played in the family, or with a musical instrument in an orchestra. "resembling sire and child and happy mother" in line 11 alludes to the Holy Family, Mary, Jesus, and Joseph as they were depicted as a happy family in multiple church paintings during the time this sonnet was written. The poet warns the subject against staying single in the last line, "‘Thou single wilt prove none.’" As a single person, a man will accomplish nothing. Context Sonnet 8, published in the 1609 Quarto, is part of the Fair Youth sequence (sonnets 1–126), which makes up the largest portion of Shakespeare’s sonnets (see the Rival Poet sequence). The Fair Youth sonnets center around one subject, who is a young, fair man. There is debate as to whom the subject is. Some theorize the sonnets are written about William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke. Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, has also been suggested as the fair youth. The first 17 sonnets (including Sonnet 8) urge the young man to marry and have children. The rest of the sonnets in the sequence seek to immortalize the fair youth within the poet's words. Structure Sonnet 8 follows standard English or Shakespearean sonnet form, with 14 lines of iambic pentameter sectioned into three quatrains and a couplet, with the rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. The iambic pentameter's metrical structure is based on five pairs of metrically weak/strong syllabic positions per line (as exemplified in the fourth line): × / × / × / × / × / Or else receiv'st with pleasure thine annoy? (8.4) / = ictus, a metrically strong syllabic position. × = nonictus. (×) = extrametrical syllable. The first line features two common variations, an initial reversal and a final extrametrical syllable or feminine ending: / × × / × / × / × / (×) Music to hear, why hear'st thou music sadly? (8.1) Exegesis In line 3, "Why lov'st thou" means "why do you like". It is followed by "thou receiv'st" which activates a sexual tone, emphasized by "receiv'st with pleasure" in line 4. The subject of the poem is having affairs; running around receiving pleasures, but with no intention of settling down. Yet "thine annoy" means what gives one pain, indicates the subject is unhappy with his situation. There are some theories which indicate a homosexual relationship between the poet and the Fair Youth. These theorists argue that