Sonnet 30 is one of the 154 sonnets written by the English poet and playwright William Shakespeare. It was published in the Quarto in 1609. It is also part of the Fair Youth portion of the Shakespeare Sonnet collection where he writes about his affection for an unknown young man. While it is not known exactly when Sonnet 30 was written, most scholars agree that it was written between 1595 and 1600. It is written in Shakespearean form, comprising fourteen lines of iambic pentameter, divided into three quatrains and a couplet. Within the sonnet, the narrator spends time remembering and reflecting on sad memories of a dear friend. He grieves of his shortcomings and failures, while also remembering happier memories. The narrator uses legal metaphors throughout the sonnet to describe the sadness that he feels as he reflects on his life. Then in the final couplet, the narrator changes his tone about the failures, as if the losses are now merely gains for himself. Summary Sonnet 30 starts with Shakespeare mulling over his past failings and sufferings, including his dead friends and that he feels that he hasn't done anything useful. But in the final couplet Shakespeare comments on how thinking about his friend helps him to recover all of the things that he's lost, and it allows him stop mourning over all that has happened in the past. Context Sonnet 30 is among the first group of sonnets (1-126), which are thought to concern a fair young man. The young man, as mentioned in some of Shakespeare's other sonnets, is described as being a good-looking young man who is gentle, and seems to possess a never ending supply of virtues. Some view Shakespeare's relationship with the young man as a homosexual one. However, it is also possible that Shakespeare's sonnets regarding the fair young man are simply meant to display male friendship above that of romantic love between man and woman. The original volume of 1609 is dedicated (by the publisher) to a "Mr. W. H." who some identify with the fair young man. Some candidates for Mr. W.H. are: William Shakespeare, William Hammond, William Houghton, Henry Walker, William Hewes, William Herbert, William Hathaway, and (with initials reversed) Henry Wriothesley. Structure Sonnet 30 follows (as do almost all of the 154 sonnets of Shakespeare's collection) the Shakespearean Sonnet form, based on the 'English' or 'Surreyan' sonnet. These sonnets are