Sonnet 29: When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes - Poem #8

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 possessed,

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 state,

(Like to the lark at break of day arising

From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven’s gate;

   For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings

   That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

I don’t seem to know who is speaking in the poem but it is in first person, and it’s hard to interpret Shakespeare because I don’t understand his type of writing. In my mind, it seems that Shakespeare is saying about the troubles and woes of the perfect person. Nobody is perfect but in this poem, it seems to say that the author idolizes the perfect person. He wants to become like that person with their perfect life and perfect friends and wealth and happiness, but he is always left in the dust. Unable to regain his strength and rise to the challenges of life. Life is challenging but it all depends on how you look at it. Life is what you make out of it and this poem seems to portray the author as a sad, lonely man who blames everyone else for his trouble and longs for a better days. However, he seems to give us a clue in saying that he will regain his wealth someday and that wealth will bring upon his happiness. It is kind of sad that he needs money to be happy because money can buy happiness but you won’t find happiness within that money. Money is just an object and happiness is something that you can’t hold but have. Hopefully money will bring upon other desires for the author so that they can find true happiness in other objects of affection. It seems that everyone else, in the eyes of the author, are people who are blessed with the “perfect” life but that is not true because those people are just content with life. Life is what you make out of it and that is a lesson the author had to learn.