the young man. His life is colorless without the young man's presence.
The saddening effect of the young man's absence upon the speaker also becomes the subject matter in "Sonnet 98." In this poem the joys and beauties of the springtime are set as a contrast to the speaker's own joyless mood.
Personification is one of the key poetic features of this poem. April appears as a youthful and exuberant (or cheerful) clown or jester. He is dressed in a motley fashion ("proud-pied"): that is, he is wearing a costume of many bright and marvelous colors. The Roman God Saturn personifies the idea of melancholy. Saturn (the Roman equivalent to the Greek god named Cronus) was once the king of the gods. However, Jupiter (the Roman equivalent to the Greek god Zeus), the son of Saturn, defeated Saturn and forced him to give up the throne. Thus, in this poem, Saturn is the sad god, the god of melancholy.
In this sonnet, however, April is so full of joy and cheer that he causes even Saturn to laugh and dance (line 4). In other words, during the springtime, the beauty of nature and the loveliness of the season will brighten or cheer up even the saddest or most melancholy of individuals.
There is, though, one person who is sadder than the personification of melancholy itself: the speaker. He is sadder than sadness itself. None of the joys of springtime have any effect on him. Neither the cheerful songs ("lays") of the birds nor