The Best 14 Sonnets No One's Ever Understood

Historically, Sonnets 43-56 have mostly been misunderstood and skipped.  However, there are genius if looked at as a single unit.  In this episode, I reveal what you can find if you know what to look for.

www.sonnetspodcast.com
sonnetspodcast@gmail.com

Transcript

Reboot Launch Episode - Enter Section 4

Hello Shakespeareans and welcome back to the podcast.  Sorry for the absence.  I took a little break because of work and, next thing you know, more than a year passes.  Well, it’s not the first time I’ve gone away and come back to this.  20 years ago, I discovered the basic patterns that evolved into the Secret Five Act structure.  Since then, my relationship with Shakespeare has been well complicated.

For two decades I’ve had a brilliant idea, but I’ve never figured out what to do with it.  Well, that’s where you come in.  In this reboot of the podcast, I’m going to show you what you’re missing.  

So, beginning with this episode, we’re going to start a deep dive into Act 2.  Sections 4 and 5 are two of my favorites, and, in particular, Section 4 is my absolute favorite.  Let me tell you why.  Even though Sonnets 43-70 have some famous entries, long stretches of this part of the sequence often get skipped in the anthologies.  I would bet even my most avid listeners probably don’t recognize more than a few poems in this 28 sonnet stretch.  

Historically, these poems have been overlooked.  Well, in this new season, I’m going to focus on the narrative these sonnets create.  My hope is that you’ll enjoy the story you’re about to hear.  Act 2 is where Shakespeare really opens up the scope of what his sonnet sequence can be.

So, first off, you might think it’s weird that I’m starting a podcast series at Sonnet 43, and to answer that, I will reply that Act 2 is the story I most want to tell.  Afterwards, I will consider creating a third season for Act 5, the Dark Lady sections.  Therefore, I hope you can forgive me for jumping around.  However, I think this is completely okay because Act 2 focuses on both the structure and the fact that it’s a secret.  I believe that if I prove that there’s textual evidence for my claims, the rest of my ideas will fall into place and not be questioned.

Okay, before I move ahead, you might see the number 43 in your head and not understand it.  What is this number and what does this tell us?  So, as a quick refresher, there are 154 sonnets.  That’s 11x14 or eleven sections of fourteen sonnets.  Pop quiz class.  11x14 and we’re at number 43.  Why is 43 important?  I’ll give you three seconds…Three, two, one. 14x3=42 and we’re at 14x3+1.  Congratulations to anyone who solved that.  Sonnet 43 is the first poem of section 4 in act 2.

In a nutshell, here’s the bullet points of what we're going to dive into in Section 4.  The rest of this is basically a summary of what you can expect to hear in upcoming episodes.  That way, even if you don’t want to listen to the whole thing, you can just tune in to this episode and get the overall gist of Section 4.

So, let’s get started.  However, before we do, I want to remind you that my email is sonnetspodcast@gmail.com and the website is www.sonnetspodcast.com.  Make sure you put in the www or else the website won’t come up.  

Ok, let’s go.

In Sonnet 43, the narrator is going to start talking about quote “shadows” and ideas that are “unrespected.”  These are Shakespeare’s words.  “Shadows” and “unrespected.”  I’m going to show you that in this poem, Shakespeare introduces three major plot points: one, that the secret five act structure exists, two, that it’s supposed to be a secret, and three, that understanding the structure will reveal a whole new understanding of the poems.  These are major revelations appropriate for the first sonnet of a new act.  Shakespeare is completely opening up the scope of what this sonnet sequence will be, but he’s also revealing that something is hidden or locked away.

After Sonnet 43, the next six sonnets are composed of 3 pairs.  Each of these pairs is about a separate subject, but they’re all internal conflicts of man versus self.  When we get to these episodes, I’m going to show you how you can read the narrator’s internal conflict as a battle between the structure and the poems themselves.  In Sonnets 44 and 45, poems about the four humors of the body, he literally tries to find balance.  

Then, in the next two, Sonnets 46 and 47, the poet’s eye and heart are at war for control of the work.  The poet’s eye is a personification of his written words, and his heart is the secret structure.  The final two poems of this part aren’t a pair, but lumping them together makes sense.  

