Bhiksu University of Sri Lanka Anuradhapura External Degree Program English Literature

Fear No More

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

Fear no more the heat o’ the sun;
Nor the furious winter’s rages,
Thou thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone, and ta’en thy wages;
Golden lads and girls all must,
As chimney sweepers come to dust. 

Fear no more the frown of the great,
Thou art past the tyrant’s stroke:
Care no more to clothe and eat;
To thee the reed is as the oak:
The sceptre, learning, physic, must
All follow this, and come to dust. 

Fear no more the lightning-flash,
Nor the all-dread thunder-stone;
Fear not slander, censure rash;
Thou hast finished joy and moan;
All lovers young, all lovers must
Consign to thee, and come to dust. 

No exorciser harm thee!
Nor no witchcraft charm thee!
Ghost unlaid forbear thee!
Nothing ill come near thee!
Quiet consummation have; 
And renowned be thy grave! 

 In ‘Fear No More The Heat of the Sun’ Shakespeare uses pathetic fallacy, weather conditions representing human emotion, and images of earthly struggle or difficulty to portray death as a relief. Although he presents death as inevitable these images are meant to comfort and sooth the dead and mourning as the departed will be moving to a better place.

The poem opens with the phrase ‘fear no more’, which is then repeated a further three times in the poem, which suggests death provides an end to particular earthly fears. The repetition not only serves to emphasis the many troubles we face in earthly life, but also acts as a soothing method for the poetic voice as if he is trying to convince himself that the deceased will be better off.

This repeated phrase is connected to natural images of weather conditions and seasons that are used by Shakespeare to represent human emotions. The contrasting weather of the ‘heat o’ th’ sun’ and the ‘furious winter’s rages’ represent emotional extremes of romance or passion and then misery, loneliness or despair. Although we often associate the sun with being a positive we must not forget its power to burn, which is also true of love that can give us unbelievable emotional highs, but is also prone to cause lasting pain and strife. Winter is used in a more traditional manner and the cold and harshness of the season clearly resonates with feelings of isolation and loneliness, but could also represent the ravages of old age (as winter represents the end of our lives as trees and flowers wither and die away) and the fact the deceased will no longer have to face this.

In addition, Shakespeare tells the deceased they will no longer have to worry about ‘lightning flash’ or ‘dreaded-thunder-stone’, both of which could represent emotions of shock or fear. I think he uses these divergent weather conditions to suggest that death frees us from uncertainty and the ups and downs of human life. He presents our avoidance of this rollercoaster as a positive journey, but I believe that the words of the poem suggest that the poetic voice is not completely convinced this is true.

In the third stanza, the poem claims the deceased has ‘finished joy and moan’. This is presented as a positive and that is understandable in terms of issues that cause humans to moan such as the financial difficulties suggested by having to care about ‘clothe and eat’ and being subject to a ruler’s whims and fancies implied by the phrase ‘the frown o’ th’ great’. These phrases both tell us that death allows us to escape earthly pressures, like supporting and feeding a family, and having to avoid upsetting others and becoming victim to their desire for revenge or punishment. However, Shakespeare also links death to the end of joy, which can surely not be a positive. This may just hint at the true feelings of the poetic voice, and gives the reader a hint of their regret that the deceased will never again experience the dizzying highs of life.

Alternatively this could be interpreted as being the state of things in the next life. Although heaven is supposed to be a kingdom of love,  it is also one free of extremes of emotion and thus romantic highs are not really something one would associate with the next life. There is a clear suggestion that the poetic voice feels the deceased will transcend to heaven in the opening stanza; Shakespeare says the deceased has gone ‘home’, which tells us that earth was only a temporary destination and has connotations of warmth and comfort. Further, they have ‘ta’en thy wages’ which implies that their actions on earth are converted to credit in the next life. This is clearly referring to heaven and the ‘wages’ must represent the morality and virtuous life the deceased has led, thus securing a spot in heaven.

Whether this person was truly virtuous we do not know, but the purpose of claiming they will ascend to heaven is again soothing. It is easier for the mourners to accept the death if they think that life will continue and be better for their loved one. In addition to this, Shakespeare repeats the idea that all ‘come to dust’ (whether they be wealthy or poor, distinguished or not, loved or loathed) to emphasize the inevitability of death. If all of us are going to meet the same fate then we need not fear it; death is thus presented as an inevitable part of life and something we should embrace and accept rather than curse and fear. However, the confidence in this ascension and in a peaceful life after death, expressed through the listing of various earthly worries, is undermined by the final stanza.

