Shakespeare: A Model Citizen

I don't know how or why I came across this sonnet by Shakespeare. Nevertheless, I was pretty shocked at how closely its message gels with what would be considered a youthful, adventurous thought these days. Think of a rationalized anti-hero, or your run of the mill pot head:

Let those who are in favour with their stars​

​

Of public honour and proud titles boast,​

Whilst I, whom fortune of such triumph bars,​

Unlook'd for joy in that I honour most.​

Great princes' favourites their fair leaves spread​

But as the marigold at the sun's eye,​

And in themselves their pride lies buried,​

For at a frown they in their glory die.​

The painful warrior famoused for fight,​

After a thousand victories once foil'd,​

Is from the book of honour razed quite,​

And all the rest forgot for which he toil'd:​

Then happy I, that love and am beloved​

Where I may not remove nor be removed.​

 

not to be bashin on you but that poem was really gay until about mid way then it turned into a beautiful poem
i dont quite get the meaning of the thread?

 

ya know Shakespeare had a young male companion that lived with him?

 

My friend got a book from his drug councilor on pot (he got arrested for E), and in it was contained a bit about famous people who took drugs.

Apparently traces of mary jane, coke, and opiates were found in a pipe owned by Shakespeare. Not that that surprises me..

 

what surprises me is that they either recently found a pipe and were able to determine who owned it 500 years ago, or else they had the capability to test for traces of drugs that long ago

 

It's a sonnet - not a poem. (I realize one is a sub-category of the other, but there's still a pretty big difference between the two.)

As for the point of the thread, that's pretty much up to you. I interpret the piece as being an affirmation of artistic prowess and vision, but also a declaration that the realization of as much confronts one with the hopeless necessity to abandon the coercion of systematic evaluation, as we're all doomed to 'slip up' at one point or another.

In other words, this sonnet suggests that contemporary "glory" is inherently confined, while personal freedom and exploration knows no bounds. The fact that this musing comes from the greatest literary mind to date is pretty amazing in my opinion, especially given the pricetag that is generally placed on inventive thought these days.