In the first quatrain, the speaker presents his love as a disease that is feeding on his desires.
By the end of the poem, the speaker is able to admit that the object of his affection is not good for him, although it is unclear whether or not this admission means he will leave her. However, while love is the negative force and reason is the positive force, the negative force of love appears to overpower the positive force of reason. In the first two quatrains, reason and love are personified as two opposing forces, love in the form of an illness and reason in the form of the speaker’s physician. The ‘illness’ of love can also account for his distressed and crazed state of mind. The fact that he compares his love to an illness suggests that he knows his love is a bad idea, but he is defenseless against loving the subject. However, he longs for the thing that keeps him ill, or in love. In Shakespeare’s Sonnet 147, the speaker addresses his beloved using a metaphor, stating that his love is like an illness. Rhyme scheme of the literary work is ABABCDCDEFEFGG.
Five iambic feet per line is ta-DUM ta-DUM ta-DUM ta-DUM ta-DUM. This sonnet is written in Iamb (iambic) pentameter and it is predominant meter in this poem. The tone varies, however the content stays the same. The speaker goes from a sad and distressed sound to an angry and annoying tone. It includes metaphor often extended through entire poem. It has a distinctive style that uses pattern of metrical structure and verse composition.