A series of imperatives commands evil spirits and the likes not to interfere with the deceased. The use of exclamation at the end of each of these commands demonstrates the passion and intense mourning of the poetic voice. The prior calm and confidence of the opening three stanzas is completely dismissed and it is as if true grief has overcome the poetic voice at the end. However, the fact that the poet has to warn off ‘witchcraft’, ‘ghost’ and ‘exorciser’ suggests that the soothing confidence that everything will be better in the next life is not absolute. The warnings imply the poetic voice has worries about the afterlife and exactly what will happen to their deceased friend.

So Shakespeare has used a combination of weather imagery and pathetic fallacy alongside images of aspects of earthly struggle and toil to present death as a positive and inevitable part of life and something that will beckon a happier existence. However, there are a few slips in this presentation and a sense of regret and lamentation can be traced in the fact that the deceased will no longer experience the highs of human existence and there is also an expression of fear in the final stanza as the poetic voice tries to ward off evil spirits.

Summary

This poem has been taken from Shakespeare's play Cymbeline. This is a death poem having universal appeal. In this poem the poet has expressed his feeling for the rest of the soul of the dead. It is written for the consolation of the dead. The poet wants to say that a dead person becomes free from all kinds of worldly anxieties. It is full of moral lessons.

A dead person cannot feel the heat of the sun. A living person has to face the scorching sun and bitter coldness of the winter season. But after death, he gets rid of them. After death a person goes to heaven, which is his permanent home. As a laborer works and goes home after taking his wages, so a dead person goes home with his success and failures. The poet further advises a dead person not to be disappointed from death because death is the fate of every person. It lays its icy hands over all whether he is a handsome fellow, a beautiful girl or a chimney sweeper. All must die one day.

A dead person is immune from the anger of his master. In his lifetime, he is in financial trouble. He has no sufficient money for buying necessary cloth and proper fund. Consequently, he has no proper cloth to cover his body and proper food to satisfy his hunger. But after death, he does not feel any necessity of these things. Death is very impartial. It does not distinguish between the poor and rich. Kings, learned men, physicians and doctors must die one day.

A dead man does not fear the lightening flash nor thunder-storm. He is free from public criticism. Joy and sorrow are the same for him. In his life time sometime he is happy and sometimes sad. But after death, he does not feel anything. At last the poet says that death should not be the cause of sorrow because all persons, whether they are young lover or old one, must die and meet the dust. It is lyrical and follows a systematic pattern, example 'the sun' 'done', 'rages', 'wages' 'must' 'dust' etc.

Analysis  

Death knows no age, culture, social class, or gender. It is the inevitability that defines equality between every soul and meaning to every life. This idea is prominent through the poem, “Fear No More the Heat o’ the Sun”, written by William Shakespeare. In the poem, the author embodies the narrator speaking to the audience about living without the fear of several difficulties in life. The poem is somewhat of a funeral song, in which the author formulates an argument that highlights the significance of death. Shakespeare illustrates the theme and messages in the poem through repetition, structure, diction, and hyperbole. All at which contribute to unify this metaphorical piece that attempts to consolidate those who have lost a loved one or advice those trapped in anxiety - prevented from living life to the absolute fullest.

Repetition and structure are the roots, at which stabilize the poem. Initially, the phrase, “Fear no more” reappears at the beginning of the first three stanzas to reinforce the idea of living without worry. Shakespeare consistently includes the end rhymes “must” and “come to dust” as the final couplet of the first three stanzas in order to sternly state the inevitability of death.

Themes of the Poem

William Shakespeare utilizes simplistic language to emphasize the themes in “Fear no more;” however, he exercises complex metaphors to depict the struggles one undergoes during a lifetime and as a result urges the reader to overcome all melancholic sentiments that lead one to oppose a peaceful death. The diction applied in “Fear no more” efficiently creates emphasis on specific sections of the poem. In addition, the euphonic flow used by Shakespeare illustrates the author’s serenity and resignation towards the subject at hand. In essence, Shakespeare’s “Fear no more” employs rhetorical devices such as repetition, appeal to the audience, and imagery to reveal the desired theme. 

The fundamental theme of this poem is regarding the significance of succumbing to death, for after having a full life everyone must fearlessly face the end. In addition, the poem emphasizes that one should not fight against the arrival of death in any of its forms. In fact, this argument is first introduced in the title and further displayed throughout Shakespeare’s poem. In the first line of all three stanzas, the author begins with the phrase, “Fear no more,” openly showing his belief that one should willingly submit to mortality. Furthermore, the poem’s theme is displayed through the phrase “all must … come to dust.” By acknowledging that death is inevitable for all of humanity, the author attempts to emphasize his belief that one should not “fear” fate. The theme of the poem is also reinforced through repetition. For example, to emphasize his stance, the author repeats the phrase, “Fear no more” in the first line of the first, second, and third stanza of the poem. Once again this occurs with the phrase, “must… come to dust” in the fifth and sixth line of the first, second, and third stanza.

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 that 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”.  

