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【Abstract】A poem’s theme is the soul of idea. The traditional themes of Shakespeare’s Sonnets are “fair， kind， true”， friendship and love. Connecting sonnets’ contents with the whole creating career of Shakespeare， the author argues that there are other nontraditional themes in his sonnets—time’s destructiveness and love’s disillusionment.
【Key words】Shakespeare； sonnets； nontraditional themes
【作者簡介】马行天（1994-），女，彝族，云南泸西人，云南大学外国语学院，硕士研究生，研究方向：英美文学。
1. Introduction
William Shakespeare（1564-1616） was the greatest poet and dramatist in the English Renaissance. He was surpassingly great because his works never failed to bear a kind of closeness to human life and never failed to be the mirror reflecting human nature. His deep insight into society and his unlimited wisdom were embodied in his sonnets which contain valuable thoughts and great artistic values.
A poem’s theme is the soul of idea. The traditional viewpoints of the main theme are “fair， kind， true”， friendship and love which presents the idea of humanism by terms of the contents of Sonnet 105， but the word “argument” should not be considered as “theme” but “plots” or “contents” in literature works. Strictly speaking， argument means debate and discussion which indicates that the poet just discusses these issues in his sonnets. Therefore， connecting sonnets’ contents with the whole creating career of Shakespeare， this paper considers that there are other nontraditional themes in his sonnets—time’s destructiveness and love’s disillusionment.
2. Time’s Destructiveness
Time destroys all， devour all， with wings on his back， flying about maliciously to annihilate all the beautiful things without mercy， whatever nature’s or human being’s. In Shakespeare’s Sonnets， except the words related to “Time”， the poet describes “Time’s scythe” ， “Time’s injurious hand”， “Time’s fell hand”， “Time’s chest”， “Time’s crooked knife”， “Time’s blending sickle” and so on. All these images reveal time’s crucial side.
Time is truly destructive and extremely powerful. Sonnet 12 is the first sonnet uses the image of the scythe of time. Shakespeare describes the changes of everything as the times goes by. “the brave day sunk in hideous night”， “the violet past prime”， “sable curls all silvered o’er with white”， “lofty trees barren of leaves”， “sweets and beauties do themselves forsake， And die as fast as they see others grow”. Readers can perceive that the day， flower， tree， young people and beauties are declining， wakening and moving toward death. In this scene， the young things are growing old， the beautiful things are turning depressed. Just as the couplet says， nothing can fight against time’s scythe. Shakespeare argues that one effective way to win this fight against time is to breed a newborn baby or new things which continue the beauty. While in the Sonnets 5， 60， 63， 2， 6， 7， 19， 16， 77， 22， 65 and so on， Shakespeare uses different ways to present the same theme—Time has a strongly destruction force and human beings are prisoners of time. 3. Love’s Disillusionment
Considering the writing background of the sonnets， the author argues that Shakespeare same down with a pessimistic mood toward love. Shakespeare’s sonnets was created at the end of the sixteenth century and seventeenth century when his drama seemed to transform from pessimism even to desperation. Readers can easily perceive theme of love’s disillusion in the sonnets.
Making use of puns such as “lie”（share the same bed and the same pillow） and “lie”（tell a lie）， Sonnet 138 shows an understanding the nature of truth and flattery in romantic relationships， and discloses selfish desire and the disillusion of love. This sonnet begins with the speaker discussing how his lover speaks word of truth， but the next line “I do believe her， though I know she lies” sets the tone for the rest of the sonnet because he knows that his lover is lying. According to line 7， he chooses to accept her lie instead of denying it and leaving her. Line 3 “That she might think me some untutored youth” states his lover also chooses to ignore his real age. In other words， he understands that both of them are lying to each other for the sake of their relationship to live. They are hiding their transgression by not bringing to light the issue that they are insecure about. The couple states that they just sleep together and flatter each other. Shakespeare disclose love is full of lies and selfish desire.
4. Conclusion
The traditional viewpoints of the main idea and theme is that Shakespeare’s Sonnets praises “fair， kind， true” which reveals the center idea of humanism. Combined with the creation background of Shakespeare’s sonnets， this paper argues that time’s destructiveness and love’s disillusionment are other nontraditional themes in the sonnets which reveals the energy of time and Shakespeare’s disappointment toward love.