In Sonnet 48, the poet is worried about a thief stealing a treasure that’s locked in his heart and Sonnet 49 is basically a soliloquy that starts with this line: “Against that time, if ever that time come.”  Quote, “If ever that time come.”  If ever what?  If ever the public discovers the secret five act structure, the treasure that’s been locked up in the poet’s heart?  All six of these poems are filled with references to both the secret structure and the fact that it’s a secret.  There is no shortage of textual evidence.

Okay, and this is a weird transition, but I need to step back and talk about my numbering system.  One of the keys to understanding the secret five act structure is knowing where you are in the work.  For Sonnet 43, 43 is way too ambiguous a number.  So, it’s for that reason, I’ve created a secondary number system for Shakespeare’s Sonnets.  It will tell you the section number and sonnet number in the section.  So, now, Sonnet 43 is Sonnet 4.1.  Section 4, First sonnet of the section.  4.1.  As readers this is a big clue that we’re shifting to a new narrative arc, which is what happens in Act 2.  Sonnet 4.1 or 14x3+1.

Now I want to briefly talk about how sonnets are designed.  As you probably know, Shakespeare’s sonnets are 14 lines long.  There are 3 quatrains, with a turn after 8 lines, and then there’s a couplet.  Structurally speaking, this is how 11 out of the 13 sections work.  That means for Section 1, Sonnets 1-4 are the first quatrain, Sonnets 5-8 are the second quatrain, Sonnets 9-12 are the third quatrain, and Sonnets 13 and 14 form a Sectional couplet.  The 4442 pattern is repeated throughout the work.  Section 4, however, is one of the two exceptions.  Now, think about what I’ve told you so far about Section 4.  There’s a one off, followed by three pairs.  In a zoomed out sort of way, these poems are not functioning like quatrains.  Every individual poem in a section is supposed to act like a line in a normal sonnet, but that’s not happening.  Once you see how every other section is arranged, you’ll realize how weird this is.  However, Sonnets 50 and 51, take this weirdness to the next level.

Sonnets 50 and 51 or Sonnets 4.8 and 4.9 are known as the horse sonnets.  In them, the poet is riding a horse to his love, but the horse is moving too slow.  So, the poet abandons his horse and runs to his love.  This can be seen as the poet deciding to abandon the secret structure and focus on his individual poems.  4442 be damned.  Bear in mind that locationally speaking, this is the turn, the moment when the poet normally surprises us.  Well, the Bard has just explained why Section 4 does not follow the 4442 format.  He’s breaking his own rules and making it part of the narrative.  This is one heck of a turn.  The poet is breaking the rules, and it works.

Sonnets 4.10, 4.11, and 4.12 are all sort of different, but they group together and they all make clear callback references to Sonnet 4.1.  They are a clear celebration of the accomplishment of what Shakespeare has created in Section 4.  What makes these poems and the couplet so special is the context of the nine poems that come before them. 

Firstly, Sonnet 4.10.  That’s 14x3+10.  This poem is about a secret that’s somewhat out in the open.  A quote “up-locked treasure” is like thinly placed stones or expensive jewels in a necklace.  You might be wondering how something can be both public and a secret?  Well, let’s listen to 4.12’s first line: “So am I as the rich whose blessed key.”  A key.  A key?  You’re saying there’s a key, and it opens up a treasure.  Here are the rhyme words from the first quatrain of 4.12: key, treasure, survey, pleasure.  That’s key, treasure, survey, pleasure.  Sounds like a good plan to me.  Get the key, find the treasure, survey it for understanding, and then experience pleasure.

When someone tells me that the Secret Five Act Structure doesn’t exist, I like to show them a sonnet like 4.10.  If not suggestions that Shakespeare created a secret structure and then knowingly kept it hidden, what are these poems about?  I’m not saying there aren’t other valid interpretations, but are any of them more interesting than this?

