Fear No More - Poem by William Shakespeare
Fear no more the heat o' the sun;
Nor the furious winter's rages,
Thou thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages;
Golden lads and girls all must,
As chimney sweepers come to dust.
Fear no more the frown of the great,
Thou art past the tyrant's stroke:
Care no more to clothe and eat;
To thee the reed is as the oak:
The sceptre, learning, physic, must
All follow this, and come to dust.
Fear no more the lightning-flash,
Nor the all-dread thunder-stone;
Fear not slander, censure rash;
Thou hast finished joy and moan;
All lovers young, all lovers must
Consign to thee, and come to dust.
No exorciser harm thee!
Nor no witchcraft charm thee!
Ghost unlaid forbear thee!
Nothing ill come near thee!
Quiet consummation have;
And renowned be thy grave!
Shakespeare, William. "Fear No More Poem." Poemhunter.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 May 2015. <http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/fear-no-more/>.
Fear no more the heat o' the sun;
Nor the furious winter's rages,
Thou thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages;
Golden lads and girls all must,
As chimney sweepers come to dust.
Fear no more the frown of the great,
Thou art past the tyrant's stroke:
Care no more to clothe and eat;
To thee the reed is as the oak:
The sceptre, learning, physic, must
All follow this, and come to dust.
Fear no more the lightning-flash,
Nor the all-dread thunder-stone;
Fear not slander, censure rash;
Thou hast finished joy and moan;
All lovers young, all lovers must
Consign to thee, and come to dust.
No exorciser harm thee!
Nor no witchcraft charm thee!
Ghost unlaid forbear thee!
Nothing ill come near thee!
Quiet consummation have;
And renowned be thy grave!
Shakespeare, William. "Fear No More Poem." Poemhunter.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 May 2015. <http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/fear-no-more/>.
STYLE ANALYSIS OF “FEAR NO MORE” By WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
“Fear No More” is a poem by William Shakespeare, which is from his play Cymbeline. In the play, King’s daughter, Imogen, is forced to marry her stepmother’s non-royal son, Cloten, in order to put him on the throne. However, she falls for another chap, Posthumus Leonatus who is banished. While seeking him, Imogen ends up sheltering in a cave with two men which turns out they are her brothers: Guiderius and Arviragus later, which are the speakers. And later, Imogen takes medicine because she is feeling weak from her journey, which ends up killing her. In “Fear No More” Shakespeare uses a simple structure to emphasize the message which is “once you die, there is nothing to be feared”. However, he uses complex language to represent the struggles of life that we fear. This style makes the reader to neglect the opposition to a peaceful death.
The rhymes are very simple through the poem and they help to create an optimistic atmosphere as the whole poem flows over us gently, soothing our worries. This poem is a funeral speech and meant to respect the dead and sooth both the deceased and those having to mourn Imogen’s loss, this is supported by a calm rhyme structure a-b-a-b-c-c (sun;rages;done;wages;must;dust) and pauses at the end of the first four lines of stanzas 1 to 3. But, the fourth stanza is different from others in the rhyme structure. The first four lines which have the same word “thee” at their ends are powerful orders like “No exorciser harm thee!” meant to protect Imogen in death and it is referring to the poem’s opening line of each stanza, saying “Fear no more”, meaning no problems or worries. And the last two lines are used to reward the decedent. So the clear and consistent rhyming pattern on the first three stanzas adds an optimistic view and the final stanza again being simple, increases the pace of the poem in order to connect to the central message, not to fear death.
The language creates an exaggerated image of the miseries of life, and this helps to allay the death and not to focus on the joys that will be lost with it. Shakespeare keeps mentioning negative elements of human existence: being afraid, danger, violence wretchedness, heartache, and a heavy emphasis on fear and uncertainty by using ‘fear’, ‘furious rages’, ‘frowns’, ‘the tyrant’s stroke’, ‘dreaded thunder’ and ‘moan’, which are all in harmony by being related to the elements of fear mentioned before. In addition, using a metaphor like, “Home art gone” telling that Imogen has a certain liberation and a place in paradise, tells us Imogen has nothing to fear when she dies. Also using “‘ta’en thy wages” we have a metonymy for her innocence; her wages are the actions in life which will secure her fate at the heaven where she will be judged. This all language elements and further again connects to initial message of the poem “no more fear of death” but this time with several and complicated features.
In this poem, Shakespeare tries to give the message that one should not panic when death begins to approach because it is the concluding cycle of every human’s life. He deals with a simple structure just as the death is and uses his sophisticated language with metaphors, strong word choices and repetitions to emphasize his opinion in order to utter what message he wants to tell.
The rhymes are very simple through the poem and they help to create an optimistic atmosphere as the whole poem flows over us gently, soothing our worries. This poem is a funeral speech and meant to respect the dead and sooth both the deceased and those having to mourn Imogen’s loss, this is supported by a calm rhyme structure a-b-a-b-c-c (sun;rages;done;wages;must;dust) and pauses at the end of the first four lines of stanzas 1 to 3. But, the fourth stanza is different from others in the rhyme structure. The first four lines which have the same word “thee” at their ends are powerful orders like “No exorciser harm thee!” meant to protect Imogen in death and it is referring to the poem’s opening line of each stanza, saying “Fear no more”, meaning no problems or worries. And the last two lines are used to reward the decedent. So the clear and consistent rhyming pattern on the first three stanzas adds an optimistic view and the final stanza again being simple, increases the pace of the poem in order to connect to the central message, not to fear death.
The language creates an exaggerated image of the miseries of life, and this helps to allay the death and not to focus on the joys that will be lost with it. Shakespeare keeps mentioning negative elements of human existence: being afraid, danger, violence wretchedness, heartache, and a heavy emphasis on fear and uncertainty by using ‘fear’, ‘furious rages’, ‘frowns’, ‘the tyrant’s stroke’, ‘dreaded thunder’ and ‘moan’, which are all in harmony by being related to the elements of fear mentioned before. In addition, using a metaphor like, “Home art gone” telling that Imogen has a certain liberation and a place in paradise, tells us Imogen has nothing to fear when she dies. Also using “‘ta’en thy wages” we have a metonymy for her innocence; her wages are the actions in life which will secure her fate at the heaven where she will be judged. This all language elements and further again connects to initial message of the poem “no more fear of death” but this time with several and complicated features.
In this poem, Shakespeare tries to give the message that one should not panic when death begins to approach because it is the concluding cycle of every human’s life. He deals with a simple structure just as the death is and uses his sophisticated language with metaphors, strong word choices and repetitions to emphasize his opinion in order to utter what message he wants to tell.