William_Shakespeare’s_Warning_Of_Sexual_Praise_In_“Sonnet_95

William Shakespeare’s Warning Of Sexual Praise In “Sonnet 95” William Shakespeare uses “Sonnet 95” to reveal corruption of youth and beauty. More specifically, the sonnet speaks of the corruption of a young man due to his own “sins” (6) and sexual accomplishments and the glorification he earns from this. Shakespeare’s diction and meter clearly reveal this twisted tale of vice’s destruction of virtue. A critical analysis can evoke this tale and the warning Shakespeare makes to this beautiful young man regarding his life and promiscuous activities. Shakespeare reveals the beauty of the young man in the first line with words “sweet” (1) and “lovely” (1), but overshadows this character with implied “shame” (1). This is not the common meaning of shame but is the sin that blossoms after premarital sexual encounters. This traditional Shakespearean (abab) rhyme scheme further implies that this becomes more than shame, but “a canker in the fragrant rose” (2). “[F]lower” (2) in this line refers to this young man’s great beauty, but “canker” (2) destroys this beauty. The meaning that Shakespeare speaks of is a worm or maggot that matriculates inside and destroys the flower. The worm kills the flower from the inside out and is not discovered man, line, young, sexual, shakespeare, quatrain, sonnet, flower, beauty, spondee, reveal, name, foot, first, sin, people, lines, irony, inside, great, disease, corruption, 11, warning, third, syphilis, sins, shame, second, reveals, refers, privilege, praise, man’s, initial