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Sonnet 102 is one of the 154 sonnets written by English playwright and poet William Shakespeare. It is one of the Fair Youth sonnets, in which Shakespeare writes of an unnamed youth with whom the poet is enamored. Sonnet 102 is among a series of seemingly connected sonnets, from Sonnet 100 to Sonnet 103, in which the poet speaks of a silence between his Muse and himself. While the exact date of writing is unknown, many scholars generally agree sonnets 61-103 were written during the early 1590's, and it was published later along with the rest of the sonnets of the 1609 Quarto.

In the sonnet, the poet writes of why he has stopped showering his muse with flowery praise and adoration. Some scholars suggest that the sequence of sonnets 100-103 and the silence described are a response to the infidelity of the Fair Youth in the Rival Poet sequence of sonnets (78-86), which has caused a rift between the poet and his Muse. David West writes of how immediately following the Rival Poet sonnets, the Poet begins to speak of his lover being false and having forsaken him. West claims that this ultimately culminates in sonnets 100-103, where the Poet expresses his regret over what has transpired.

Paraphrase
In the sonnet, the speaker is explaining that though he has stopped writing as much poetry in adoration of his Muse, he still has feelings for him just as strong as he always has. He goes on to explain the his silence is simply him not wanting to cheapen his praise by making it common. Below is a paraphrase of the sonnet provided by John Crowther:

“My love is stronger, though it seems weaker. I don’t love less, but I show my love less. When a person broadcasts how he loves and how richly he esteems the person he loves, he turns his love into a commodity. Our love was still new when I used to write poems about it, just as the nightingale sings at the beginning of summer, then stops singing as the summer progresses. It’s not that summer is less pleasant now than the nights when the nightingale sang. It’s just that every tree branch is filled with songbirds, and when things are common they’re less delightful. Therefore, like the nightingale, sometimes I keep silent because I don’t want to bore you with my song.”

Structure
Shakespeare's sonnets follow the fourteen line pentameter rhyme scheme of the 'English' sonnet form: ABAB/CDCD/EFEF/GG. Shakespeare wrote most of his sonnets in iambic pentameter, although he does not always rigidly follow that style. While his sonnets are most obviously written as three quatrains and a couplet, in many of Shakespeare's sonnets, however, the reader may also detect the original Italian form, popularized by Petrarch. In Petrarchan sonnet structure, the sonnet is divided into an octave and a sestet, divided by a easily noticable volta. Shakespeare's strong line breaks between lines 8 and 9 seem to be an acknowledgement of Petrarchan structure.

Context
Sonnet 102 is a part of the Fair Youth Sequence, and is also connected with the surrounding sonnets 100-103. The Rival Poet series of Shakespeare’s sonnets mention a rival for either the affections of the Fair Youth, or that they are addressing other writers that may be a “worthier pen” (Sonnet 79). The Rival Poet series is commonly said to be sonnets 76-86, but some scholars argue that sonnets 100-103 are a part of this series as well. There is a rather long list of people that scholars believe are likely candidates for the title of the fair youth addressed in the Sonnets: William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke; Philip Herbert, Earl of Montgomery; and Henry Wriothesley, Third Earl of Southampton are the most common candidates.

There has also been speculation of the identity of the Rival Poet: George Chapman and Christopher Marlowe, are typically considered to be the two most likely rivals.

Overview
While there is no consensus as to what specifically has caused the silence that has grown between the speaker and his muse, sonnet 102 seems to be and attempt to mend the relationship by claiming that he still loves as strongly as he ever has. Katherine Duncan-Jones has given the following overview; “Still claiming to have fallen silent, the poet claims that he loves just as much, though he shows it less, for fear of wearisome repetition.”

Quatrain 1

 * My love is strengthened, though more weak in seeming;
 * I love not less, though less the show appear;
 * That love is merchandized, whose rich esteeming,
 * The owner's tongue doth publish every where.

In the first quatrain the poet describes that he has become quiet about the love he has for his muse, but this doesn’t mean that his love is less. Rather, he claims that it is for the exact opposite reason. This is where the poet sets the overall tone of the sonnet, that he will no longer boast about his love to the public. Publishing sonnets about his love have become a kind of currency. Brents Stirling claims that he uses this to reiterate the tone from sonnets 100-101, that this is “not the exact excuse” for the poets absence, but that it is very close to it. That declaring his love is empty, because these sentiments have become common. This may also be viewed as an attack at the Rival Poet, in an attempt to cheapen the The Rival Poet's love.

