A Critique of Sonnet 71 by William Shakespeare

One of Shakespeare’s Sonnets, Sonnet 71 is a bit of a dreadful poem which he really explains his feelings towards being dead. Shakespeare tries to tell his friends and family that they shall not worry when he is gone. Never forget him when he is gone and don’t act like the other deaths and overreact.

The poem starts off with the line saying “No longer mourn me when I am dead.

” Shakespeare is trying to say don’t talk about me when I am dead. Then he switches over with the second line using sound effects by saying “Then you shall hear the surly sullen bell, give warning to the that I am fled.” By using this vocabulary, Shakespeare is telling them when you hear the bell, announce to the world that I am gone. The imagery is very simplistic with words like “fled” and “vilest”. Shakespeare also uses phrases like “I love you so” and “remember not” to really get his point across about not remembering him when he has disappeared.

On line 7, he keeps going with the tone and says “That I in your sweet thoughts would be forgot.” This is saying that he would rather have you forget about him completely.

At lines 13 and 14, the poem really shifts from talking about him and not wanting to be remembered by his friends and family but these lines say “Lest the wise world should look into your moan” and “And mock you with me after I am gone.” By saying this he’s really explaining that if you do happen to remember me and talk about me when i am gone, then the people in the world will pry into your grief and use the relationship with him to mock the friends and family that really truly cared about me.

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Comparing this poem to Sonnet 18, they can both be described as love poems but Sonnet 18 is considered more of a love poem then Sonnet 71 because Sonnet 71 is more of a remembrance poem then Shakespeare describing his love for somebody.