Sonet 80

O! how I faint when I of you do write,
Knowing a better spirit doth use your name,
And in the praise thereof spends all his might,
To make me tongue-tied speaking of your fame.
But since your worth, wide as the ocean is,
The humble as the proudest sail doth bear,
My saucy bark, inferior far to his,
On your broad main doth wilfully appear.
Your shallowest help will hold me up afloat,
Whilst he upon your soundless deep doth ride;
Or, being wracked, I am a worthless boat,
He of tall building, and of goodly pride:
Then if he thrive and I be cast away,
The worst was this, my love was my decay.

William Shakespeare wrote his 80th sonnet about how he feels discouraged writing his love because he knows that a better poet uses her name in his poetry. This is humorous because shakespeare is famous now but nobody really knows who the poet he most certainly envied is. Shakespeare says her worth is “wide as the ocean is” comparing her importance to shakespeare to 71% of planet earth. Thats an incredible amount. The video of the NYC sonnet projects is set on the USS Intrepid which is perfect because that is in the ocean. He calls himself “a worthless boat” in her ocean of importance. Shakespeare is clearly down in the dumps about this girl and he wants to impress her in some sort of way. The Sonnet project NYC helps clarify this shakespearian riddle by allowing the audience to use the boat and the whole ocean as a connection to this sonnet.