Sonnet 29 Tone

William Shakespeare uses contrasting tones in Sonnet 29 to display the theme of jealousy wrecking a person’s life and how love can cure even the darkest of times through his use of hyperboles. The poem begins with a dark and depressed tone as he thinks that his life could not get any worse. He is in a deep state of depression and even states in line 8 that, “with what I most enjoy contented least,” (Shakespeare Line 8). This hyperbole emphasizes how terrible he sees his life as he exaggerates saying that even his favorite thing to do is the worst at that time. He continues on revealing the source of his depression is jealousy. He continuously talks about wanting what others have. His comparison of his peers to himself is making things seem
worse than they are. The poem takes on a jealous tone throughout this section. Finally, things start to look up for the man. He remembers an old love and all the wonderful times it brought him. He uses another hyperbole to show just how happy the old love makes him and says in line 14, “that then I scorn to change my state with kings,” (Shakespeare Line 14). This really depicts how much of a saving grace the love is for him and that with that person despite everything going on he would change his circumstances. The poem ends with an adoring tone.