Sonnet 4.11 is well known.  It is: “What is your substance, whereof are you made?”  In this one, the poet wants to understand his creation while pointing out three separate times that there are things in the shadows.  But, what is in the shadows?  Well, Sonnet 4.11 clearly suggests that here Shakespeare is wrestling with the fact that he is creating something that won’t fully be understood, something that won’t be fully known because it’s hidden in shadows.  It’s a very meaningful moment, and in Sonnet 4.11, he gives us an opinion.  In this poem, the poet talks about flowers.  It starts with: “O how much more doth beauty beauteous seem by that sweet ornament which truth doth give!”  Or, “my poems are more beautiful when you see them through the prism of the secret structure,”  which he describes as just an “ornament.”  Understanding the secret structure will be like blossoming flowers on an already beautiful tree.  

Next, Sonnet 4.12 also calls back to Sonnet 4.1 by using the word, “unrespected.”  These are the only two uses of the word in the entire work.  So think about this, what is unrespected?  The poem suggests that something beautiful will be seen as more beautiful, something like how the sight of roses are enhanced by their smell.  However, the truth is hidden in the buds of the flower and there’s a chance it will die unrespected.  Finally, the last five words are, “my verse distills your truth.”  What does this mean?  Well, the word “distills” has six different meanings.  That really opens up the idea that “my verse distrills your truth" can mean many things, but the easiest answer is: the poems themselves prove the existence of the structure.

Now let’s move to the sectional couplet and set it up.

With Sonnet 4.13, Shakespeare has to start his couplet and he needs to wrap this all up.  As a quick refresher, here are the main plot points of Sonnets 4.1-4.12:
-The structure is hidden, and the poet knows this

-these poems do not follow the traditional formatting rules of 4442.  They are something like 16232, and according to the poet it’s because it was slowing him down from writing the story he wanted to tell

-and, if the secret structure is ever found out, the poems will be like a beautiful tree that’s just blossomed new flowers.

This is some meta stuff.  It’s deep and it’s fascinating, but it’s also soon about to be over.  Section 5 is going to go in a completely different direction.  Shakespeare knows this and he only has two sonnets to conclude this narrative arc.  Up to this point, of the 12 poems we covered, only “What is your substance?” is famous.  The rest aren’t.  I hope you can understand the irony.  Section 4 is quite possibly the most personal thing The Bard ever wrote, and until now, these poems were mostly ignored.

Well, his plan is give us two famous poems.  If you’ve studied the top 50 sonnets, you’ve read both of these: “Not marble nor gilded monuments of princes shall outlive this powerful rhyme” and “Sweet love, renew thy force.”  Unlike most of their immediate predecessors, these poems are well read.  However, today we get the experience of looking at them with added context.  As a paired couplet, these two poems need to accomplish many things.

-First, they need to function as a couplet, not two separate one-offs.

-Second, they need to wrap up the narrative arc of this section.

-Third, it needs to be completely distinct from Sonnet 5.1.  A story needs to end here, so that a new one can begin there.

-Fourth, finally, and probably most important, these poems need to be good.  I know this can be overlooked, but the first three points don’t matter if a poem is a clunker.

So, the point is, as readers, we’re caught in a moment of dramatic anticipation.  We feel suspense, wanting to know what Shakespeare will say in his final lines on this topic.  Our experience is new, never felt before by readers.  We are seeing the flowers blossom on the tree.  However, Shakespeare’s not done.  He is going to create a couplet for the section using two of his more popular poems, and we need to ask ourselves, what will happen?

How about a dramatic cliffhanger?  How about: tune in next time to find out the answer.  Of course that’s a joke, but the truth is I’m pausing for a moment so that you can fully appreciate what we’re doing.  We’re adding additional expectations for these poems.  They don’t just represent themselves.  They represent each other and the entire section as a whole.

For Sonnet 4.13, the most interesting parts are the first two and last two lines.  The rest of the poem summarizes most of Section 4: that there’s a secret, and it will live a long time.  For the first two lines, “Not marble nor the gilded monuments of princes shall outlive this powerful rhyme,” I want to focus on the last word, “rhyme.”  Rhyme, as a word, appears in only six total sonnets.  That’s not much.  Most importantly, this is the only time the word is used in Section 4.  Rhyming is about pairs and synergism.  This entire section was a battle of man versus self.  That’s the opposite.  The suggestion is that all sides have made peace.  The poems, the poet, and the secret structure are all now working together.  

