 38 plays, 154 sonnets and several epic poems. He distinguished himself from other authors with his subliminal use of language, rich imagery and timeless way in which he manages to portray a wide range of human emotions and human impulses. As a result, his work still inspires, and is still widely read and performed.

What's this poem about?

Sonnet XXX is one of Shakespeare’s most-analyzed sonnets. The speaker reflects in a sullen mood on his days past and all the sorrow he has endured in life. He remembers deceased friends, heartache and old woes he now relives. Then, in the final two lines, his mood turns: thinking of his friend relieves the pain and puts an end to his sorrows.

Taking stock

This poem contains several terms related to bookkeeping. Life is compared to an account, with expenditures, profits and losses, which are ultimately all settled. “Tell o’er” in line 10, for instance, calls to mind the image of a relator making a statement. That this is serious business, speaks from the use of words like “sessions,” “summon up” and, in the final line, “restored.” It is almost as if we are witness to some investigative accounting. Yet, when the bill is settled, and the ‘dear friend’ is accounted for, the balance is positive. Could it be that this should be taken literally, and that the young man in question was actually a financial benefactor of Shakespeare’s?

Comfort

What this poem teaches us first and foremost is that friendship and love are so strong, they can drive away dark thoughts and bad experiences. The poem is also about the transitoriness of all things. The speaker laments not doing the things he had wanted to do and wasting precious time. Yet, realizing that his young friend still has a full life ahead of him puts him at ease. The thought of the future being in the hands of the young offers him some comfort.

Origin story

The exact period in which Shakespeare wrote his 154 sonnets is unknown. What we do know is that they were published in 1609 by Thomas Thorpe. It is assumed that Shakespeare wrote the sonnets between 1590 and 1605. Shakespeare’s poetry being read “among his private friends” was first mentioned in 1598. This may have been a way to attract sponsors.

Sonnet to a young man

Shakepeare’s sonnets are commonly divided, by literary scholars, into three groups: the first 126 are dedicated to a young man, 127-152 were written to a “Dark Lady” (dark of hair, facial features and character) and sonnets 153-154, which are adaptations of two Ancient Greek poems. Sonnet XXX is, therefore, about the young man also known as the “Fair Youth.” It is however unclear if the order of the sonnets is Shakespeare’s, and even whether or not he wrote all of them himself.

Intimate?

As most of the information known about Shakespeare is administrative, while the sonnets are written from the first person and are often of a romantic and intimate nature, there has been much speculation about whether or not the sonnets are autobiographical and if the sonnets to a young man suggest that Shakespeare had homoerotic tendencies. Some choose to read the works from this perspective while others view the love expressed as platonic.

Share your story

Does this poem hold a special place in your heart? For example, do you remember when you first read the poem? Or did you come across it someplace unexpected? Let us know at muurgedichten@taalmuseum.nl! We would love to add your story to our website.

William Shakespeare in Leiden

Photo Inge Harsten

This sonnet on the corner of the Houtstraat and Rapenburg was the second wall poem applied by the TEGEN-BEELD Foundation. It was restored in 2008 and given an entirely new font. This time, the application included its title, Sonnet XXX.

Tribute

Commemorating the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s dying day, on 24 April 2016 (at 16:16), Ben Walenkamp and Leiden poet Leo van Zanen placed a wreath at the sonnet. On the ribbon were the words “Sweet silent thought,” the final three words of the first line of the sonnet. Unfortunately, their homage was short-lived: the wreath was stolen that same night, even though was hung pretty high up and required a ladder to reach. Walenkamp called it ‘disrespectful’ and ‘a mockery.’ After rather a lot of consternation on social media and a phone call with the chairman of student corps L.S.V. Minerva, the first years of the student house across the street returned the wreath. It had all just been a student prank.

Residents

The paper Leidsch Dagblad published an article by Wilfred Simons about the student house on which the sonnet was applied. It houses female members of L.S.V. Minerva, and the atmosphere within the building was described as ‘caring.’ As the sonnet is about the importance of friendship and the future being in the hands of the young, its location seems fitting.

Shakespeare and the sonnet

Shakespeare is one of the world’s most famous writers of all time, and has had a tremendous influence on the English language. He has also greatly impacted the importance of world literature. Although he was not the one who invented it, Shakespeare is the one who raised the status of the English sonnet to great heights. This type of sonnet is therefore also known as the ‘Shakespearean sonnet.’ It is made up of three stanzas comprising of four lines, and one stanza of two. Those last two lines often contain a volta - a twist of some kind - some change or perspective, as is the case in this sonnet: it sees a turnaround from mournful and sad to joyous and full of hope.

Form

In the time of William Shakespeare, people wrote the sonnets without spacing out the stanzas. The final two lines of the English sonnet were commonly indented to signal the change in tone. The rhyme scheme varies, but is usually the one used for this sonnet: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG, each line consisting of ten syllables. But Shakespeare was not just innovative with regard to form, he also broke tradition by addressing his poems to Fair Youths and Dark Ladies, rather than to a far and unrequited love.

Quotes

He was not of an age, but for all time.

