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.