The other piece to spotlight is the poem’s couplet: “So till the judgment that yourself arise, you live in this, and dwell in lovers’ eyes.”  So till the judgment.  So till the judgment that yourself arise?  What kind of judgment are we talking about?  Judgment Day, you mean Armageddon when the world ends?  That’s historically been a valid interpretation, but it’s easy for us to discard it because Section 4 has nothing to do with religion.

Rather, we have a much better candidate for Shakespeare’s Judgment Day.  There’s enough textual evidence to suggest that the judgment will be our judgment once we figure out that secret structure exists.  Furthermore, he closes with, “you live in this and dwell in lovers’ eyes.”  What is living in what?  Because “you live in this” is deliberately ambiguous.  So, seriously what is living in what?  Well, probably as no surprise, the secret structure is hiding in plain sight in the poems.  But, what does it mean to “dwell in lovers’ eyes?”  There are multiple valid interpretations, but my favorite is that the lovers are the people who know the secret structure and read the poems with full understanding.  You can disagree and that’s fine.   Regards, there’s a lot to play with in the 4.13, and it’s only part one of our couplet.

In Sonnet 4.14, Shakespeare gives us two new ideas that I want to spotlight.  First, he makes two references to quote “tomorrow,” and promises that things will be better next time.  This is a firm way of creating a conclusion to the section.  The Bard is literally telling us it’s over, but it will begin again the next day.  This is a direct reference that acknowledges the existence of the secret structure.  It also introduces the idea of an apology.  This is strange because the narrator is either apologizing to the reader or the poems.  If it’s the poems, he’s apologizing for breaking his formatting rules.  This makes sense, but what if Shakespeare is apologizing to us directly?  If so, what is he apologizing for?  And, is it for not telling us the secret?  Maybe something else.  Regardless, after starting the poem with, “Sweet Love, renew thy force,” Shakespeare spends the next 13 and a half lines apologizing.  There’s different ways to interpret this apology, but it’s noteworthy as the final entry in the section.  It’s also noteworthy for what Shakespeare might not be apologizing for.

The second big idea of 4.14 is what Shakespeare describes as quote a “sad interim.”  We are in, as he describes it, winter, waiting for summer.  What does this mean?  Well, again, this is another clear reference that Shakespeare hid the secret structure.  Of course, we don’t know if this is actually Shakespeare or the persona of his narrator.  It’s impossible to tell where Shakespeare ends and the narrator begins.  Regardless, the “sad interim” can be seen as Section 4’s brief abandonment of his self imposed rules.

I don’t have every answer, but when we read through Section 4 together, we will ponder questions that have never been asked.  I hope you enjoyed this overview.  The point of this episode is to give you all the main ideas in a condensed format.  Section 4 has the potential to become widely read.  Each poem has a purpose and there are so many flowers that are yet to blossom. 

Now, with these last couple of minutes, let me give you a table of contents for what you can expect coming up in this season.

The next episode is also an overview.  However, I want to step back.  Since I’m assuming that you might be completely new to my podcast and my ideas, I’m going to do a quick recap of Act 1.  It will give you all the highlights that you need to better understand Act 2.  I will also answer the frequently asked question: what about Sonnet 18?  Where does it fit-in in all of this?

After that, each episode will individually focus on one of the sonnets.  Once we complete Section 4, we’ll move to Section 5.  Oh, and speaking of which, I haven’t teased you anything about Section 5.  What happens then?  Well, here are the first seven words of Sonnet 5.1, “Being your slave, what should I do?”  In other words, after breaking the rules, is Shakespeare now the slave of the Secret Structure?  Maybe, maybe not.  Or, we’ll actually yes, yes, definetly yes, and we’ll chat about Section 5 after I’m done with Section 4.

Alright.  That’s it.  Again, if you prefer transcripts, they’re on the website.  Thanks for listening.