Sonnet VIII

Music to hear, why hear'st thou music sadly?

Sweets with sweets war not, joy delights in joy:
Why lov'st thou that which thou receiv'st not gladly,
Or else receiv'st with pleasure thine annoy?
If the true concord of well-tuned sounds,
By unions married, do offend thine ear,
They do but sweetly chide thee, who confounds
In singleness the parts that thou shouldst bear.
Mark how one string, sweet husband to another,
Strikes each in each by mutual ordering;
Resembling sire and child and happy mother,
Who, all in one, one pleasing note do sing:
Whose speechless song being many, seeming one,
Sings this to thee: 'Thou single wilt prove none.'

RHYME SCHEME - abab, cdcd, efef, gg

SONNET BACKGROUND

In this sonnet, the poet compares a single musical note to the young man and a chord
made up of many notes to the family. The marriage of sounds in a chord symbolizes the union
of father, mother and child.
THEME

The theme of the poem is failure to marry and have children is sustained. Music itself is
concord and harmony, similar to that which reigns in the happy household of father, child and
mother, as if they were separate strings in music which echo mutually. The young man
saddened by this harmony because he does not submit to it. In effect it rebukes him, telling
him that, in dedicating himself to a single life he makes himself worthless.
INTERPRETATION

Sonnet 8 by William Shakespeare empathizes with the subject, who is against the idea of
marriage. The young man, the subject of the sonnet, is chided for choosing to be single. The
poet uses comparisons with music and marriage, likening the "true concord of well-tuned
sounds" to a marriage. It is appropriate that Sonnet 8, a sonnet of musical descant, is placed
as the 8th sonnet, since an "eight" is a "true concord." Shakespeare does this to emphasize the
beauty and importance of having a family. The sonnet emphasizes the notion that the subject
will not reach true harmony if he does not settle down with a wife and children. His life will be
in discord if he chooses to continue being single. It is among the string of procreation sonnets
written by Shakespeare. The procreation sonnets are sonnets 1-17. All share the theme of
urging a young man to marry and have children, insisting they are key to a harmonious life.

In line 6, "Unions" can have two different meanings: that which is blatant to marriage and the
other referring to harmonies. The Oxford English Dictionary does not give this as a definition,
but the closeness of union to unison keeps the musical connotation present in the reader’s
mind. Then in line 8, "the parts that thou shouldst bear" still keeps the idea that music and family
are one by saying a part that is played in the family, or with a musical instrument in an
orchestra. "Resembling sire and child and happy mother" in line 11 alludes to the Holy Family,
Mary, Jesus, and Joseph as they were depicted as a happy family in multiple church paintings
during the time this sonnet was written. The poet warns the subject against staying single in the
last line, "‘Thou single wilt prove none.’" As a single person, a man will accomplish nothing.