The speaker
The speaker is someone who frequently remembers the past. Though he is not normally used to crying, he has made a habit of recalling all the woes and sorrows of his life. He has lost many friends and has regrets about some things in life that will never come back again. Yet he has a beloved, described as his “dear friend.” This friend makes all of these past sorrows bearable. The thought of this friend makes the speaker happy once again.
The friend
The speaker’s beloved is described simply as his “dear friend” in this sonnet. However, Shakespeare scholars describe the beloved in sonnets 1-126 as being about the same person, known as the Fair Youth or the Young Man. He is addressed in the sonnets as “fair friend,” “my love,” and “my lovely boy.” In Sonnet 30, the reader is not told anything about the friend’s physical qualities or personality. The only detail given is that thinking of the friend causes the speaker to forget his past woes.
