The Sonnets and Other Poems (41 page)

⁴⁸⁶
will
purpose/sexual desire/penis   

abide
endure/await   

⁴⁸⁸
Which
refers to his
will
  

⁴⁹⁰
newly bred
revived once more (erectile connotations)   

⁴⁹¹
crosses
troubles, afflictions   

⁴⁹³
think the honey
know that such sexual sweets are   

⁴⁹⁴
counsel
deliberation/prudence   

⁴⁹⁶
Only he hath
he has solely   

⁵⁰²
ensue
follow   

⁵⁰⁴
infamy
shame, disgrace   

⁵⁰⁵
shakes
brandishes   

Roman blade
phallic connotations   

⁵⁰⁶
falcon
puns on
falchion
  

⁵⁰⁷
Coucheth
causes to hide   

⁵⁰⁸
Whose
refers to the falcon   

mount
flies up   

⁵⁰⁹
insulting
insolent, scornful   

falchion
curved sword   

⁵¹¹
bells
attached to straps around the legs of birds that were being trained   

⁵¹³
deny
refuse   

⁵¹⁴
destroy
kill   

⁵²⁰
mark
target, object   

⁵²²
blurred
tainted   

nameless
having no legal right to a name (as the father is unknown)   

⁵²³
obloquy
disgrace   

⁵²⁴
trespass
sin, fault   

⁵²⁶
rest
remain   

secret friend
lover   

⁵²⁹
For … enacted
is deemed permissible/becomes enshrined in law   

⁵³⁰
simple
herb or plant used for medicinal purposes   

compacted
mixed   

⁵³⁴
Tender my suit
grant my request   

⁵³⁵
device
measure, contrivance/heraldic emblem   

⁵³⁷
wipe
mark (either from a blow or lash, or from the brand with which slaves were marked)   

birth-hour’s blot
a birthmark   

⁵³⁸
descried
observed   

⁵⁴⁰
cockatrice
basilisk (a mythical reptile whose gaze could kill); slang term for a prostitute   

⁵⁴¹
rouseth up himself
with connotations of penile erection   

⁵⁴³
hind
female deer   

gripe
vulture or griffin (a mythological creature, part eagle, part lion); plays on sense of the verb, i.e. “grip”   

⁵⁴⁴
Pleads
plays on the legal sense   

⁵⁴⁵
gentle
noble   

⁵⁴⁶
aught
anything   

⁵⁴⁹
doth get
is created   

⁵⁵⁰
pitchy
black   

their biding
where they hang   

⁵⁵¹
their present fall
i.e. the imminent storm   

⁵⁵²
unhallowed
wicked, profane   

⁵⁵³
Pluto
god of the classical underworld; he was notoriously ill-tempered but so charmed by
Orpheus’
musical skill that he allowed him to retrieve his wife, Eurydice, from the underworld as long as he refrained from looking at her as they made their way back; unfortunately, as she called to him, Orpheus turned around and she was lost again   

winks
shuts his eyes   

⁵⁵⁴
dally
toy with her/delay   

⁵⁵⁵
holdfast
tenacious   

⁵⁵⁶
vulture folly
predatory madness   

⁵⁵⁷
gulf
stomach/appetite   

⁵⁵⁸
admits
allows to enter/acknowledges/concedes the validity of   

⁵⁵⁹
penetrable
i.e. really effective, moving   

plaining
lamentation, complaints   

⁵⁶⁰
harden
with phallic connotations   

⁵⁶⁵
puts … place
does not pause in the usual places   

period
full stop   

⁵⁶⁶
accent
speech   

⁵⁶⁸
conjures him by
appeals to him in the name of   

Jove
supreme Roman god   

⁵⁶⁹
gentry
the quality of being a gentleman   

⁵⁷⁰
untimely
ill-timed, inopportune   

⁵⁷¹
troth
loyalty, honesty, good faith   

⁵⁷³
borrowed
i.e. guest’s   

retire
return/military retreat   

⁵⁷⁴
stoop
yield, submit   

⁵⁷⁶
pretended
offered   

⁵⁷⁷
Mud
soil, muddy (an image suggestive of staining the vaginal
fountain
with semen)   

⁵⁷⁸
Mar
spoil   

thing
may play on sense of “vagina”   

⁵⁷⁹
aim
intention/marksman’s aim   

shoot
plays on sense of “ejaculation”   

ended
completed and goal-achieving (plays on sense of “in the vagina”)   

⁵⁸⁰
woodman
huntsman (plays on sense of “womanizer”)   

