Fear No More

Hello everyone, This blog is a part of my thinking activity. In this blog I will discuss about  William Shakespeare's poem  “Fear No More"

Introduction

Popularity of “Fear No More the Heat O’ the Sun”: Taken from the play Cymbeline, “Fear No More the Heat O’ the Sun” is a suggestive poetic piece. Published in the 16th century, the play recorded the tragedy of the King of Britain. In this poetic piece, William Shakespeare says that dead souls should not fear the things occurring on the earth. To him, the dead should be glad they are done with their job. The poem, however, became popular because it revolves around the conventional and universal ideas of life and death.

Themes

“Fear No More the Heat O’ the Sun” As a Representative of Reality: This simple poem explains that the dead souls are not worried about anything once they are gone. To him, they should not fear the scorching heat of the sun, or the harsh winter because they are gone back to their eternal home. While addressing the dead, the speaker touches on the keynote that everyone ranging from the highest born to the lowest born and the weakest must taste death. He adds the good thing about being dead is that the gone spirits are beyond the approach of the tyrant’s rule. They do not need to worry about clothing and feeding themselves and others. Moreover, they do not have to face criticism from the people as happy and sad times stay behind once you are dead. In the final stanza, the speaker talks about supernatural creatures and says that no power on earth can disturb the sleep of the deceased. Thus, everything becomes meaningless in the hands of death.

Major Themes in “Fear No More the Heat O’ the Sun”: Death, eternity, life versus death and satisfaction are the poem’s major themes. This profound poem displays established realities about the dead. Death is not presented as something cruel, horrific, or terrifying in this poem. Instead, the speaker presents death as an antidote to our life’s troubles. To him, it liberates a person from the clutches of woes and miseries. He catalogs different problems humans face in life and presents a counter-argument on how death ends all those sufferings. Furthermore, no power on earth can bring people back to life. Through this poem, the writer suggests that one should be optimistic even though standing on the verge of turbulence and destruction.

Analysis

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.

In the first stanza of ‘Fear no more the heat o’ the sun’ from Cymbeline, the first of the two singers, Guiderius, directs his words to the dead bodies at his feet (one of whom isn’t actually deceased). He takes a hopeful approach to death, telling the dead (a technique known as apostrophe) that they should be happy to be rid of the many fears life presents. They no longer have to worry about the heat of the sun or the “furious winter’s rages”. There are no more tasks to complete or jobs to do.

Plus, there’s really nothing that they can do about it. Everyone dies. From “Golden,” rich and beautiful “lads and girls” to the “chimney-sweepers”. All “come to dust”. While death is almost by definition depression, this speaker does not see it that way. The same can be said about Argiragus who sings next.

Fear no more the frown o’ 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 scepter, learning, physic, must

All follow this, and come to dust.

The second stanza of ‘Fear no more the heat o’ the sun’ is very similar to the first in that the speaker is talking the listeners, who are dead or incapacitated, through the various reasons why they’re lucky to be dead. They no longer have to worry about judgment from the living or punishment from those in power. No one needs to worry about money to buy clothes or food, one thing is like the next. No one is rich and no one is poor. Once again, the stanza ends with an allusion to the fact that everyone, no matter what kind of power they have, will die.

Fear no more the lightning flash,

Nor the all-dreaded 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 renownèd be thy grave!

In the next stanza of ‘Fear no more the heat o’ the sun’, the speakers switch again and go through more reasons why death is safer and more secure than life. There are no dangers, physical or emotional, to be afraid of. No slander nor joy nor sorrow. All lovers die, no matter how happy they are, the speaker concludes.

The fourth and final stanza of the poem is different than those which came before it. The rhyme scheme changes and so does the use of punctuation. Here, Shakespeare ends the first four lines and the sixth line with an exclamation point. His speaker is exclaiming over the lack of fear, witchcraft, and negativity that the dead have to worry about. These lines are sung excitedly and with a lot of energy. The song/poem ends with the speakers wishing the two deceased (or so they think) characters well in death.

Structure and Form

Song: “Fear no more the heat o’ the sun” by William Shakespeare is a four stanza excerpt from the play Cymbeline. These four verses of the song, or stanzas in this context, follow a rhyme scheme ABCBDD, changing end sounds from stanza to stanza. There is a good example of repetition at the end of the first three stanzas where Shakespeare uses epistrophe, repeating the words “must” and “dust” at the ends of lines five and six of stanzas one, two, and three. The same technique appears in the final stanza where the rhyme scheme is broken and “thee” ends the first four lines of the stanza.