Sonnet 56: Sweet Love, Renew Thy Force, Be it Not Said

SONNETCAST – William Shakespeare's Sonnets Recited, Revealed, Relived

Sonnet 56 is the second sonnet in the series so far in which William Shakespeare addresses not the young man, nor us as the general reader or listener about the young man, but an abstract concept, in this case love. The first instance when Shakespeare did something similar was Sonnet 19, which addressed itself to time. Here as then, this changes our perspective and lends the poem an emotional distance, which here is complemented by a direct reference to a hiatus in the relationship.