Sonnet 138

Evidence shows that "when my love swears that she is made of truth", has more than one consistent tone throughout the entire sonnet. The author uses imagery to help the reader picture a good image of what is going on in the poem at a particular time, or to describe past or future events. I will also discuss the choice of words the author chose (diction) and how a lot of words and phrases have a double meaning. This particular sonnet does not have a form of alliteration, therefore I cannot discuss it (oh darn!).

This essay will include all the structures of the sonnet "When my love swears that she is made of truth". Such structures as imagery, tone, diction, alliteration, meter, and other poetry techniques.

This particular sonnet is an English or Shakesperian sonnet. The sonnet has four main parts. It has three ideas or statements that develop an idea. These are called quatrains. Each quatrain has four lines. The last two lines are the rhyming couplet or the "punch line".

The context of this sonnet is a love poem. It begins with a love relationship. She is swearing her truth to him. She is saying that she never lies and she will always be faithful to him. She is insistent: not just that she tells the truth but that she is made of truth. Because she is doing this it makes the reader question why? Did he challenge her? Does she feel defensive? If so, why? The tone on this sonnet begins as a calm tone. The speaker does not hesitate to call her his "love". It is like he is insisting that he believes her "I do believe her"¦" instead of "I believe her"¦". The tone continues to change throughout the poem as the character changes his views and his thoughts.

Quatrain #1 (Lines 1&2) Line one begins with a man talking about his love. There is a clause after "when". She insists that she not only tells the truth, but is made of the truth. At the end of line one, the purpose of the technique used here is to keep the reader in suspense. The reader gets some comic relief by the speaker saying to the reader that he believes her when she says that she does not lie, he is also telling himself that he believes her. However at a deeper level, he knows that he is deceiving himself and being deceived (by his love). This is found by the sexual pun on "lies". She lies by not telling the truth and she also "lies" (Lines 3&4) In line three he tells us what his motivation is ('that' = so that). His motivation is yet another deception; he wants to make her believe that he is something that he is not. He wants her to see him as a naïve, unsophisticated, blind, untutored youth. He wants her to believe that he is someone who does not know the true falsities of the world, someone that has not experienced the lessons in the world and has not seen its negative ways.

He is deceiving himself by believing her lies and he is lying to her in a clever way by letting her believe that he is "made of truth" as well. The tone in lines three and four has changed a little. His tone implies that he is pleased with this game he is playing but also there is some sadness when he mentions "the world's false subtleties" (ignorant of all the deceit that exists in the world). Both tones can be heard here.

Quatrain #2 (Lines 5&6) "Vainly" is used as a pun, in line five. It is his vanity that drives him to deception, but his sensitivity to the perception that he is passed his youth and no longer a naïve attractive young man. He is saying that even though he is doing it (lying), he can see it all in vain, because she knows the truth about him. In line six, there is a double meaning like in the first two lines. And at the same time, he is hoping that she will deceive herself into thinking that he is a naïve attractive young man. However he knows that his hope is pointless.

(Lines 7&8) "Simply" is used at the beginning of line seven and this is implying that he is a simpleton (idiot) or he is just acting like one. He says that he does "credit her false-speaking tongue". He said before that he believes her but now he is changing his mind and is saying that he gives her credit for lying. The tone has changed here as well. In line eight, there is a hint of regret when he mentions that "simple truth suppressed". It is held back or detained. The poet also puts "simple" and "truth" together and so far in the poem truth has been problematic.

Quatrain #3 (Lines 9&10) In line nine he is asking why she insists that she is truthful when they both know that she is not. Why will she not confess her wrongdoing and in line ten he is asking why he will not admit that he is old.

(Lines 11&12) In line eleven"¦he is saying that love has the appearance of trust, however he knows better through his own experiences. The best thing that love can look like is the appearance of trustfulness between the two lovers. The tone here is tiredness. "Oh" gives us the impression that he is worn out, he is sighing. Line twelve = he does not want or like to have his years counted let alone told to others or between lovers.

Rhyming Couplet (Lines 13&14) The author ends the poem with a pun. "I lie with her and she with me": in all senses of "lie". Telling lies and lying with someone in the sexual sense. The author joins these two meanings together in telling lies.

There were clever puns throughout the sonnet, so it only seemed logical that the sonnet would end with a witty pun.