Overview

This poem is all about death and trying to help someone coping. Strangely though it is addressed to the deceased as an imperative (order), but is really designed to help the poetic voice cope with the loss of a friend or lover as they try to see death as a positive journey ending earthly worries and concerns. However, this is tinged with high emotion throughout and particularly in the final stanza.

Context

This poem comes from the drama, Cymbeline by Shakespeare. In this drama,  King’s daughter, Imogen, falling victim of a plot by her stepmother to put her non-royal son, Cloten, on the throne by marrying him to Imogen. However, Imogen has fallen in love with and secretly married another person, who is banished for going behind the King’s, Cymbeline.

Anyway, it all gets very complicated and Imogen dresses up as a man to run off to find her love and ends up sheltering in a cave with two young men who bear a striking resemblance to her. It turns out that they are her brothers who’d been kidnapped at birth and brought up by a traitor. These two brothers, Guiderus and Arvirargus (at this stage known as Polydore and Cadwal), are our speakers as Imogen takes some medicine as she is feeling weak from her journey, which appears to kill her. The poison had been planted by her stepmother at some point, but then switched by the court doctor to something that only had the appearance of being lethal. When her brothers mourn they think she is a good looking man ‘Fidele’ and lament his passing rather than their sisters. The wicked stepmother dies and Imogen finds love again and her brothers’ true identities are revealed.

Summary of the drama, Cymbeline,

Imogen, the daughter of the British king Cymbeline, goes against her father's wishes and marries a lowborn gentleman, Posthumus instead of his stepson, Cloten. Cloten is the son of Cymbeline's new Queen, a villainous woman who has made the king her puppet. Cymbeline sends Posthumus into exile in Italy, where he encounters a smooth-tongued Italian named Iachimo. Iachimo argues that all women are naturally unchaste, and he makes a wager with Posthumus that he will be able to seduce Imogen. He goes to the British court and, failing in his initial attempt to convince the princess to sleep with him, resorts to trickery: He hides in a large chest and has it sent to her room; that night he slips out, observes her sleeping, and steals a bracelet that Posthumus once gave to her.

Cloten, meanwhile, continues to pursue Imogen, but she rebuffs him harshly. He becomes furious and vows revenge, while she worries over the loss of her bracelet. In the meantime, Iachimo has returned to Italy, and, displaying the stolen bracelet and an intimate knowledge of the details of Imogen's bedchamber, convinces Posthumus that he won the bet. Posthumus, furious at being betrayed by his wife, sends a letter to Britain ordering his servant, Pisanio, to murder Imogen. But, Pisanio believes in Imogen's innocence, and he convinces her to disguise herself as a boy and go search for her husband, while he reports to Posthumus that he has killed her.

Imogen, however, soon becomes lost in the wilds of Wales, and she comes upon a cave where Belarius, an unjustly banished nobleman, lives with his two sons, Guiderius and Arviragus. In fact, the two young men are not his sons but Cymbeline's; Belarius has kidnapped them to avenge his banishment, though they themselves are ignorant of their true parentage. They welcome Imogen, who is still dressed as a boy. Meanwhile, Cloten appears, having come in pursuit of Imogen; he fights a duel with Guiderius, who kills him. Imogen, feeling ill, drinks a potion the queen has given her. Although the queen told her it was medicinal, the queen herself believed it to be a poison. However, the draught merely induces a deep sleep that resembles death. Belarius and his adoptive sons come upon Imogen and, heart-broken, lay her body beside that of the slain Cloten. Awaking after they have left the scene, she mistakes the body of Cloten for that of Posthumus, and she sinks into despair. A Roman army has invaded Britain, seeking the restoration of a certain tribute Britain has ceased to pay. (A "tribute" here is a payment given to one nation by another in return for a promise of non-aggression.) The disguised Imogen hires herself out to them as a page.

Posthumus and Iachimo are traveling with the Roman army, but Posthumus switches to the garb of a British peasant and fights valiantly for Britain. Indeed, in his combat he actively seeks death: He believes his servant to have carried out his orders and killed Imogen, and he regrets his actions. The Romans are defeated, thanks to the intervention of Belarius, Guiderius, and Arviragus, and Posthumus, still trying to punish himself, switches back to Roman garb and allows himself to be taken prisoner. That night, the god Jupiter promises the spirits of Posthumus's dead ancestors that he will care for their descendant. The next day, Cymbeline calls the prisoners before him, and the confusion is sorted out. Posthumus and Imogen are reunited, and they forgive a contrite Iachimo, who confesses his deception. The identity of Guiderius and Arviragus is revealed, Belarius is forgiven, and the Queen dies, leaving the king free of her evil influence. As a final gesture, Cymbeline frees the Roman prisoners and even agrees to resume paying the tribute.