Read The Sonnets and Other Poems Online
Authors: William Shakespeare
The Sonnets and Other Poems (47 page)
rude
rough, crude
11
Look whom
whomever
12
in bounty
generously
13
seal
stamp of authority
14
print
impress or stamp with a seal
copy
pattern from which copies (i.e. descendants) are made/abundance/lease (of life; legal term “copyhold”)
1
count
i.e. count the hours the clock strikes
tells
counts out/reveals
2
brave
splendid
3
prime
its peak (originally, “the first hour of the day”)
4
sable
black
5
barren
bare (with connotations of infertility)
6
erst
formerly
canopy
protect, give shade to
7
girded up
tied up firmly
8
bier
barrow for carrying harvested crops/stand for a coffin
white … beard
i.e. the bristly bundles of pale harvested crops (personified as the corpse of a bearded old man)
9
question make
wonder, speculate
10
wastes
deserted or uncharted lands/vast expanses/ruins (with connotations of “wasted moments”)
11
sweets and beauties
sweet and beautiful things
forsake
abandon
13
Time’s scythe
the figure of Time was traditionally depicted carrying a scythe with which to cut down the living (continues the harvesting metaphor)
14
breed
children
brave
defy
1
you
although “thou” was usually a more intimate form of address, it was also more self-consciously poetic, so the decisive shift to “you” (and the use of
love
) signals a more personal, less conventional approach
2
here
i.e. in this world
3
Against
in anticipation of/to defend yourself against
4
semblance
appearance, likeness
some other
i.e. a child
5
in lease
by leasehold, temporarily
6
determination
end (legal term relating to the cessation of tenancy)
were
would be
your … bear
would look like you/would carry your body (to the grave)
8
issue
child(ren)
9
house
i.e. body/family
10
husbandry
careful household management (plays on the sense of “being a husband”)
13
unthrifts
wasteful people
1
my judgement pluck
draw my knowledge
2
have
understand
4
dearths
famines
seasons’ quality
what the weather governing the seasons will be like
5
fortune … tell
predict every minute of the future
8
oft predict
frequent predictions
10
art
knowledge
11
As
i.e. as the knowledge that
12
store
having children
convert
change/turn
13
prognosticate
foretell
14
Thy … date
your death will bring the final end of truth and beauty
date
limit of a fixed period of time
1
consider
consider that
2
Holds in perfection
remains perfect
3
stage
i.e. the world
4
Whereon … comment
which the stars comment on and secretly influence
influence
the supposed flowing from the stars of ethereal fluid that affected human destiny
5
as
like
6
Cheerèd and checked
encouraged and restrained
7
Vaunt
boast, exult
at height decease
start to decay when they are at their height
8
wear … memory
wear out their splendid appearance and vigor until it is quite forgotten
9
conceit
notion
this inconstant stay
our uncertain stay in the world
11
wasteful
ruinous
time … decay
i.e. either time and decay compete over who shall ruin the youth, or together they discuss the way they will do so
12
sullied
gloomy/tarnished
13
all in war
in all-out war
14
engraft you new
i.e. restore you—“grafting” is the horticultural practice of inserting a shoot from one tree into another; puns on “engrave,” suggesting the reanimation of the young man through the writing of poetry about him
1
But wherefore
but why (the argument continues from Sonnet 15)
2
bloody
bloodthirsty
3
fortify
strengthen against attack
5
on … hours
at the peak of your life
6
maiden
virgin
gardens
a common metaphor for the female body or womb
unset
unplanted or unseeded (with semen)
8
liker
more like (you)
counterfeit
portrait
9
lines of life
family lineage/physical features (of children); also suggests the lines of a poem
that life repair
renew that life
Time’s pencil
the paintbrush with which Time has “painted” the young man’s appearance
pupil
inexperienced, amateur
11
fair
beauty
12
live yourself
a living reality
13
give away yourself
i.e. to marry and create children
keeps yourself still
preserves you forever
14
drawn … skill
i.e. in the children you create; the young man’s pen is his penis
2
deserts
merits, worth
4
parts
qualities/physical features
6
in … number
enumerate in new verses
8
touches
qualities/brushstrokes
10
less … tongue
more talk than truthfulness
11
true
genuine/rightful/regular
rights
may pun on “rites,” suggesting worshipful ceremonies
poet’s rage
frenzied poetic inspiration
12
stretchèd
strained, irregular
antique
old; may pun on “antic,” i.e. “grotesque, mad”
2
temperate
even-tempered, moderate
4
lease
temporary period of occupancy
date
duration
5
eye of heaven
i.e. the sun
7
fair … declines
beautiful thing loses its beauty at some point
8
untrimmed
stripped of ornament and beauty
10
possession
includes the legal sense of “exclusive control over property” (in contrast to
lease
)
fair thou ow’st
beauty you own
12
lines
i.e. of poetry (also suggestive of family lineage)
to … grow’st
you become an integral part of time
14
this
i.e. this sonnet
2
brood
children (who all return to the
earth
in death)
3
keen
sharp/eager
4
phoenix
mythical Arabian bird that lived for five hundred years, was consumed by fire, and then reborn from its own ashes; only one existed at a time
5
fleet’st
fly past
7
sweets
delights, pleasures
9
carve
i.e. carve wrinkles
10
antique
ancient (puns on “antic,” i.e. “grotesque, distorting”)
11
untainted
unmarked/uninjured
12
pattern
ideal model, exemplar
14
My love
the man I love (with secondary sense of “my love for him”)
1
with … painted
created by Nature herself/not painted with cosmetics
2
master-mistress
sovereign mistress/man with female qualities or beauty—a person who fulfills the traditional role of a lover’s mistress to whom sonnets were addressed, yet is a man and perhaps a social superior
of my passion
the object of my passionate love/the master who directs my passions
3
acquainted
plays on the sense of “equipped with a vagina” (a “quaint”)
4
false
fickle, unfaithful
5
rolling
straying
6
Gilding
adding shine to, coating with a superficial layer of gold
7
A … controlling
one with the form of a man, but whose facial beauty has the power to enthrall both men and women
hue
form/facial appearance/complexion
9
for
as, to be
10
wrought
made, fashioned
fell a-doting
became infatuated (with you)
11
me … defeated
deprived me of you
12
one thing
i.e. a penis
to … nothing
irrelevant to my purposes (apparently a denial of homosexual interest, but since
nothing
can also mean “vagina,” there may be a suggestion of “[a penis that] for my purposes is the equivalent of a vagina”)
13
pricked thee out
selected you (by marking your name on a list)/gave you a prick (penis)
pleasure
sexual enjoyment
14
Mine … treasure
let me have your love and women have sex with you
use
sexual employment (quibbles on the sense of “profit, financial interest”)
treasure
may have connotations of “semen”
1
Muse
i.e. poet (inspired by a Muse)
2
Stirred
moved, inspired
painted
artificial, made up with cosmetics
3
heaven … use
invokes heaven itself as a poetic comparison for his beloved
4
every … rehearse
describes every beautiful thing there is alongside the beauty of his mistress
5
Making … compare
linking her in proud comparisons
7
rare
splendid, exceptionally beautiful
8
rondure
sphere (the world)
hems
encloses
11
any mother’s child
i.e. any human being (a deliberately homely expression to contrast with the extravagant language attributed to other poets; perhaps, though, there is also the suggestion that to a mother, her child is always the fairest of all)