The sonnet begins with the death of both pleasure and pain. Pain is described with the typically masculine traits of being “stern [and] hard featured” (2), yet is described with the feminine pronoun of “her” (3). Later on, joy is given the masculine pronouns of “his” and “him” (12), but is given the (typically) feminine trait of “innocence” (10). Thus, in Bryant’s personification of these two states of being, he portrays them as opposites, and yet each contains something of the other--similar to the Taoist principle of yin and yang. These two--joy and pain--are depicted as being in a constant struggle for dominion. When pain rules, joy is kept as “her weary prisoner” (3) until pain falls and joy escapes his chains. While the sonnet
