Shakespeare Sonnet 53 "What is your substance, whereof are you made"

Introduction and Text of Sonnet 53 "What is your substance, whereof are you made"

This exceptionally talented speaker has been examining his own talent related to his poetry creations. He is well aware that his ability to compose sonnets far exceeds that of many who have written before him and who are at that time publishing. The speaker, however, prefers to concentrate on eternal verities. Thus, he muses on the nature of God and God's relationship to the speaker's own soul.

This speaker's concentration has been so focused that it has led him to understand the dual nature of the material level of being. And more importantly, that concentration has led him to at least the early stages of meditation, wherein the soul begins to become aware of it own nature.

Thus in sonnet 53 "What is your substance, whereof are you made," this speaker demonstrates that he is becoming ever more aware that the Divine Creator has created all of creation and has inserted a spark of that divine nature into each of His creations.

Sonnet 53 "What is your substance, whereof are you made"

What is your substance, whereof are you made,
That millions of strange shadows on you tend?
Since every one hath, every one, one shade,
And you but one, can every shadow lend.
Describe Adonis, and the counterfeit
Is poorly imitated after you;
On Helen's cheek all art of beauty set,
And you in Grecian tires are painted new:
Speak of the spring, and foison of the year,
The one doth shadow of your beauty show,
The other as your bounty doth appear;
And you in every blessed shape we know.
In all external grace you have some part,
But you like none, none you, for constant heart.

Commentary on Sonnet 53 "What is your substance, whereof are you made"

In 53 "What is your substance, whereof are you made," the speaker is exploring the nature of the Divine, as he examines the nature of his own soul and its relationship to his ability for creating original art.

First Quatrain: Substance of Being

What is your substance, whereof are you made,
That millions of strange shadows on you tend?
Since every one hath, every one, one shade,
And you but one, can every shadow lend.

The opening quatrain of sonnet 53 "What is your substance, whereof are you made" finds the speaker posing a question regarding the material out of which spirit is composed. As this very talented speaker begins to address his Belovèd Divine Creator, he is seeking answers from the Divine Reality about the composition and as well as the purpose of Its being.

The phrase "millions of strange shadows" refers to the many created things that take their existence and that flow from the substance of the First Cause, Divine Reality, or God. The speaker is thus attempting to elucidate the nature of the Divine Reality. This speaker knows well that that Reality exists as the creator and the storehouse for his special talent for creating and organizing his poetry.

In his copious collection of sonnets, this extraordinarily talented speaker has long since discovered his soul nature. He has come to comprehend his soul's relationship with his talent for poetry creation. Thus this speaker has come to understand the unity that exists between that gift of talent and the Ultimate Creative Force.

The speaker then avers: "Since every one hath, every one, one shade, / And you but one, can every shadow lend." The Divine Reality is one entity, but creatures emanating from the Creative Force exist as many. God, or the First Cause, exists as only one "substance"—one being. Yet, His creatures remain similar to His shadows. It remains a conundrum to puzzle the small human mind that One Being can, indeed, possess a multitude of shadows.

Second Quatrain: The Use of Myth

Describe Adonis, and the counterfeit
Is poorly imitated after you;
On Helen's cheek all art of beauty set,
And you in Grecian tires are painted new:

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The speaker, as a poet, is wont to allude to mythological pieces by which to examine his own art. Thus he remarks: "Describe Adonis, and the counterfeit / Is poorly imitated after you."

The speaker is contending that even the loveliest of manmade creations pales in contrast to the Ultimate Creative Force, Which originally brought them into existence. Divinity remains thus planted squarely on "Helen’s cheek." The First Cause can be considered to be newly attired after the fashion of the Greeks. The speaker is exemplifying beauty as it has existed down through the ages.

The speaker is contending that the wholesomeness and loveliness of all manmade objects are merely reflections of the works of the Divine Artist's talent. The Divine Artist has eternally extended his talent to his created beings.

Third Quatrain: Beauty Divine

Speak of the spring, and foison of the year,
The one doth shadow of your beauty show,
The other as your bounty doth appear;
And you in every blessed shape we know.

Further samplings of divinely inspired beauty exist in nature in the seasonal activity of spring with its new-born green, fall's multi-colored leaves, winter's snowy blankets, summer's pleasurable temperatures. All these effusions are alluring to the human senses. The speaker then remarks: "Speak of the spring and foison of the year, / The one doth shadow of your beauty show."

The speaker then asserts that the Creator remains in everything He has created: "The other as your bounty doth appear; / And you in every blessed shape we know." The First Cause, or Ultimate Force, contains not only omniscience but also omnipresence as well as omnipotence.

The Couplet: The Part and the Whole

In all external grace you have some part,
But you like none, none you, for constant heart.

No created part of the Whole can ever claim to be the Whole. However, every part possesses features that become evident to the senses, despite the fact that the senses can never completely detect that Whole.

The Ultimate Reality has never condescended to make Itself comprehensible to the senses. The awareness of the First Cause, Divine Reality, or God can only be attained by the soul, which is itself a spark of the flame that is the Divine Belovèd First Cause.

Related Shakespeare Information

• Introduction to the Shakespeare 154-Sonnet Sequence - The Shakespeare 154-sonnet sequence offers a study of the mind of a poet. The first 17 have a speaker persuading a young man to marry and produce lovely offspring. Sonnets 18–126 address issues relating to talent and art creation.
• "William Shakespeare": Nom de Plume of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford - The Shakespeare controversy continues to play out between the Oxfordians, who argue that the "Shakespeare" writer was Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, and the Stratfordians, who insist that Gulielmus Shakspere of Stratford-upon-Avon remains the writer of that canon.

Commentaries on Other Shakespeare Sonnets

• Shakespeare Sonnet 1 "From fairest creatures we desire increase." DiscoverHubPages. Original: February 13, 2023. Updated: January 11, 2024. - EXCERPT: The Shakespeare sonnet sequence features 154 Elizabethan sonnets (also known as English or Shakespearean). The first sonnet "From fairest creatures we desire increase" begins the focus on the young man, and the speaker will continue that engagement in sonnets 1-17.
• Shakespeare Sonnet 4 "Unthrifty loveliness, why dost thou spend." DiscoverHubPages. Original: February 26, 2023. Updated: January 10, 2024. - EXCERPT: Sonnet 4 from"The Marriage Sonnets" in the classic Shakespeare 154-sonnet sequence, find the speaker engaging a finance metaphor to enhance the drama of his argument.
• Shakespeare Sonnet 5 "Those hours, that with gentle work did frame" DiscoverHubPages. Original: February 27, 2023. Updated: January 10, 2024. - EXCERPT: The speaker of Shakespeare sonnet 5 continues fashioning his little dramas, persuading the young man that he must marry and procreate to preserve his youth and thus attain a certain imagined version of immortality.
• Shakespeare Sonnet 18 "Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?" Owlcation. Original: October 12, 2023. Updated: January 22, 2024. - EXCERPT: Shakespeare sonnet 18 "Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day" is one of the bard’s most widely anthologized—and most widely misunderstood—sonnets. There is no person in this sonnet: the speaker is not comparing/contrasting the beauty of nature and the beauty of a paramour.

This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.

© 2024 Linda Sue Grimes