Sonnet 29 Summary
William Shakespeare

Sonnet 29 Summary

Line 1:

The opening word "when" qualifies the whole poem, and sets up "Sonnet 29" as an "if-then" statement. The speaker may not be out of luck or the public's favor at the moment, at all. However, the strong emotions exhibited in the following lines suggest that these feelings of isolation and despair are not unfamiliar to him; indeed, by line 9, he seems to gain a certain satisfaction from wallowing in his self-pity.

Line 2:

The repetition of the word "state" in lines 2, 10, and 14 indicates its significance in the poem. But its many levels of meaning prevent the reader from understanding the cause of the speaker's rejection: "state" may signify a condition, a state of mind, an estate or a person's status. However, the adjective "outcast" does possess a religious connotation (as in "outcast from Eden") that is evident again in the sonnet's last three lines.

Lines 3-4:

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