Full Many A Glorious Morning by William Shakespeare

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Full Many A Glorious Morning

"Sonnet 33" is part of a group of Shakespeare's sonnets sometimes known as the "Fair Youth" sequence. The sonnet sequence consists of poems addressed to a beautiful and beloved young nobleman. The poem is dedicated to a mysterious "Mr. W.H." (whose identity remains uncertain to this day). The speaker of this sonnet is suffering from some serious disillusionment: the young man he loves has betrayed him. But the speaker is also doing his best to forgive his beloved friend. Even the almighty sun, the speaker reflects, is sometimes marred by clouds—so why should I be surprised that his lover, the sunshine of his life, has proven less than perfect, too? This complex, conflicted poem expresses both mature forgiveness and bitter disappointment.

The poet says he has been fortunate to see beautiful mornings where the sun rises over the mountaintops making them even more beautiful and appear like royalty “with sovereign eye.” The morning sun kisses the green meadows with its golden color and turns pale looking streams into the color of gold.  In the second quatrain, he says ugly clouds overshadow the sun. He is actually comparing his friend to a beautiful sun about to set.

Again comparing the friend to the sun he recalls how they shared a beautiful friendship that shone like a blessing “my sun one early morn did shine” with a splendid glow on his forehead. But unfortunately that moment he feels was very short-lived. And then he expresses hope saying that all these things do not weaken his love for the friend. Just like the sun sets and rises again or is shadowed by clouds temporarily, the same thing is happening to his friend whom he compares to a sun of heaven.

‘Sonnet 33’ by William Shakespeare is a fourteen-line sonnet that is structured in the form known as a “Shakespearean” or English sonnet. The poem is made up of three quatrains, or sets of four lines, and one concluding couplet, or set of two rhyming lines. They follow a consistent rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG and are written in iambic pentameter. 

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