Sonnet 66

Sonnet 66, one of 154 sonnets written by William Shakespeare, is part of the Fair Youth sequence. It expresses the speaker's profound weariness with the world's injustices, corruption, and societal ills, leading to a contemplation of death as a preferable alternative. However, the sonnet concludes with the speaker ultimately choosing to endure these hardships for the sake of love, presumably for the young man addressed in the other Fair Youth sonnets.

The sonnet is structured in the typical Shakespearean sonnet form, consisting of fourteen lines in iambic pentameter, rhyming ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. The first twelve lines list various reasons for the speaker's desire to die, focusing on the discrepancies between appearance and reality, virtue and reward. These complaints include the prevalence of "beggary" over merit, the elevation of foolishness over wisdom, and the perceived corruption of language and art. Specific lines highlight the speaker's disillusionment with the societal structures and the moral decay he observes.

The concluding couplet provides the dramatic turn, resolving the tension built up throughout the preceding lines. Although tempted by death, the speaker asserts his willingness to live on because of his love for the person being addressed, providing a powerful testament to the enduring strength of love in the face of overwhelming negativity.

Critical interpretations of Sonnet 66 often focus on its themes of despair, social criticism, and the redemptive power of love. The sonnet's enduring popularity stems from its powerful expression of universal feelings of disillusionment and the enduring human need for connection and meaning. The poem has been frequently anthologized and analyzed for its potent imagery and profound philosophical reflections on life, death, and love.