⁵⁸¹
strike
plays on sense of “have sex with/rape”   

unseasonable
out of season   

⁵⁸⁶
heave
remove   

⁵⁸⁷
movèd
emotionally affected/ physically displaced   

⁵⁹⁰
wrack-threat’ning
shipwreck-threatening   

⁵⁹⁷
shape
appearance   

⁶⁰²
everything
i.e. including their passions   

⁶⁰³
be seeded
ripen, mature   

⁶⁰⁵
hope
expectation (of being
king
)   

outrage
violence/rape   

⁶⁰⁸
vassal actors
lowborn who perform such deeds   

⁶⁰⁹
hid in clay
buried, hidden   

⁶¹⁰
for
out of   

⁶¹¹
happy
fortunate   

still
always   

feared
revered, held in awe   

⁶¹²
With … prove
you will necessarily have to put up with sinful offenders because their actions match your own   

⁶¹⁴
thy will remove
change your mind/abandon your intentions   

⁶¹⁵
glass
mirror   

⁶¹⁸
lectures
lessons   

⁶²⁰
warrant
authorization   

⁶²¹
privilege
grant immunity to   

⁶²²
back’st
support   

laud
praise   

⁶²³
bawd
pimp   

⁶²⁴
command
military authority/self-control   

⁶²⁶
iniquity
sin, injury to another   

⁶²⁷
brood
offspring (of iniquity)   

⁶²⁸
office
role and responsibilities   

⁶²⁹
patterned by
with the model of   

⁶³⁶
infamies
disgrace, shameful acts   

⁶³⁷
askance
turn aside   

⁶³⁸
heaved-up
raised   

⁶³⁹
relier
dependant/quality on which you depend   

⁶⁴⁰
exiled majesty’s repeal
the return of the dignity and greatness you have banished from yourself   

⁶⁴¹
flatt’ring
false, delusory   

⁶⁴²
respect
respectful consideration/dignity   

⁶⁴³
eyne
eyes   

⁶⁴⁴
state
regal status/ condition   

⁶⁴⁶
swells
with phallic connotations   

let
hindrance, obstruction   

⁶⁵⁰
salt sovereign
i.e. the sea   

⁶⁵⁵
blood
nobility/bloodline   

⁶⁵⁷
hearsed
buried, entombed   

⁶⁵⁹
these slaves
i.e. the
petty ills
  

⁶⁶⁶
vassals
subordinates owing allegiance   

⁶⁶⁹
coy
gentle   

⁶⁷⁰
despitefully
cruelly/contemptuously   

⁶⁷¹
rascal groom
lowborn servingman   

⁶⁷²
doom
fate   

⁶⁷⁷
seized
fastened its claws upon; the Latin for “to seize” is
rapere
, the etymology of “to rape”   

⁶⁷⁸
white fleece
i.e. nightclothes   

controlled
smothered   

⁶⁷⁹
fold
plays on sense of “sheep pen” (an image maintained by
pens
)   

⁶⁸⁰
nightly linen
bedclothes or perhaps a smock (though Elizabethans usually slept naked)   

⁶⁸⁴
prone
eager/horizontal/evilly disposed   

⁶⁸⁵
could weeping
if weeping could   

⁶⁸⁹
league
union   

⁶⁹²
rifled
plundered   

⁶⁹⁴
gorgèd
crammed with food   

⁶⁹⁵
Unapt
unready   

⁶⁹⁶
balk
refuse   

⁶⁹⁸
surfeit-taking
overindulging   

⁷⁰¹
bottomless conceit
limitless imagining   

⁷⁰²
still imagination
silent thought   

⁷⁰³
receipt
what he has received   

⁷⁰⁵
pride
state of sexual arousal   

exclamation
protest   

⁷⁰⁷
jade
worn-out horse   

⁷¹⁰
recreant
cowardly, fainthearted   

⁷¹²
The … proud
humanity being arrogant/the penis being erect   

⁷¹³
there
i.e. in the
flesh
  

revels
makes merry/has sex   

when that decays
when such pleasures subside/when the erection is lost   

⁷¹⁴
remission
pardon, release from debt   

⁷¹⁷
doom
judgment, sentence   

⁷²¹
spotted princess
i.e. Tarquin’s morally blemished soul   

⁷²²
subjects
i.e. will and passions   

⁷²⁴
mortal
deadly/human   

⁷²⁵
thrall
a slave   

⁷²⁷
prescience
foreknowledge   

controllèd still
always (in theory) controlled   

⁷²⁸
But
i.e. but even   

⁷³³
spoil
sexual plunder (Lucrece); with connotations of damage