Summary: Association Between Music and Harmony In Sonnet 8

In Sonnet 8, Shakespeare associates music with resounding accord and harmony, offering up a metaphorical parallel to the marital union of a household. The crux of the poem is the author urging his audience, presumably a young man, to settle down, marry, and have a family. As part of Shakespeare’s collection of poems that examine procreation, his poem intends to argue the case that marriage is essential for harmony and happiness in life. Conversely, Shakespeare employs contradictory literary devices that manufacture the opposite effect.

The sensory experience that he produces explores dichotomy of meaning, offering contradictions between musical metaphors and direct rhetoric on the one hand, and a play of paradox and imbalance on the other. The intentional use of paradox through formal aspects that give structure to Sonnet 8, including rhetorical questioning, diction, and sound, undercuts the thematic dialogue he constructs on the importance of marriage and family. Although Shakespeare uses the metaphor of music to paint an idealized image of marriage, the use of opposites gives the sonnet an ambiguous or indeterminate meaning; the poem’s technical contradictions serve to largely subvert his paradoxical argument on procreation.

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The explicit association between music and harmony in Sonnet 8 is made accessible through Shakespeare’s creative use of extended metaphor. Throughout the fourteen-line sonnet, Shakespeare links music to harmony and solidarity, symbolizing a united household with a mother, father, and children. As customary within the sphere of a household, each family member holds and fulfills a particular role. Extending the metaphor, separate strings of music notes each hold a distinctive purpose and sync together in a way that mutually resonates.

Using the literary mechanism of parallelism, in lines nine through twelve, Shakespeare uses acute personification to liken each string in a musical composition as a “sweet husband to another.” As such, the husband and wife form harmony through ‘mutual ordering.’ The word “ordering” here likely refers to the private dynamics of a married couple working together and steering through their relationship, in an attempt to make sense of peripheral noise and create synchronization amongst societal distractions. The line, “Who, all in one, one pleasing note do sing:” stirs a powerful impression for the reader in the form of a singular, unified sound, thus associating the fusion of harmony to a household (line twelve). In a family, a mother, father, and children all must “sing” one note together by coalescing their individual voices, passions, or longings in a way that allows the family unit to harmoniously co-exist while leading their individual lives.

Shakespeare manipulates this metaphoric discourse on musical harmony into a persuasive point that endorses marriage and procreation in society. His rhetorical argument is manifested by his comparison between the nuclear family in “Sonnet 8” and a well-arranged configuration of music notes. The poet believes his poem may help the person who remains alone and single without a family or intentions to have a family. The stroke, “Who, all in one, one pleasing note do sing:,” in line twelve reprimands the reader, referencing that “one” is not enough and the subject should make the opportune choice to have a family and become a unit of “multiple”. The subsequent line extends further repetition of the word “one” (line thirteen). Shakespeare pens, “Whose speechless song being many, seeming one,” thereby reinforcing the idea of togetherness afforded by musical, and thus, familial, harmony (line thirteen). The rhyme scheme at the poem’s end adds urgency to the call to action that Shakespeare projects to the audience. The words in line fifteen, “Sings this to thee: 'Thou single wilt prove none,'” insinuate that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Without a family, the reader will be resigned to lead a life of nihility in a meaningless void. Appropriately, Shakespeare fuses music and marriage together with carefully chosen diction such as “union” and “concord” (lines five and six). In lines five and six, the speaker writes, “If the true concord of well-tuned sounds, / By unions married, do offend thine ear,” likening harmony to both music and marriage. The metaphorical undertones at play here invigorate Shakespeare’s’ urge to society, implying that like music, marriage is a key to unlocking meaning and enjoyment within life.