Ben Jonson, playwright and contemporary of Shakespeare’s

Shakespeare among the English is the most excellent in comedy and tragedy for the stage.

Francis Meres, writer and Shakespeare’s contemporary

That which the World called Wit in Shakespeare’s age, is laught at as improper for our stage.

John Dryden in The rival ladies, 1667

A way for me to relax is by learning Shakespeare’s sonnets by heart. Your mind is then cleared, like a house that still needs furnishing. What better to do that with than with Shakespeare?

Architect Daniel Libeskind in De Volkskrant, 10 maart 2018

Shakespeare effectively teaches us nothing except that every supposed truth has its flipside.

Ton Hoenselaar, professor of Early Modern literature at the University of Utrecht

Fun facts

• The enthusiasm with which Shakespeare’s first plays were met in London caused a lot of jealousy among his colleagues; in a pamflet, Robin Greene called Shakespeare (who had not enjoyed a university education) “an upstart Crow, beautified with our feathers.”
• Shakespeare started to write (more) poetry in 1593, when the theaters of London were all closed down because of the plague and he was left with no income from playwriting.
• The sonnets were all repossessed shortly after their publication in 1609 by Shakespeare’s patron, the Duke of Southampton. It is presumed that the Duke felt compromised by the publication. It was not until 1640 that the sonnets were reprinted.
• During the so-called English Restoration (1660-1700), many of Shakespeare’s plays were rewritten because they did not conform to the classical principles of unity of time, place or action, and also to ‘refine’ them.
• Several theories posit that Shakespeare was simply an up-shot actor who took credit for someone else’s writing. The main principle supporting this theory is the notion that someone without a university degree or any experience being abroad could not possibly have produced such excellent and well-informed works.

Dit gedicht is op muziek gezet door de Leidse band Street fable.

Sonnet XXX

When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
I summon up remembrance of things past,
I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought,
And with old woes new wail my dear time's waste:

Then can I drown an eye, unused to flow,
For precious friends hid in death's dateless night,
And weep afresh love's long since cancell'd woe,
And moan the expense of many a vanish'd sight:

Then can I grieve at grievances foregone,
And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er
The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan,
Which I new pay as if not paid before.

But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,
All losses are restored and sorrows end.

Learn more

This entry was written by Het Taalmuseum in collaboration with Dorien Hooman. The translation into English is by Anne Oosthuizen. The following publications were consulted:

• Stephen Booth, Shakespeare's Sonnets, edited with an analytic commentary, Yale University Press, 1977
• Engelstalig uitleg bij het gedicht via Shakespeare-sonnets.com
• Shakespeare Sonnetten, vertaald en ingeleid door W. van Elden
• William Shakespeare, De sonnetten, ingeleid en vertaald door H.J. de Roy van Zuydewijn, 1997
• De mooiste gedichten van William Shakespeare, Wereldpoëzie.
• Paul Hammond (introduction and notes), Shakespeare’s Sonnets
• Cornelis W. Schoneveld, Bestorm mijn hart
• Ton Hoenselaar, Shakespeare forever!, leven en mythe, werk en erfenis (2017).

Lijst van You Tube links:

• 'Sonnet 30' van William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616). Het gedicht is tevens onderdeel van de Muurgedichten Leiden. Muziek en visual van Street Fable. Street Fable bestaat uit:
  Bas: Hans Brons
  Huub de Vriend - composities/piano
  Carolien Devilee - zang/stem
  Frits Heimans - saxofoon
  Berdine van Bemmel/Arielle van Eijsden - fluit
  Manfred Wijker/ Marius Beets - bas Jan Scheerder - visuals
• Sonnet 30. Abby McBride en Madie Winter
• Gepubliceerd op 4 jul. 2014. Sonnet 30 (and parts of 29) by William Shakespeare turned into a song by myself and Madie Winter for our final project in our Shakespeare class.
• Melvyn Bragg read 'Sonnet XXX' by William Shakespeare from the anthology 'Poems That Make Grown Men Cry' and explains why it bring him to tears.
• The alternative band Ursüla closed their third album called "INNER CHILD" with this wonderful "Sonnet 30" by William Shakespeare on which they add a musical background. 
• A short film by SH Bean, directed by Mary Curtin based on a screenplay by Jean van Sinderen-Law and Mary Curtin. Featuring Jean Law and Ian McGuirk
• Shakespeare: Sonnet 30 - Rough Illustration
• Isaac Friedman It's an artistic interpretation of Shakespeare's thirtieth Sonnet. (tekeningen en uitleg)
• Sonnet XXX with music SHAKESPEARE by DIDJE59 Didier GÉRÔME Gepubliceerd op 4 dec. 2016
• I set this this marvel of Shakespeare's into music and narrate it myself. The depth of the universal truths behind his wonderful words is breath taking for the time it was written. You can feel the old Hawaiian philosophy (Ho'oponopono) in it and I encourage every reader to deepen their research to this ancient wisdom.
• Sonnet 30 by William Shakespeare (read by Dane Allred).
• Judi Dench Reads . . . Sonnet 30 by William Shakespeare