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In Shakespeare’s sonnet 137，the speaker first addresses love as a blind fool and blames him in misleading him. Having become infatuated with the lady，he faces a dilemma. He is well aware that the lady is loose woman，being “the bay where all men ride” and “the common place” to which all men have free access. Nevertheless，his eyes cannot help taking the worst for the best but “see not what they see”. The conflict between passion and judgment shows just how mortified and perplexed he is by his submission to an irrational，impulsive element of his personality. The focus of the sonnet is extended from the mistress to the nature of human judgment and essence of love. There are totally four kinds of figures of speech in this poem，which respectively are apostrophe，pun，personification and synecdoche，making the poem have a distinctive theme and adding connotation of verses and attitude of speaker being showed clearly. Analysis of Shakespeare’s Sonnets 137 on figure of speech is in the following.
1.Apostrophe
In poetry，an apostrophe is a term used when a speaker directly addresses someone or something that is not present in the poem. Any sort of appeal to a higher power，something that is abstract or unlikely，or unable to reply，is what is called an apostrophe in poetry，and you all thought those were just for punctuation. The speaker could be addressing an abstract concept like love，like the sun or the sea.
The poet is full of feeling and imagination，because he dissatisfies the realism of objective world. Therefore，he will use the apostrophe. For example，“Though blind fool love” in line 1，“Thou blind fool，Love，what dost thou to mine eyes”，is apostrophe，Cupid，an illusion to Cupid’s blindness；the line also echoes the proverbial idea that “love is blind”，i.e.，lovers only see beauty and virtue in the beloved. From Renaissance illustrations but these ideas continue into modern popular culture，we know that this “blind fool” probably refers to Cupid，who is usually pictured as wearing a blindfold. Now，already we should be on the alert about something. Technically speaking，Cupid is not the god of love—he is actually the god of sexual desire. Because the word “Cupid” comes from the Latin word for “desire”. And why is the speaker calling the god of Love？ The mystery is：the speaker says that Love has done something to his eyes. What has Love done？ We don’t know，but neither does the speaker，because he is asking for a question，after all. Actually，The speaker wants to know what in tarnation Love has done to his eyes to make them “behold” but “see not what they see”. 2. Pun
A pun is a play on words. The sound or spelling of the words might be similar，sure，but the meanings are very different. Hilarity ensure. Or，more often than not，groans.
For example，punning in line 2，“That they behold and see not what they see”，or making some word-play here，the speaker is using a or some old fashioned language，there are two different meanings of the word “see” here. The first time the speaker uses the word “see”，he means it in the sense of understanding，like when you say，“Ahh，I see how that math problem is working”. The second time he uses the word “see” it means，well，“see”—in the normal sense of “look at”. Therefore，we could rephrase this whole line as asking what Love does to the speaker eyes “so that they look，and don’t understand what it is they’re looking at”.
3.Personification
Personification is figurative language that gives human traits，such as qualities，feelings，action，or characteristics etc.，to animals，non-living objects，or ideas，like things，colors，qualities，even abstract ideals.
For example，personification in line 3，“They know what beauty is，see where it lies”，here，eyes don’t really have a brain. Giving human qualities，like knowing，to inanimate objects，like eyeballs. The speaker isn’t going to tell us right away what he means. Instead，he’s going to change the subject—sort of. Instead of telling us what his eyes are looking at right now，he tells us about what his eyes normally do. Normally，he says，his eyes know “what beauty is”. They also “see where it lies”，meaning they “see where it is”. The word “lies” here is being used mainly in the same meaning as in the phrase，“Tell me where the treasure lies”. Some scholars also think that he means “lies” in the sense of “lies down”，so that there’s a double-meaning here that let us imagine the speaker’s lady-love lying down，maybe in bed. The main meaning of this line，though，is still clear：Basically，he’s saying that his eyes are generally pretty reliable when it comes to judging beauty.
4.Synecdoche
A synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a part of something represents the whole. For instance，the next time someone says to us，“All hands on deck”，tell them thanks for the synecdoche，but we think it’s best that our whole body goes on deck，too.
Synecdoche in line 8，“Whereto the judgment of my heart is tied”，or using a part，the heart，to represent the whole，really，the speaker is talking his own judgment as a person here. This line means：why does the judgement of my heart or mind follow the lead given by the eyes？ We think back to that anchor metaphor from the previous line. As we probably know，an anchor is a special kind of weight used to hold a ship in place. Well，we’ve heard about the “anchor”，and we’ve heard about the “hooks” of the anchor，but we are still missing the ship，of course！ Here，the speaker reveals what the “ship” is：the “judgment of my heart”.
In conclusion，Sonnets 137 is a distinctive one among 154 poems of Shakespeare’s Sonnets. It consists of unique style on the aspects of figure of speech，which make speaker’s idea be overflowed spontaneously，every sort of figure of speech plays an important role in expressing poet’s thought and in demonstrating the theme of poem.
Works Cited
[1]Philologus. CLAES SCHAAR. On Philostratus' letters and Shakespeare's sonnets[J]. 1964，108（1-4）.
