Sonnet 97 (Shakespeare)

 

How like a winter hath my absence been

From thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year!

What freezings have I felt, what dark days seen!

What old December's barrenness everywhere!

And yet remov'd was summer's time,

The teeming autumn, big with rich increase,

Bearing the wanton burthen (burden) of the prime,

Like widow'd wombs after their lords' decease*:

Yet this abundant issue seem'd to me

But hope of orphans and unfather'd fruit;

For summer and his pleasures wait on thee,

And thou away, the very birds are mute;

Or if they sing, 'tis with so dull a cheer

That leaves look pale, dreading the winter's near.

  ---William Shakespeare, 1609

*old school sexism:  the womb isn't worth much when the husband's died

    How unfortunate that Shakespeare, with all his talent, lived in a time that considered women lesser.  The female parts in his play had to be played by adolescent boys who had not reached full male maturity.  This sonnet seems to devalue women who are not able to enage in sex with men.  Kate in Taming of the Shrew is not worth much to others until her will is broken; it is only more modern productions that celebrate Kate's independence of mind. 

      Yet not all of Shakespeare is clearly sexist.  Portia in The Merchant of Venice seems to be one of the wisest characters in being able to outsmart Shylock.  She also gives a moving speech on "the quality of mercy."  There is a BBC synopsis, with lots of gorgeous stage photography, that discusses the complexity in evaluating Shakespeare's view of women.  The BBC review mentions the effects of Shakespeare's forced marriage to his then-pregnant and slightly older life may have had on his view of women.  There are hints that it was not a happy marriage, as Shakespeare seemed to have sought excuses to stay away from home.