However, in spite of the metaphorical nuances that pepper Shakespeare’s argument on procreation, the sonnet’s formal aspects introduce considerable illogicality. His verses infuse a linguistic dissonance; the heavy lyrical and metrical irregularity overshadows the thematic construction of the sonnet. Taking a closer look at its structure, “Sonnet 8” effectually fits the mold of a typical Shakespearean sonnet; the poem closely follows a meter of iambic pentameter, which is customary of sonnets during the Elizabethan era. Coupled with a logical rhyme scheme “abab cdcd efef gg,” the poem’s metrical beat, as well as the modulation between the enunciation of each sound, is largely predictable. After twelve lines of this normal rhyming pattern, the final two lines take the form of a rhyming couplet. In lines thirteen and fourteen, “Whose speechless song being many, seeming one, / Sings this to thee: 'Thou single wilt prove none,'” Shakespeare’s tone becomes much more explicit, hinting that remaining single will leave one isolated with nothing and no purpose in life. The couplet adds gravity to the sonnet’s thematic discussion, subverting the tone Shakespeare has established in the former half of the poem. As such, the semantics of the sonnet, particularly in the couplet, offset the harmony fabricated in the poem’s literal sound. Shakespeare relies on music as its chief symbol; the way the poem first presents musical harmony is largely cheery and light-hearted. However, it becomes apparent in the poem’s final two lines that the poem adopts the form of a monologue or lecture to the audience. Beginning with a more pleasant tone and ending with a stern, reproachful warning, the language ignores the principle of harmonic progression. As such, given that the poem centers around the theme of music, it is ironic that the nature of the language fails to manifest a musical form of expression. Comprising one of the earliest inconsistences in the poem, the couplet instead operates argumentatively rather than musically. This was not an arbitrary authorial choice; Shakespeare is intentionally subverting the convention of sonnets as he does not value symmetry in tone or voice.

Despite the predominant theme of accord that Shakespeare constructs, the linguistic inconsistencies he produces, such as contradictory rhetorical questioning, serve to confront the ground on which he stands. This technique largely dilutes the potency of his argument for procreation directed at the audience. For instance, at the poem’s outset, the beginning lines open up the discourse in a way that invite questioning, but also contradict the thematic messaging. Through the use of a set of rhetorical questions, Shakespeare offers a way to implore questioning to his audience, which require greater time and thought. The questions in lines one and four, “Music to hear, why hear'st thou music sadly? / Sweets with sweets war not, joy delights in joy: / Why lov'st thou that which thou receiv'st not gladly, Or else receiv'st with pleasure thine annoy?” decelerate the poem’s opening, pleading for a moment of introspection by the audience. The question in line one boils down to the premise: if you like listen to music, why does the act of listening to music make you sad? This is followed up by a question asking the audience why he loves things that makes him unhappy and enjoy pleasures that cause him pain? The placement of counterintuitive questions echo the difference between how music and rhetoric or argument operate via different mechanisms. Posing a set of rhetorical questions to the audience at the sonnet’s beginning is a calculated stylistic decision by the author as they introduce irony and are paradoxical in nature. Regardless of the reader’s response to those questions, Shakespeare then goes on to deliver a cautionary monologue or lecture to his audience that continues to be contradicted by careful use of literary devices.

The repetition of language professed at the poem’s beginning sets the early tone of the poem, offering another contradiction that undermines Shakespeare’s attempt to persuade the reader to procreate. The reader observes from the opening line, “Music to hear, why hear'st thou music sadly? / Sweets with sweets war not, joy delights in joy:” The echoing of words here, such as “music” and “joy,” underwrites the melodic and pleasing tone. Although the repetition seems to indicate a focus on musical harmony, Shakespeare professes language that produces the opposite effect. Specifically, in line one, “Music to hear, why hear’st thou music sadly?” insinuates a discord with the joyful music, eliciting a sad emotional response from the audience. This same effect is reproduced in the subsequent line, “sweets with sweets war not,” most likely meaning that sweet things should not clash with sweet things (line two). Although Shakespeare is likely suggesting that the pairing of “sweets” should be harmonious with one another, the young speaker is disturbed by this harmony, symbolizing youth’s rejection of marriage and unity. The repetition of contradictions at play here registers inconsistency in the case for procreation that Shakespeare argues.

The contradictory paradoxes that appear repeatedly in Shakespeare’s language serve a dual purpose; the author intends to introduce irony. Music is often ephemeral, whereas marriage denotes a more permanent commitment to spend life with another human being. Notwithstanding the fact that a musical song or poem are intended to be quicker pieces of written expression, the predominant subjects that are discussed in Sonnet 8, marriage and music, run against two contrasting timetables. Shakespeare’s knack for introducing logical inconsistencies, such as this temporal incompatibility, demand greater attention and build a natural pause within the language, inviting further contemplation by the audience. Additionally, employing assonance is another mechanism through which Shakespeare produces an illogical argument that contradicts the temporal narrative of marriage. The repetition of the resounding “s” is delicately carried throughout the poem, as it lightly plays off similar sounds. The natural inflection of the “s” sound counteracts the gravity of the poem’s thematic discussion. The soft consonant sound produces a pattern that adopts a rapid song-like pulse, which effectively undermines the seriousness of the message that Shakespeare aims to convey. For example, the repeated “s” sounds chain together to create more synchronized syntaxial units, such as “one string, sweet husband” in line ten and “speechless song being many, seeming one,” in line fourteen. As such, the audience becomes attuned to the sonnet’s rhythmic march; its repetitive beat mimics the sound of a familiar instrument and detracts from the moral lecture contained within the verses.

