Shakespeare’s mention of “compounds strange” (Line 4) is a moment of romantic imagery that contains several layers of symbolic meaning. In its most literal and grammatical sense, a compound, also known as a portmanteau, is a word composed of more than one root word—for example, “brunch” to mean a meal bridging breakfast and lunch, or “podcast,” which originally meant an iPod broadcast.

In this way the term “compounds strange” comes to mean new contemporary vernacular that the speaker, a member of an older generation, may not be familiar with. It can also refer to the idea of compound sentences, or grammatical structures reflecting the colloquialisms of everyday speech rather than the formal vernacular of classic poetry. The term “strange” suggests a negative view on behalf of the speaker; they look down upon these new linguistic influences as something temporal and perhaps less welcome in the realms of highbrow literature.

Another interpretation of the symbol is compounds as a psychoactive substance. Certainly, the poet references “compounds” in a medicinal or poisonous capacity in his other works, including Romeo and Juliet and Cymbeline. This sonnet and line in particular inspired South African researcher and anthropologist Francis Thackeray to explore the possibility that Shakespeare may have used drugs as an aid in his work. Naturally, this theory intrigued a lot of people and made a lot of others very angry.

Thackeray’s team discovered traces of substances such as nicotine and cocaine in and around Shakespeare’s home, but evidence was inconclusive as to any use in the writer’s own life. It is entirely possible that the reference in this sonnet was intended as a criticism of other writers who sought inspiration from these substances, since the poem puts the speaker on a pedestal of traditional values. However, lack of records and hard anthropological evidence means that the Bard’s exact relationship with drug use, if any, remains romantic conjecture.