Fear No More

The poem, ‘Fear no more heat o’ the sun’ by William Shakespeare is a poem about that death can come at any age, and all the troubles and worries  happening while living will not matter while we are dead. In this poem, the persona reassures the responder about the notion of death numerous times. The imperative mood of the opening line, “Fear no more…” reassures the responder about the notion of death.  Shakespeare’s repetition of this line throughout the first three stanzas reinforces this idea, while the Volta created by the shift to the exclamatory mood in the final stanza serves to drive this message home for the responder as it soothes the human anxiety about death. The juxtaposition of the two extremes of the “heat o’ the sun” and the “furious winter” reinforces the idea that we have no need to fear even the most harsh seasons.  Furthermore, Shakespeare personifies the winter in order to dramatize this contrast while the diction of the adjective “furious” emphasizes this drama. The juxtaposition of the two extremes “Golden lads and girls” (“golden” symbolizing wealth and favor) and “chimney-sweepers” (symbolizing the poor street urchins) conveys the idea that death is inevitable, because these extremes represent the children of the richest and those of the poorest classes to symbolize that death equally to all humanity regardless of social-class. The diction of “must” creates high modality to emphasize death’s inevitability, which is represented by the metaphor and biblical allusion “come to dust”. This allusion, together with the diction “must”, is repeated at the end of the first three stanzas to highlight the poem’s central thesis about the inevitability of death.

Secondly, within the second stanza focuses the human condition to convey that death will liberate us from these concerns.  Shakespeare states that we need not fear the metaphoric “frown of the great” and “tyrant’s stroke” to highlight that death will liberate humanity from oppressive rulers. Similarly, we are reminded that in death we need not have physiological and safety worries, “to clothe and eat”, as Shakespeare suggests these are irrelevant in death.  Shakespeare lists the various professions through the synecdoches, “the scepter, learning, physic”, referring to everyone from the king, to the teacher to the doctor, to convey that all humankind, regardless of profession, will be a victim of death. In the poem’s final stanza, the exclamatory lines focus on the evils that trouble humanity, symbolized by “witchcraft”, “Ghost” and “ill”, building the tension that is then diffused in the softer diction of the final couplet. As the poem ends, “Quiet consummation have / and renowned be thy grave!” this leaves the responder with the idea that death is a time for peace. In conclusion, the poem juxtaposes the complex needs and fears of life, shelter, safety, food and love with the simplicity and finality of death as we all “must”, simply, “come to dust”.