How heavy do I journey on the way,
When what I seek, my weary travel’s end,
Doth teach that ease and that repose to say,
‘Thus far the miles are measured from thy friend!’
The beast that bears me, tired with my woe,
Plods dully on, to bear that weight in me,
As if by some instinct the wretch did know
His rider lov’d not speed being made from thee.
The bloody spur cannot provoke him on,
That sometimes anger thrusts into his hide,
Which heavily he answers with a groan,
More sharp to me than spurring to his side;
For that same groan doth put this in my mind,
My grief lies onward, and my joy behind.
Shakespeare’s Sonnet 50
Sonnet 50 is one of 154 sonnets written by William Shakespeare and belongs to the Fair Youth sequence, where the poet addresses a young man with deep affection. This particular sonnet explores themes of sorrow, distance, and the burden of separation. It leads directly into Sonnet 51, continuing the journey of emotion and longing.
Structure and Form
Like most of Shakespeare’s sonnets, Sonnet 50 follows the English or Shakespearean sonnet form. It is made up of three quatrains followed by a closing rhyming couplet, with the typical rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.
The poem is written in iambic pentameter, a meter built on five pairs of alternating weak and strong syllables per line. The opening line provides a clear example of this rhythm:
How heavy do I journey on the way (50.1)
Some lines require variant pronunciations to maintain the meter. For instance:
- Line 5: tired is spoken as two syllables.
- Line 7: the stress falls on the second syllable of instínct.
- Line 8: being compresses into one syllable.
Meaning and Themes
In Sonnet 50, Shakespeare uses the image of a weary journey to capture the emotional weight of moving away from the beloved youth. Every step feels heavier, not because of physical fatigue alone, but because of the sorrow carried in the heart.
The sonnet highlights the poet’s emotional dependence on the presence of the young man, showing how absence transforms even ordinary travel into an act of grief.
Legacy
Sonnet 50 stands out for its raw expression of emotional weight and its vivid imagery of travel as a metaphor for loss. By the closing couplet, the poet fully acknowledges how love deepens sorrow when distance comes between him and the one he cherishes.
Continue reading: See the complete list of Shakespeare’s sonnets on English History with opening lines and themes.
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Link will appear as Hanson, Marilee. "Sonnet 50" https://englishhistory.net/shakespeare/sonnets/sonnet-50/, March 10, 2022