The Sonnets and Other Poems (43 page)

¹⁰⁰²
coming
descending   

¹⁰⁰³
hope
future prospects   

¹⁰⁰⁵
begets him hate
generates hatred of him   

¹⁰⁰⁶
waits on
accompanies/lies in wait for   

state
status, high rank   

¹⁰⁰⁷
presently
immediately   

¹⁰⁰⁹
mire
mud   

¹⁰¹¹
like
same thing   

¹⁰¹³
grooms
manservants   

¹⁰¹⁶
Out
expression of dismissal   

idle
worthless   

¹⁰¹⁷
arbitrator
impartial person who decides the outcome of a dispute   

¹⁰¹⁸
skill-contending schools
competitive formal debates were a feature of life in schools and universities   

¹⁰²¹
force … straw
attach no significance to argument (straws were proverbially worthless)   

¹⁰²²
case
plays on sense of “vagina”   

¹⁰²³
rail
verbally abuse, rant   

¹⁰²⁵
cavil
dispute, find fault   

¹⁰²⁶
spurn
kick out at   

confirmed despite
established shame   

¹⁰²⁹
let … blood
bloodletting was a standard medical practice; Lucrece, however, has suicide in mind   

¹⁰³⁷
betumbled couch
disordered, unmade bed/bed on which sex (“tumbling”) had occurred   

¹⁰³⁹
imparteth
provides   

¹⁰⁴¹
thronging
forcing its way   

¹⁰⁴²
Aetna
Mount Etna, a volcano in Sicily   

consumes
vanishes   

¹⁰⁴³
fumes
smokes   

¹⁰⁴⁵
hapless
unfortunate, luckless   

¹⁰⁴⁶
falchion
curved sword   

¹⁰⁵⁰
true type
honest name/authentic character   

¹⁰⁵³
spot
moral blemish   

¹⁰⁵⁴
badge … livery
i.e. Lucrece’s shame will be partly moderated by the fact that her death is honorable   

livery
servant’s uniform on which a heraldic
badge
indicated which noble household the servant belonged to   

¹⁰⁶¹
flatter
lie to   

infringèd
broken, violated   

¹⁰⁶²
graff
new shoot grafted to mature plant or tree (Lucrece anticipates being pregnant)   

¹⁰⁶³
stock
tree trunk/family   

¹⁰⁶⁷
int’rest
legal title to property (i.e. right to Lucrece)   

¹⁰⁷⁰
with … dispense
will never excuse my sin   

¹⁰⁷²
attaint
infection, stain of dishonor   

¹⁰⁷³
cleanly coined
cleverly forged   

¹⁰⁷⁴
sable ground
black background (of a heraldic shield)   

¹⁰⁷⁵
night’s
puns on “knight’s”   

¹⁰⁷⁷
dale
valley   

¹⁰⁷⁹
this
this time, now   

Philomel
raped by Tereus, Philomel had her
tongue
cut out to prevent her naming him as the perpetrator; she revealed his identity by weaving an account of what had happened and was turned into a nightingale by the gods (Ovid tells the tale in
Metamorphoses
)   

¹⁰⁸⁴
cloudy
sorrowful, darkened by misfortune   

¹⁰⁸⁹
pry’st thou
do you peer, spy   

¹⁰⁹²
do
do with   

¹⁰⁹⁴
fond
foolish/mad, dazed   

testy
irritable/aggressive, rash   

¹⁰⁹⁵
wayward
willful, obstinate   

¹⁰⁹⁶
mild
mildly, with patience   

¹⁰⁹⁷
Continuance
continuity, habit   

¹¹⁰⁰
deep-drenchèd
deeply immersed/drowning   

¹¹⁰³
No … renews
everything she sees renews her grief   

¹¹⁰⁴
straight
straightaway   

¹¹⁰⁹
mirth … annoy
happiness probes the depths of injury (as if it were a doctor probing a wound)   

¹¹¹²
feelingly sufficed
emotionally satisfied   

¹¹¹³
with … sympathized
i.e. it meets with a corresponding emotion   

¹¹¹⁴
ken
sight   

¹¹¹⁵
pines
starves   

¹¹¹⁶
salve
healing ointment   

¹¹¹⁷
that
that which   

¹¹¹⁹
bounding
forming a boundary   

¹¹²⁰
dallied
trifled with/delayed   

nor law nor
neither law nor   

¹¹²⁴
restless
uneasy, troubled/without musical pauses   

stops nor rests
hindrances or intervals (plays on the musical senses: a “stop” is “the closing of a finger hole in a wind instrument” and a “rest” is “an interval of silence during music”)   

¹¹²⁵
brooks
tolerates   

¹¹²⁶
Relish
sing, warble/make pleasant   

pleasing ears
i.e. listeners who are pleased   

¹¹²⁷
dumps
mournful songs   

¹¹²⁹
dishevelled
a conventional indicator of distress and here reminiscent of the recent rape   

