This sonnet was written in the fourteenth century, by on of the major figures of the Renaissance literature in England-William Shakespeare. The English renaissance literature deals in some parts of its scope with the relationship that defines the links involving men and women and also treachery and hypocrisy in those days. In this poem, the speaker shows his dissatisfaction with both life and death and urges his beloved to forget him if ever he passes away as the current behavior entails..
Obviously, there is only one single speaker in this sonnet; a man who happens to let the reader know about his dissatisfaction with both life and death. The first evidence would be that the writer or the poet in question is William Shakespeare who is one of the prominent figures of the renaissance literature in England. By examining the first line of the second quatrain, the reader would certainly notice the reference to a poet through the synecdoche "this line" and "the hand" as clear evidence of the identity of the speaker, and as far as one can tell, writing poetry in renaissance times was quintessentially a male activity. Add to that the use of some words denoting a kind of negative affective aspect such as "moan, woe…" associated with the addressee "you" which make clear that in this piece of poetry is an address form one male speaker to a female receiver to whom he lays bare his love.
The resigned tone, he shows no willingness to face and resist the ongoing "vile" nature of the world. He forgets about seeking a way to resist and stand steadfastly in face of the then-existing conducts. Instead, he reveals that Man himself is imperfect and so must fail in any bettering attempts. He shows a complete resignation waiting for death to take him into another world which, nonetheless, he esteems it "vilest" than life.
Not only does the speaker spell out his negative attitude towards life, he is also disappointed with death. This is clear using the affective description which is far from being objective using the word "fled". As if the speaker has had enough of life he is living, he is literally sick and tired of it. As we move on reading the poem, we come across to the negative affective aspect at the level of the words "vile" and "vilest", which also can be read as polyptotone. He thinks of the underground world, as referred from the implication of "worms", once he passes on and is carried into his grave, similarly vile as the life he is leading or even worse than that since he uses the superlative form "vilest". So here, through his clever use of polyptotone, the speaker sheds light on the vile nature of both life and death. As if there is no place where he can fell comfy he even expects that he would bath in the same vile sea after death.
A deep understanding of this poem could make clear the idea of the speaker's strange demand to be totally forgotten once he departs this life. Form the very beginning, the speaker heralds his demand and urges his beloved not to "mourn" him or even bear the brunt of his remembrance. He begs to cast her eyes over his "line", referring to his poem, so as not remember him. For him, the mere recollection of his person would Plunge the beloved into a world of 'grief' and 'woe'. Gradually, He goes on to ask her to her even to forget his "poor name". We move on another step in reading this poem and we find the speaker, through The consonance in the third quatrain (life, love), imploring his addressee to overlook even their love since it is conditioned by the end of his life.
As we reach the last couplets, we get to the rational behind the speaker's wish for being forgotten. Wisdom lies in forgetting the dead ones, if you keep in mind decayed dead, you are mocked up. Therefore, it would be useful to putt of such derision by letting a dead person's memories decay with him. Here we can safely deduce that William Shakespeare calls into question the existing behavior in his milieu. We can also consider that William Shakespeare beats about the brush in trying to conveying his opposing stand to treachery and hypocrisy of courtly life in Elizabethan England.