Quatrain 2

 * Our love was new, and then but in the spring,
 * When I was wont to greet it with my lays;
 * As Philomel in summer's front doth sing,
 * And stops her/his pipe in growth of riper days:

In the second quatrain, the poet elaborates upon his sentiments made in the first quatrain, comparing the present silence to the relationship when it was new. He uses seasonal imagery to set up his atmosphere, which we continues to use in line three, where we also encounter an allusion to the myth of Philomela, which can be a poetic name for the nightingale. The myth of Philomela involves Tereus, the King of Thrace, who is bid by his wife, Procne, to travel to Athens and bring her sister, Philomela, back to Thrace so that she may see her. However, upon arriving in Athens, Tereus lusts after Philomela, and takes her into the woods were he rapes her and cuts out her tongue to silence her. There is contention among scholars as to whether Shakespeare actively utilizes the Philomela allusion, Stephen Booth contends that there is “no active reference to Philomela.” In “A Moving Rhetoricke,” however, Christina Luckyj contends that the Shakespeare views the Fair Youth’s silence as a violation of the same magnitude as Tereus’s rape of Philomela, and the cause of the poet’s silence. Since his lover has betrayed him in favor of the Rival Poet, he chooses to silence himself.

On line 4, ‘His’ is the word which appears in the original 1609 Quarto. Katherine Duncan-Jones has edited this to become ‘her,’ as many scholars think that ‘his’ may be a misreading of the manuscript, which may have read ‘hir’. This change is frequently made by editors, as Philomel is referred to as feminine throughout the rest of the sonnet. However, there are scholars who defend the use of ‘his’. Stephen Booth simply contends that this is done to move away from the mythological allusion and focuses on the nightingale: It is the male nightingale that sings. While David West also offers a defense of the use of “his,” his reasoning differs greatly from Booth. West contends that Shakespeare used his for a variety of reasons, among his reasons being to avoid “ the embarrassment of comparing [his lover] to a female.” Another reason defense put forth by West is a difference in language. In Elizabethan times, his was used as a neutral pronoun, often used where a modern writer would use “its”

Quatrain 3

 * Not that the summer is less pleasant now
 * Than when her mournful hymns did hush the night,
 * But that wild music burthens every bough,
 * And sweets grown common lose their dear delight.

The third quatrain continues the metaphor of the nightingale and seasonal imagery to further stress that the poet’s silence is not because their love is less pleasant. The nightingale, or Philomel, doesn’t lessen it’s singing “Not that the summer is less pleasant now,” but because “sweets grown common lose their dear delight”. The nightingale is used as a metaphor to explain that just because he doesn’t flatter the Fair Youth, doesn’t mean that he loves less. As one scholar put it, “too much praise ceases to please”. The poet explains his silence further in line 11, “But that wild music burthens every bough”,  meaning that the wild birds physically burden the tree branches as well as crowd the air with their songs which represents the myriad of love sonnets being published in attempt to flatter and please their muses. A similar interpretation of line 12 by Katherine Duncan-Jones explained in her edit of Shakespeare’ Sonnets which addresses the many circulating love sonnets as somewhat redundant and describes them as “pleasures which have become familiar are no longer intensely enjoyable”.

Couplet

 * Therefore, like her, I sometime hold my tongue,
 * Because I would not dull you with my song.

The couplet summarizes the sonnet in two lines, “Therefore, like her, I sometime hold my tongue, because I would not dull you with my song”. This is a clear statement from the poet vocalizing for the final time that he will not dull, bore, or represent his muse in a tedious way by creating a sonnet as exhausted and cliched as his contemporaries. In his analysis of the couplet, Stephen Booth compares the couplet to a proverb: "My desire is not to dull you, if I cannot delight you." Booth suggests that the poet does not wish to make his lover seem common with overabundant praise. Aitkins similarly suggests that the poet does not wish his praises to become annoying. Aitkins also suggests that the poet uses proverbial language here to address the Fair Youth's seeming obsession with receiving praise; a personal plea would fall on deaf ears, so he makes his case rather impersonal.