References：
[1]Wu，Di，吳笛.论莎士比亚十四行诗的时间主题[J].外国文学评论， 2002（03）：89.
【Key words】Shakespeare； sonnets； nontraditional themes
【作者簡介】马行天（1994-），女，彝族，云南泸西人，云南大学外国语学院，硕士研究生，研究方向：英美文学。
1. Introduction
William Shakespeare（1564-1616） was the greatest poet and dramatist in the English Renaissance. He was surpassingly great because his works never failed to bear a kind of closeness to human life and never failed to be the mirror reflecting human nature. His deep insight into society and his unlimited wisdom were embodied in his sonnets which contain valuable thoughts and great artistic values.
A poem’s theme is the soul of idea. The traditional viewpoints of the main theme are “fair， kind， true”， friendship and love which presents the idea of humanism by terms of the contents of Sonnet 105， but the word “argument” should not be considered as “theme” but “plots” or “contents” in literature works. Strictly speaking， argument means debate and discussion which indicates that the poet just discusses these issues in his sonnets. Therefore， connecting sonnets’ contents with the whole creating career of Shakespeare， this paper considers that there are other nontraditional themes in his sonnets—time’s destructiveness and love’s disillusionment.
2. Time’s Destructiveness
Time destroys all， devour all， with wings on his back， flying about maliciously to annihilate all the beautiful things without mercy， whatever nature’s or human being’s. In Shakespeare’s Sonnets， except the words related to “Time”， the poet describes “Time’s scythe” ， “Time’s injurious hand”， “Time’s fell hand”， “Time’s chest”， “Time’s crooked knife”， “Time’s blending sickle” and so on. All these images reveal time’s crucial side.
Time is truly destructive and extremely powerful. Sonnet 12 is the first sonnet uses the image of the scythe of time. Shakespeare describes the changes of everything as the times goes by. “the brave day sunk in hideous night”， “the violet past prime”， “sable curls all silvered o’er with white”， “lofty trees barren of leaves”， “sweets and beauties do themselves forsake， And die as fast as they see others grow”. Readers can perceive that the day， flower， tree， young people and beauties are declining， wakening and moving toward death. In this scene， the young things are growing old， the beautiful things are turning depressed. Just as the couplet says， nothing can fight against time’s scythe. Shakespeare argues that one effective way to win this fight against time is to breed a newborn baby or new things which continue the beauty. While in the Sonnets 5， 60， 63， 2， 6， 7， 19， 16， 77， 22， 65 and so on， Shakespeare uses different ways to present the same theme—Time has a strongly destruction force and human beings are prisoners of time. 3. Love’s Disillusionment
Considering the writing background of the sonnets， the author argues that Shakespeare same down with a pessimistic mood toward love. Shakespeare’s sonnets was created at the end of the sixteenth century and seventeenth century when his drama seemed to transform from pessimism even to desperation. Readers can easily perceive theme of love’s disillusion in the sonnets.
Making use of puns such as “lie”（share the same bed and the same pillow） and “lie”（tell a lie）， Sonnet 138 shows an understanding the nature of truth and flattery in romantic relationships， and discloses selfish desire and the disillusion of love. This sonnet begins with the speaker discussing how his lover speaks word of truth， but the next line “I do believe her， though I know she lies” sets the tone for the rest of the sonnet because he knows that his lover is lying. According to line 7， he chooses to accept her lie instead of denying it and leaving her. Line 3 “That she might think me some untutored youth” states his lover also chooses to ignore his real age. In other words， he understands that both of them are lying to each other for the sake of their relationship to live. They are hiding their transgression by not bringing to light the issue that they are insecure about. The couple states that they just sleep together and flatter each other. Shakespeare disclose love is full of lies and selfish desire.
4. Conclusion
The traditional viewpoints of the main idea and theme is that Shakespeare’s Sonnets praises “fair， kind， true” which reveals the center idea of humanism. Combined with the creation background of Shakespeare’s sonnets， this paper argues that time’s destructiveness and love’s disillusionment are other nontraditional themes in the sonnets which reveals the energy of time and Shakespeare’s disappointment toward love.
References：
[1]Wu，Di，吳笛.论莎士比亚十四行诗的时间主题[J].外国文学评论， 2002（03）：89.