Shakespeare's Sonnet 138, which concerns a difficult relationship in which both the speaker and the lover lie to each other, was initially published in 1599 in a collection called The Passionate Pilgrim. The book was attributed to William Shakespeare. However, the book also included poems belonging to other writers. Due to these inconsistencies, scholars think that the book was pirated and unauthorized by Shakespeare. It is the version published in the 1609 Quarto Shakespeare’s Sonnets that is best known and loved by readers. The 1609 version is quite different from the version published 10 years earlier.
Sonnet 138 is written in the typical form of the English sonnet. The English sonnet has 14 lines written in iambic pentameter. It has a rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. The last two lines are a rhyming couplet that marks the poem's "volta" or "turn" in which the argument or tone shifts.
In the sonnet, the speaker lies about his age and the lover lies about not cheating on him. In the end, the speaker says that fake trust is the foundation for the best kind of love because it allows lovers to flatter each other. This is an unusual kind of sonnet. Starting with the Italian poet Petrarch’s sonnets written during the Renaissance, this poetic form typically describes an idealized lover with a pale face and golden hair. Sonnet 138 is part of the “Dark Lady” series in Shakespeare’s sonnets, which includes sonnets 127 to 154. These describe a woman who is not particularly beautiful (according to the beauty standards of Shakespeare’s times). She has dark hair and a dark complexion. Their relationship is also far from ideal, as she is often cruel to the speaker and cheats on him.
