Fear No More the Heat of the Sun
William Shakespeare [1564-1616]
Relevant Background
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William Shakespeare was born in 1564.
Shakespeare’s mother, Mary Arden, was of the landed gentry.
His father, John, was a glover and commodities merchant who at one time became the
equivalent of mayor of his town.
William attended the local grammar school in Stratford where his parents lived. He
probably studied Latin rhetoric, logic, and literature. He left school at the age of 15.
Shakespeare spent his first 20 years in Stratford, which include his schooling, early
marriage, and fatherhood.
At the age of 18 William married Anne Hathaway, a local farmer’s daughter aged 26.
Susanna Shakespeare was born with six months of their wedding. They had twins Judith
and Hamnet [who died aged eleven] in 1585.
For 25 years, soon after the twins were born, Shakespeare worked as an actor and
playwright in London. Shakespeare began a career with a London acting company and
became well known as an actor and playwright within three years.
Shakespeare spent his last five in retirement back in Stratford where he was reasonably
well off as a result of his successes with plays.
‘Fear No More...’ is an extract from one of Shakspeare’s plays, Cymbeline. In the
original play the dead one is called Imogen, though disguised as a boy, Fidele. In fact
Fidele or Imogen has just taken a drug that only fakes death.
Two friends immediately begin to mourn. Their poetic dialogue has often been treated as
a poem about death ever since
Summary
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The poem is a type of funeral song in four stanzas of six lines each. The song is an
attempt to find consolation in the death of a loved one.
There are two speakers, Guiderius and Arviragus. For the sake of simplicity these notes
will just refer to the speaker. The poem is addressed to the body of Fidele/Imogen.
In the first stanza, the speaker seems to address a beloved one, who has apparently died.
The speaker begins by offering advice about death.
Death is a removal from extremes of weather, hot sun in the first line and severe winter in
the second line.
According to lines three and four, at the end of a natural life, a person has completed their
work or mission in life and should be on their way to their reward in heaven.
In lines five and six, the speaker claims that death comes equally to rich and poor,
‘golden’ people and ordinary chimneysweeps.
In the second stanza, lines seven and eight, the speaker claims that death is a benefit as it
frees one from dread of the all-powerful.
In line nine, death is a benefit because it frees one from economic pressure.
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In line ten, the speaker points out that difference between strength and weakness makes
no difference after death.
In lines eleven and twelve the speaker lists three important types of people who cannot
avoid death: king, professor and doctor.
In the third stanza, in lines thirteen and fourteen, the speaker suggests that death frees one
from dread of violent weather and meteorites.
In lines fifteen and sixteen, the speaker lists as another benefit the fact that the dead are
free from vicious gossip and the emotional ups and downs of living.
In lines seventeen and eighteen, the speaker pronounces that all lovers eventually die.
In the final stanza, lines nineteen, twenty and twenty one, the speaker argues that death
frees a person from fear of demons, witches and evil spirits that torment the living.
Instead haunting spirits will have to avoid the recently dead person [the deceased] the
poem is addressing.
In the final three lines, the speaker wishes the deceased freedom from evil, a quiet time
rotting in the grave and fame after death.
Themes
1. Time
Young and old must die. The poet mentions ‘golden lads and girls’ as well as ‘lovers young’.
Then he mentions ‘sceptre’ meaning rulers and ‘physic’ meaning doctor. All this implies that
death may come at any age. ‘All must follow this’: nobody can avoid death. It comes to all in
time.
2. Death
After a full life, one must face death calmly and with some confidence. The poem is an argument
against mourning. Death grants freedom or refuge from extremes of climate, abuses of political
power, poverty, public opinion and gossip, witchcraft and roaming spirits. The main argument is
that one should not fear death. In any case, it is repeated three times that all things ‘come to
dust’. At the end of the poem the speaker wishes the deceased a happy death, freedom from evil,
tranquillity in the grave and fame after death.
