“Sonnet 76” is a traditional English sonnet by poet and playwright William Shakespeare. It was written in 1609 and is considered part of the “Fair Youth sequence” of 126 poems. This poem centers around themes of love, creative stagnation, and the dichotomy between innovation and literary tradition. It is sometimes known by its alternate title, “Why is my verse so barren of new pride.”

Poet Biography

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the English language. A poet and actor, he’s most famous for his plays such as Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and others. He also created 154 numbered sonnets and two long-form narrative poems.

Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, in April 1564 to a large family. At 18 he married Anne Hathaway and went on to have three children—one of which, Hamnet, died young and has been a source of intrigue and inspiration for contemporary writers. Shortly after the birth of his two younger children, Shakespeare moved to London and began his dramatist career. By 1592, his work was being regularly staged in the city. He was a founding member of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, a theater troupe that became the most famous in London. Together they built the Globe Theatre, which now exists as a modern reconstruction. In 1603, they were awarded a new patent and changed their name to the King’s Men.

The playwright’s work in London earned him a considerable fortune, and he was able to buy a large family home in Stratford-upon-Avon. He then spent the rest of his life commuting between the two cities. Through this time, he continued to act and produce his own plays as well as act in the plays of others. However, the bubonic plague ravaged London throughout the late 1500s and dozens of theaters were closed, limiting Shakespeare’s opportunities for work. During this time he directed much of his efforts toward his poems. He died at the age of 52 from an unexpected illness.

Shakespeare’s legacy remains a source of fascination and scholarly debate; in particular, the degree to which his work was autobiographical, the identities of repeated figures like the “fair youth” and the “dark lady,” his sexual orientation, and the true nature of his work’s authorship. In 2016, the Oxford University Press credited Shakespeare’s contemporary Christopher Marlowe (best known for his Doctor Faustus, and himself a source of intrigue and period drama) as co-author on several of Shakespeare’s plays. They remain some of the most widely recreated theater performances in the world.

Poem Text

Why is my verse so barren of new pride,

So far from variation or quick change?

Why with the time do I not glance aside

To new-found methods and to compounds strange?

Why write I still all one, ever the same,

And keep invention in a noted weed,

That every word doth almost tell my name,

Showing their birth, and where they did proceed?

O know, sweet love, I always write of you,

And you and love are still my argument.

So all my best is dressing old words new,

Spending again what is already spent:

For as the sun is daily new and old,

So is my love still telling what is told.

Shakespeare, William. “Sonnet 76.” 1609. Poetry Foundation.

Summary

The speaker laments their uninspiring writing. Why, they ask, is it so empty of ornamentation and grandeur? They wonder why they don’t follow the trends of other writers and artists by embracing new devices and techniques in their work. Instead, they always write about the same things in the same style until one can read their writing and know exactly who wrote it. The speaker addresses the person they love, assuring them that everything they write is about them and the speaker’s love for them. All their work is simply the same ideas rearranged on the page, saying the same things over and over. Just as the sun passes through the sky each day, the speaker needs to follow the same patterns of writing about their love.