William Wordsworth

Sonnet (3)

Shakespearean sonnet echo

Direct reference to Shakespeare's Sonnet 29. Wordsworth is consciously rewriting a classic emotional template.

When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possesst,
Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least:
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee,—and then my state10
Like to the lark at break of day arising

Transformative love metaphor

The lark symbolizes spiritual elevation through love. Rising from 'sullen earth' suggests emotional resurrection.

From sullen earth sing hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings,
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
Source Wikipedia Poetry Foundation

Reading Notes

Romantic Emotional Alchemy

Romantic poetry transforms personal despair into transcendent experience. Wordsworth demonstrates how individual emotional suffering can be redeemed through connection—specifically, through love.

The poem moves from profound isolation ('I all alone') to spiritual triumph, using love as a redemptive force. The beloved becomes a source of metaphysical wealth that surpasses material status, symbolized by the final line's dramatic claim of scorning kings' fortunes.

Sonnet Structure as Emotional Journey

Wordsworth uses the traditional sonnet form to chart an interior landscape. The first eight lines detail depression and social alienation, while the final six lines reveal a transformative emotional shift.

Notice the technical precision: syntactical turns at lines 9 and 10 ('Yet', 'Haply') signal the poem's emotional pivot, showing how poetic structure can mirror psychological movement.