“Fear no more the heat o’ the sun” BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

 

Song: “Fear no more the heat o’ the sun”

BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

(from Cymbeline)

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 o’ 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 scepter, learning, physic, must

All follow this, and come to dust.

 

Fear no more the lightning flash,

Nor the all-dreaded 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 renownèd be thy grave!

 

William Shakespeare: 1564 - 1616

William Shakespeare is one of the greatest English playwright, poem and a prominent literary figure. He has written comedies, tragedies and sonnets and contributed much in the literature of English language. He is known for his ability of portraying characters which can touch the soul of readers.

Introduction of Poem:

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.

Analysis:

The very first stanza expresses a feeling that 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 wages, so a dead person goes home with his success and failures. The poet further advices 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.

In the second stanza poet explains the concept of death by saying that, a dead person 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 man, physician, and doctors must die one day.

The scepter, learning, physic, must

All follow this, and come to dust. 

In the third stanza poet says, a dead person does not fear the lightening flash nor thunder-storm. He is free from public criticism. Joy and sorrow are the same from him. In his lifetime 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.

In the last stanza poet has given a list of the things by which a person should not have a fear. Exerciser, ghost, witchcraft and evil people cannot force the negative or harmful sense to the dead person. There is a repetition of the word ‘thee’.

When death comes to us we won’t fear anything. He’s telling us that we won’t fear the heat of the sun, the winters rage, the frown of the great which are the people of a higher position than us in life, the lighting flash, the thunder stone, and the slander censure rash. Nothing is going to harm us when we are dead. You will be quietly consumed and renowned by the grave. I think the author wrote this poem about death because someone that he loved and was close to passed away, or maybe he was just thinking about death and what happens after that.

Figures of speech:

The poem is free of clichés, and the tone of the poem is serious, fearless, and careless. The tone doesn’t change throughout the poem. Shakespeare used many figurative language in the poem.

In the first stanza, second line

“nor the furious winter’s rage”

 is an example of metaphor.

“Gold lads and girls all must, as chimney sweepers come to dust”

 is an example of simile in the first stanza.

In the second stanza, last line

“The sceptre, learning, physic, must all follow this, and come to dust”,

is an example of personification.

The word fear repeats at the beginning of the first three stanzas in the poem, and so does the word thee. They are an example of repetition. There is no absence of punctuation, and it is a closed poem.

Rhyming scheme:

There are four stanzas with six lines. The rhyming scheme of the poem is a, b, a, b, c, c.

Conclusion:

The author is the speaker of this poem and he is generally talking to everyone. This poem is about death and it is saying that everyone is going to be turned into dust. The author is trying to say that we are all going to die, and that is there no need to stress or worry about life. No one needs to be anxious about tomorrow, about the way they are getting their food or clothe, or being scared of the people in a higher position. No matter who you are and no matter how old you are, or what position you hold death will always be waiting for you and you’ll be turned into dust. Your family and friends won’t come down there with you, nor will your knowledge.

Source: Wikipedia, Poetry Foundation and google images