[2]陳观亚. 莎士比亚十四行诗中的矛盾修辞法[J]. 外国文学研究. 1999（03）
[3]罗益民. 莎士比亚十四行诗中的三个主题[J]. 西南师范大学学报（人文社会科学版）. 2005（02）
作者简介
谢如月（1992-），女，汉族，山东德州人，文学硕士，单位：云南大学外国语学院英语语言文学专业硕士2016级研究生，研究方向：系统功能语言学。
（作者单位：云南大学外国语学院）
1.Apostrophe
In poetry，an apostrophe is a term used when a speaker directly addresses someone or something that is not present in the poem. Any sort of appeal to a higher power，something that is abstract or unlikely，or unable to reply，is what is called an apostrophe in poetry，and you all thought those were just for punctuation. The speaker could be addressing an abstract concept like love，like the sun or the sea.
The poet is full of feeling and imagination，because he dissatisfies the realism of objective world. Therefore，he will use the apostrophe. For example，“Though blind fool love” in line 1，“Thou blind fool，Love，what dost thou to mine eyes”，is apostrophe，Cupid，an illusion to Cupid’s blindness；the line also echoes the proverbial idea that “love is blind”，i.e.，lovers only see beauty and virtue in the beloved. From Renaissance illustrations but these ideas continue into modern popular culture，we know that this “blind fool” probably refers to Cupid，who is usually pictured as wearing a blindfold. Now，already we should be on the alert about something. Technically speaking，Cupid is not the god of love—he is actually the god of sexual desire. Because the word “Cupid” comes from the Latin word for “desire”. And why is the speaker calling the god of Love？ The mystery is：the speaker says that Love has done something to his eyes. What has Love done？ We don’t know，but neither does the speaker，because he is asking for a question，after all. Actually，The speaker wants to know what in tarnation Love has done to his eyes to make them “behold” but “see not what they see”. 2. Pun
A pun is a play on words. The sound or spelling of the words might be similar，sure，but the meanings are very different. Hilarity ensure. Or，more often than not，groans.
For example，punning in line 2，“That they behold and see not what they see”，or making some word-play here，the speaker is using a or some old fashioned language，there are two different meanings of the word “see” here. The first time the speaker uses the word “see”，he means it in the sense of understanding，like when you say，“Ahh，I see how that math problem is working”. The second time he uses the word “see” it means，well，“see”—in the normal sense of “look at”. Therefore，we could rephrase this whole line as asking what Love does to the speaker eyes “so that they look，and don’t understand what it is they’re looking at”.
3.Personification
Personification is figurative language that gives human traits，such as qualities，feelings，action，or characteristics etc.，to animals，non-living objects，or ideas，like things，colors，qualities，even abstract ideals.
For example，personification in line 3，“They know what beauty is，see where it lies”，here，eyes don’t really have a brain. Giving human qualities，like knowing，to inanimate objects，like eyeballs. The speaker isn’t going to tell us right away what he means. Instead，he’s going to change the subject—sort of. Instead of telling us what his eyes are looking at right now，he tells us about what his eyes normally do. Normally，he says，his eyes know “what beauty is”. They also “see where it lies”，meaning they “see where it is”. The word “lies” here is being used mainly in the same meaning as in the phrase，“Tell me where the treasure lies”. Some scholars also think that he means “lies” in the sense of “lies down”，so that there’s a double-meaning here that let us imagine the speaker’s lady-love lying down，maybe in bed. The main meaning of this line，though，is still clear：Basically，he’s saying that his eyes are generally pretty reliable when it comes to judging beauty.
4.Synecdoche
A synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a part of something represents the whole. For instance，the next time someone says to us，“All hands on deck”，tell them thanks for the synecdoche，but we think it’s best that our whole body goes on deck，too.
Synecdoche in line 8，“Whereto the judgment of my heart is tied”，or using a part，the heart，to represent the whole，really，the speaker is talking his own judgment as a person here. This line means：why does the judgement of my heart or mind follow the lead given by the eyes？ We think back to that anchor metaphor from the previous line. As we probably know，an anchor is a special kind of weight used to hold a ship in place. Well，we’ve heard about the “anchor”，and we’ve heard about the “hooks” of the anchor，but we are still missing the ship，of course！ Here，the speaker reveals what the “ship” is：the “judgment of my heart”.
In conclusion，Sonnets 137 is a distinctive one among 154 poems of Shakespeare’s Sonnets. It consists of unique style on the aspects of figure of speech，which make speaker’s idea be overflowed spontaneously，every sort of figure of speech plays an important role in expressing poet’s thought and in demonstrating the theme of poem.
Works Cited
[1]Philologus. CLAES SCHAAR. On Philostratus' letters and Shakespeare's sonnets[J]. 1964，108（1-4）.
[2]陳观亚. 莎士比亚十四行诗中的矛盾修辞法[J]. 外国文学研究. 1999（03）
[3]罗益民. 莎士比亚十四行诗中的三个主题[J]. 西南师范大学学报（人文社会科学版）. 2005（02）
作者简介
谢如月（1992-），女，汉族，山东德州人，文学硕士，单位：云南大学外国语学院英语语言文学专业硕士2016级研究生，研究方向：系统功能语言学。
（作者单位：云南大学外国语学院）