Shakespeare's Sonnet 35 Analysis

No more be grieved at that which thou hast done:

Roses have thorns, and silver fountains mud,

Clouds and eclipses stain both moon and sun,

And loathsome canker lives in sweetest bud.

All men make faults, and even I in this,

Authórizing thy trespass with compare,

Myself corrupting salving thy amiss,

Excusing thy sins more than thy sins are:

For to thy sensual fault I bring in sense—

Thy adverse party is thy advocate—

And ‘gainst myself a lawful plea commence.

Such civil war is in my love and hate,

  
 That I an áccessory needs must be

   To that sweet thief which sourly robs from me.

The first four lines are straight forward in movement and imagery. The fifth line begins by continuing the excuses "All men make faults" but with an abrupt change of rhythm. Shakespeare turns the generalization against himself by saying:"All men make faults and even I in this". That is to say, in waisting my time finding romantic parallels for your sins, as though as intellectual analogies (sins) were relevant to your sensual fault. The painful complexity of feelings is evident in the seventh line, for Shakespeare is at the same time tender towards the sinner infuriated and disturbed by his own tenderness. He added "I corrupt myself when I find excuses for you" or "When I comfort myself in this way" and "I am afraid I myself make you worse by excusing your faults." Although there is a fresh change of tone towards the end; the 12th line is virtually a sigh as he gives up hope of resolving the conflict. The expressions "needs must" and "The sweet sour" opposing show the continued civil war of the emotions.

This poem talks about the complexity of the lover's feelings who wants to be merciful and hates himself for showing such a mercy. This clarifies the nature of the true love which is not simple at all. In the depth of love, the lover may have different and opposed emotion at the same time. Also, in this poem the poet stresses the theme of wordily imperfection, "Nature is imperfect as well as man."