¹¹³⁰
languishment
grief, suffering   

¹¹³¹
strain will strain
melody will squeeze out   

¹¹³²
diapason
bass accompaniment below the melody   

¹¹³³
burden-wise
like a bass accompaniment (
burden
plays on sense of “heavy load”)   

¹¹³⁴
Tereus
brother-in-law of
Philomel
who raped her and cut out her tongue   

descants
sing the melodious accompaniment above the melody   

better skill
with better skill than I   

¹¹³⁵
against … waking
in order to stay awake and sing of her sorrows all night, the nightingale supposedly rested her breast upon a sharp thorn   

¹¹³⁹
wink
shut   

¹¹⁴⁰
frets
ridges on stringed instruments to regulate fingering (plays on sense of “torments”)   

¹¹⁴²
for
because   

¹¹⁴³
As shaming
as if ashamed that   

¹¹⁴⁴
desert
deserted place, wild, uninhabited region   

seated … way
situated away from road or path   

¹¹⁴⁷
stern
cruel, merciless   

kinds
natures   

¹¹⁴⁹
at gaze
bewildered   

¹¹⁵¹
encompassed
surrounded   

¹¹⁵⁵
death reproach’s debtor
suicide will incur reproach   

¹¹⁵⁷
But … pollution
to add the pollution of my soul (through suicide) to the pollution of my raped body   

¹¹⁵⁹
confusion
ruin, destruction   

¹¹⁶⁰
tries
tests   

¹¹⁶⁴
the … divine
the purity of my body made my soul divine/my body was pure, my soul divine   

¹¹⁶⁵
Whose … nearer
which did I love more   

¹¹⁷⁰
sacked
plundered, ravaged   

¹¹⁷³
Grossly engirt
flagrantly surrounded   

¹¹⁷⁵
blemished fort
damaged stronghold, i.e. her body   

¹¹⁸²
spent
shed/paid out (as a legacy)   

¹¹⁸³
testament
last will and testament   

¹¹⁸⁶
deprive
take away   

¹¹⁸⁸
fame
honor   

¹¹⁹¹
dear jewel
chastity   

¹¹⁹³
resolution
determination, unwavering purpose   

¹¹⁹⁵
used
treated   

¹¹⁹⁹
to
i.e. I bequeath respectively to   

¹²⁰²
confound
overthrow, destroy   

¹²⁰³
disbursèd
paid out, given away   

¹²⁰⁵
oversee
be legal executor of   

¹²⁰⁶
overseen
deceived   

¹²¹³
brinish pearl
i.e. salty tear   

¹²¹⁴
untuned
harsh-sounding, discordant   

¹²¹⁵
hies
hastens   

¹²¹⁶
thought’s feathers
i.e. as swiftly as thought   

¹²¹⁸
meads
meadows   

¹²²¹
sorts
adapts, suits   

¹²²²
For why
because   

¹²²³
audaciously
impudently, presumptuously   

¹²²⁸
gan
began to   

¹²²⁹
circled eyne
rounded eyes   

enforced
compelled   

¹²³⁴
Like … cisterns
the women resemble fountains in which ivory spouts fill a central reservoir (i.e. their eyes, red from weeping)   

¹²³⁵
justly
with reason   

¹²³⁶
company
fellowship, sympathy   

¹²³⁸
to … smarts
merely at guessing the cause of another’s pain   

¹²⁴¹
will
wishes   

¹²⁴²
strange kinds
other natures   

¹²⁴³
skill
cunning   

¹²⁴⁶
semblance
image, appearance   

¹²⁴⁷
champaign
open, level   

¹²⁴⁸
Lays open
reveals   

¹²⁵⁰
Cave-keeping
i.e. that remain hidden   

obscurely
in darkness, concealed   

¹²⁵¹
mote
speck/ blemish   

¹²⁵⁴
inveigh against
reproach, denounce   

¹²⁵⁵
chide
scold   

¹²⁵⁷
hild
held   

¹²⁶⁰
tenants to their
inhabitants, sharers in men’s   

¹²⁶¹
precedent
example, pattern   

¹²⁶²
Assailed
attacked (sexually)   

strong … death
strongly suggesting her imminent death   

¹²⁶⁴
By that
on account of   

¹²⁶⁶
dying fear
paralyzing fear/fear of death   

¹²⁶⁹
counterfeit
imitation, i.e. the maid   

¹²⁷²
of my sustaining
sustained by me   

¹²⁷³
small avails
little helps   

¹²⁷⁵
stayed
paused   

¹²⁷⁸
sluggard
lazy, sluggish   

¹²⁷⁹
dispense
excuse   

¹²⁸³
heaviness
(cause of) sorrow   

¹²⁹⁸
Conceit
thought/mode of expression