The rigorous illogic of the diction and chiastic structure is another way in which Shakespeare offsets the strength of his persuasion. The softness of word choice in certain lines is juxtaposed against the use of unkinder language in others. For example, this pattern is first perceived in lines one and two: “Music to hear, why hear'st thou music sadly? / Sweets with sweets war not, joy delights in joy.” The use of “sadly” in line one is weighed against “joy” in line two; the contradiction in these verses produces an unfamiliar tension for the reader to derive meaning from. The subsequent couplet, “Why lov'st thou that which thou receiv'st not gladly, / Or else receiv'st with pleasure thine annoy?” (lines four and five) continues the contradiction. “Thine annoy” in line four implies a negative connotation, whereas “gladly” in line five alludes to a more optimistic overtone. This inconsistency manifests in the next few lines, “By unions married, do offend thine ear, / They do but sweetly chide thee, who confounds,” (lines seven and eight). In these lines, “offend” and “sweetly” again offer conflicting semantics. The paradoxical vocabulary at play here sharply punctures the stanzas, generating a jarring physical tension in the language that undermines the validity of Shakespeare’s twofold argument on marriage and procreation. Although he promotes musical harmony as a model for marriage, the contradiction of opposites generates ambiguity as to how one should extract meaning from the sonnet. A tension manifests in the production of meaning between emphatic declaration throughout the couplet and the paradoxes that appear at the sonnet’s beginning. The reader is left to wonder if Shakespeare truly does hold these beliefs on procreation, or is he making a self-deprecating ridicule of his argument?

Shakespeare’s use of rhyming pattern adds an additional layer of contradictions that reduce the sonnet’s underlying meaning. At a first glance, the iambic pentameter and meter adds a predictable beat to the sonnet. Shakespeare’s insistent focus on maintaining the emphatic pattern is evidenced by the natural oral undulation produced in each line, requiring a steady emphasis on nearly every other syllable. However, the calculated use of slant rhyme undermines the meter. The validity of the rhyme scheme is tested, as well as the significance of the quatrain ignoring the rhyme scheme. For instance, line six reads, “By unions married, do offend thine ear,” which presents a slant rhyme to its complement in line eight, “In singleness the parts that thou shouldst bear.” During a spoken reading, this quatrain presents a disjointed sound as it is evident that “ear” and “bear” do not rhyme. Furthermore, the imbalance of syllables in the text’s pair of rhetorical questions subvert Shakespeare’s promotion of “mutual ordering.” For instance, the halfline in the first question, “music to hear” covers four syllables, whereas its ensuing half “why hear’st thou music sadly” has seven syllables (line one). The next rhetorical question appears in line three; “Or else receiv’st with pleasure” and “thine annoy?” have seven and three syllables, respectively. The meter here is frictional and discordant, offering another instance where Shakespeare precisely negates his argument on proliferation that is allied with musical harmony. In both instances, slant rhyme and imprecise meter threaten the soundness of the sonnet’s promotion of harmonious equilibrium made possible only through the marriage and procreation of youth.

Although the author endorses musical harmony as a model for marriage, the contradiction of opposites throughout the poetic discourse ultimately gives Sonnet 8 an indistinct meaning. The sonnet presents a paradoxical view; from one point of view, family, love, and reproduction are idealized, while on the other, it is vilified. Therefore, perhaps Shakespeare is intentionally offering up contradictory views and suggesting that the view is largely up for interpretation by the audience. Although the deliberate choice of formal linguistic elements aims to associate music with family, in actuality, they serve to destabilize the sonnet’s endorsement of marriage and procreation as laudable life goals. Shakespeare effectively undermines the positive conditional quality of the poem, leaving the deciphering as the onus of the reader.