Sonnet 30 Summary

“Sonnet 30: When to the sessions of sweet silent thought” by William Shakespeare is about the speaker’s introspective journey into his bygone days. The sonnet is one of the sonnets of the 154 sonnet sequence. When there is complete silence around the speaker, he recalls his memories and feels sad for several reasons. 

These include: first, disappointments for lacking things he sought, second, mistakes in the past, third, deaths of dear ones and loss of love, and mental breakdowns. Because of these experiences, he feels remorseful.

He often visits them and now he has thought about them as if he has never remembered them. However, the speaker ends the sonnet with a note of relief. He is grateful that because of the presence of his friend in his life, all his grief goes away.

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Sonnet 30 Analysis 

Line-by-Line Explanation

“When to the sessions of sweet silent thought

I summon up remembrance of things past,”

The speaker is in pensive mode. The speaker recalls the past life that he has left when moment pin drop silence dominates his environment. 

The first line of the poem sets the peaceful setting which is free from any external distraction. In this regard, the alliteration of the “s” sound in the phrase “sessions of sweet silent thought” assists to set up the setting. 

In that meditative state, the speaker recalls his past life.

We also notice the use of personification in the second line “I summon up remembrance of things past,”. The act of attributing a human quality to past events to walk to him convey the meaning that he deliberately wants them to come to him. Instead of a flood of thoughts overflowing in his mind, he consciously chooses to remember only some experiences from his past. Those past events are associated with loss and grief. 

“I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought, 

And with old woes new wail my dear time’s waste:”

From the third line onward, the speaker starts revealing the cause of his distress. The third line “I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought” expresses the speaker’s disappointments in life. 

He feels a sigh for not getting those things he wanted in life. He also grieves for letting his past worries waste his time. We can relate to his state of mind. We long for the things which we do not have. What it could be for Shakespeare for which he feels longing.

The phrase “old woes” refers to his past sorrows. The line “And with old woes new wail my dear time’s waste” suggests his awareness that he lets his time waste for his old sorrows. The repetition of the “w” sound in this line contributes to the sad tone of the poem.

The use of the adjective “dear” before “dear time” reinforces his awareness that he perceives his time as a precious thing. However, he wastes time by thinking of the bad memories. 

“Then can I drown an eye, unused to flow, 

For precious friends hid in death’s dateless night,”

He wants to mourn the deaths of his dear friends but his eyes are not used to crying. The use of the adjective “precious friends” implies how endearingly attachment he has had with his friends. Losing them makes him feel hopeless and adds to the melancholic tone of the poem.

The phrase “death’s dateless night” conveys the idea of death as a space of eternal darkness where his friends have vanished forever. The image “death’s dateless night” is an example of alliteration and it adds to the sad tone of the poem. 

Another image of drowning an eye implies the act of shedding tears uncontrollably. The image helps to convey the meaning that his emotion overpowers him. The speaker usually does not cry but his feeling of losing his dear ones forever is so intense that he cannot control it. But, what would the others think of him? 

Therefore, he poses a question to his readers, asking them if he can shed a tear for such losses. The phrase “unused to flow” could indicate the expected gender role that everyone is supposed to follow. Being a male, patriarchy has propagated the notion that weeping is a sign of weakness. Being a male, he cannot cry. 

He wants to shed tears because he is sad about losing his precious friends. Therefore, he asks them whether he can cry or not. 

And weep afresh love’s long since cancelled woe, 

And moan the expense of many a vanished sight: 

The speaker reveals to his readers another cause of his grief. He feels sorrow because he has lost the love whom he had wanted in life. He also wants to moan about losing several opportunities. 

His grief has not lessened over time because he keeps remembering them from time to time. Although he lost them a long time ago the pain has been with him since then. 

These two lines overall continue to develop the theme of loss which we will discuss below. 

Then can I grieve at grievances foregone, 

And heavily from woe to woe tell o’er 

The speaker poses a question again if he can feel sad about past wrongs. This line might be a confessional statement by the poet. He might have done some wrongs in the past. The alliteration of the “g” sound in “grieve at grievances” adds to the musical sentiment of the poem.

He also wants to visit each sorrow one by one. The use of the adverb “heavily” reinforces the intensity of his urge to reflect his sorrows. 

The sad account of fore-bemoanèd moan, 

Which I new pay as if not paid before.

“The sad account of fore-bemoanèd moan” suggest his account of past sorrows in the past which he has still grieved. 

The next line “Which I new pay as if not paid before.” highlights he is revisiting his memories as if he had not visited them in the past. The phrase “as if not paid before” emphasizes that he keeps mourning for the same grief for a long time. Today is no exception to that. 

The use of accounting-related words like “woe” and “pay” in this line might indicate the speaker has been in debt in life. 

However, we do not have autobiographical evidence to investigate it further.

But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,

All losses are restored and sorrows end.

The couplet presents a volta in the sonnet. Till now, we have come to know an account of past bad experiences of the speaker and he keeps reflecting on them. However, there is a consolation in the end. The presence of his dear friend in his life pacifies his soul amidst worries and grief. 

The person the speaker refers to here must be W.H. to whom Shakespeare has dedicated one part of his sonnet sequences.

The use of the adjective “dear” in “dear friend” stresses the affection he has for his friend. He concludes the sonnet with a note of consolation that when he thinks of his friend, all his losses in life are restored and his sorrows come to an end.

Many critics believe that the nature of his relationship with his friend is homosexual. Whether it is homosexual or heterosexual, we can derive it as a power of friendship that can mitigate one’s sorrows. This reminds us of Francis Bacon’s famous essay “Of Friendship” where Bacon discusses how fruitful it is to have a true friend in life.