3. Life is brutal and horrifying.
The imagery of extreme weather, cruel rulers, lying gossip, meteorites all show that life is full of
random dangers and fears. The ‘frown of the great’ and ‘winter’s rages’ show that unexpected
torments and torture can happen at any time. Demons, witches and ghosts torment the living
from the spiritual world. The repetition of the word ‘fear’ further emphasises the horrors of life.
Style
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Form This poem is originally a dialogue which reads as a formal funeral song. It may
also be considered a sort of funeral speech.
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Structure Although two characters originally spoke the lines, this text easily forms four
stanzas of six lines each.
Language When Shakespeare wrote this poem, originally as a section of dialogue in a
play, the language was considered simple and everyday. It is also formal and dignified in
places. This is appropriate for a funeral song.
Diction The words are simple, though somewhat archaic [old-fashioned]. The phrase
‘come to dust’ reminds us of the bible. Words like ‘art’ for ‘are’ and ‘thee’ for ‘you’ are
examples of diction that are no longer in use. ‘Censure’ is more rarely used today to
mean judgement. Sometimes as in the case of ‘censure rash’, the adjective or descriptive
word comes after the noun and the reader must mentally change the word order.
Full Stops and Commas are frequently used and as a result the poem is easy to take in and
understand.
Comparison The poem compares the peacefulness of death to the ‘fears’ endured by the
living.
Imagery The poet provides images of extreme weather in the first two lines. Images of
cruel rulers are mixed in with images of rich young people, social distress and the
supernatural.
Metaphor Gaining heavenly reward after death is compared to taking one’s spiritual
wages.
Symbol ‘Sceptre’ stands for a ruler such as a king, ‘frown of the great’ stands for strict
authority.
Contrast [difference] Where life may be lived in fear, death is free of all fears. This is the
opposite of many people’s normal attitude to death.
Mood/Atmosphere The poem creates an emotional atmosphere as it addresses and
laments the death of someone who is loved. The speaker urges calm and acceptance,
which creates a quiet and tranquil mood while reading the poem.
Hyperbole [Exaggeration] The poet exaggerates the downside of life in order to
promote acceptance of death: ‘furious winter’s rages’.
Paradox [apparent contradiction] Economic need is dismissed though ‘wages’, in a
spiritual sense, are earned after death.
Allusion The phrase ‘come to dust’ is a repeated allusion [reference] to a famous image
in the bible for death.
Tone Though the subject may appear to be a sad one, the tone is dignified and uplifting.
The speaker utters the lines in a very positive tone. The notion that death is a time of
quiet is put across in a calm manner. The tone in the final stanza is upbeat: ‘renowned be
thy grave’.
Repetition The main repetition reinforces the theme that death is not to be feared: ‘Fear
no more’ occurs in stanzas one, two and three. A similar repetition reinforces the reality
that death cannot be avoided: ‘come to dust’. Words like ‘harm’ and ‘charm’ close to
each other create verbal music.
Rhyme There is a clear and consistent rhyming pattern: ‘un’/ ‘ages’/ ‘one’/ ‘ages’/ ‘ust’/
‘ust’ in the first stanza. The second and third stanzas have a similar pattern. In the final
stanza the pattern is simple and this increases the pace of the poem and adds to the
optimistic atmosphere.
Assonance [similar vowel sound repetition] The repeated long ‘o’ sounds in the opening
line of the first and second stanza create a tone of lamentation. This soon changes to a
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more upbeat tone later. The repeated ‘o’ sound throughout the final stanza is cheerful and
upbeat.
Consonance [similar consonant sound repetition] The ‘t’ repeated in line eight is a good
example of a repeated consonant sound adding to the music of the poems.
Alliteration [repetition of consonant sounds at the start of nearby words] Some lines
contain alliteration. This adds to the fluency and speed of the poem: e.g. ‘t’ in line three.
Sibilance [repetition of ‘s’ sound] Note how the four ‘s’ sounds in the fifteenth line help
create a nasty sense of secret, lying gossip.