Sonnet 139 is a poem by William Shakespeare, written around 1590 It is part of the Fair Youth sequence of sonnets and is written in the form of an English or Shakespearean sonnet. Sonnet 139 is thought to be influenced by the Petrarchan tradition of love poetry, as it explores the theme of love and sorrow from a narrator’s perspective.
The poem begins with the narrator acknowledging the pain of loving someone who does not return their affections. The narrator expresses how his beloved has wronged him, and that his love for her is doomed by her lack of love for him. He mentions how his heart has been fooled, and his love has been betrayed. He then states that in spite of all the pain and suffering, he still loves her even when she does not love him in return. The poem ends with the narrator declaring that his love is everlasting and that he will love his beloved until he dies.
Sonnet 139 is a classic example of a love poem, and can be further explored in essay topics. The following five are some of the best essay topics related to Sonnet 139:
1. Analyze the themes of betrayal, sorrow, and loyalty presented in Sonnet 139
2. Discuss how the Petrarchan influence affects the themes of Sonnet 139
3. Compare and contrast the narrator's emotions in Sonnet 139 with other Shakespearean sonnets
4. Examine how the main idea of love transcends pain in Sonnet 139
5. Analyze how the themes regarding love in Sonnet 139 could be used to describe a modern day relationship