The Sonnets and Other Poems (49 page)

salving
healing/soothing   

salving thy amiss
(by) smoothing over your misdeeds   

⁸
Excusing … are
going to greater lengths to excuse your sins than they deserve/offering excuses that are greater than your relatively small sins   

⁹
For … sense
to defend your sins of the body I introduce reason   

¹⁰
Thy … advocate
your legal opponent is also your defense lawyer   

¹¹
gainst … commence
I initiate a lawsuit against myself   

¹³
accessory
accomplice   

¹
twain
two separate beings   

³
blots
disgraces   

⁵
respect
mutual regard   

⁶
separable spite
malignant situation that separates us   

⁷
sole
single/unique   

⁹
not … thee
never greet you publicly again   

¹⁰
my bewailèd guilt
the shame I have already lamented   

¹²
take … name
are prepared to damage your reputation   

¹³
sort
a way   

¹⁴
As … report
that, because you are mine, your good reputation is mine also   

³
dearest spite
deeply felt injury   

⁴
of
in, from   

⁵
wit
intelligence   

⁷
Entitled … sit
you rightfully sit crowned among your good qualities   

⁸
make … store
graft my love onto this plentiful stock (and am enriched by it)   

¹⁰
shadow
image (of his friend’s good qualities)   

¹¹
sufficed
fully satisfied   

¹³
Look what
whatever   

¹
Muse
poetic inspiration   

want … invent
lack material for literary invention   

³
argument
subject matter   

⁴
vulgar … rehearse
commonplace piece of writing to describe   

⁵
aught
anything   

⁶
Worthy perusal
worth reading   

stand … sight
meet your eye   

⁷
dumb
lost for words   

⁸
dost … light
brings the light of inspiration   

⁹
tenth Muse
in classical mythology, there were nine Muses, goddesses who presided over and inspired people in the various branches of the arts   

¹⁰
rhymers invocate
poets call upon (
rhymers
is disparaging)   

¹²
Eternal … date
immortal verses that will outlive all time   

¹³
slight Muse
small talent   

curious
exacting, highly critical   

¹⁴
pain
effort   

¹
worth
merit/value   

with manners
decently (without boasting)   

⁵
Even for
precisely because of   

⁶
dear
beloved/valuable   

⁷
That
so that   

¹¹
entertain
while away   

¹²
Which … deceive
you,
absence
, who cunningly charm away that time and those thoughts   

¹³
twain
two   

¹⁴
here
in the place where I am/in this sonnet   

hence
elsewhere   

¹
Take
with connotations of sexual possession   

all my loves
all the different kinds of love I have/all those I love   

⁵
for my love
in return for my love/out of love for me   

thou … receivest
you accept my love/you have sex with one I love   

⁶
for … usest
because you employ (or exploit) my love/because you have sex with one I love   

⁷
this self
i.e. me, your other self   

⁸
wilful taste
lustful indulgence in sexual pleasures   

refusest
perhaps refers to the young man’s refusal of lawful sex in marriage   

¹⁰
steal thee
take for yourself   

my poverty
the little I have   

¹²
love’s wrong
an injury done by a lover   

¹³
Lascivious grace
an oxymoron: the young man is still lustful yet full of
grace
(charm/favor/virtue)   

all … shows
all that is bad seems good, all vices appear virtues   

¹⁴
spites
injuries   

¹
liberty
freedom/sexual license   

³
Thy … befits
(such
wrongs
) befit your beauty and youth   

⁴
still
constantly   

⁵
Gentle
well-born/tender, compliant   

⁶
assailed
wooed vigorously/seduced (military metaphor)   

⁸
sourly
ill-naturedly   

prevailed
won (sexually)   

⁹
my seat forbear
stay away from my lover   

seat
place where I have sexual rights/vagina   

¹⁰
chide
scold   

straying
unfaithful   

¹¹
riot
debauchery   

even there
to that very place   

¹²
truth
troth, vow, pledge   

¹³
Hers
her vow to me   

¹⁴
Thine
your vow to me   

false
unfaithful   

³
of … chief
my chief sorrow   

⁵
Loving offenders
you who injure me by your loving/because I love the offenders   

⁷
even so
in the same way   

abuse
wrong/deceive   

⁸
Suff’ring
allowing   

approve
praise/try out sexually   

⁹
my love’s
i.e. my female love’s, my mistress’   

¹¹
both twain
the two of them   

¹²
cross
burden, affliction   

¹⁴
flatt’ry
comforting delusion   

¹
wink
close my eyes   

²
unrespected
not worthy of respect   

⁴
darkly … directed
able to see in the dark, are directed to your light in the darkness   

⁵
shadow … bright
image makes the darkness bright   

⁶
thy … show
your real presence make a joyful spectacle   

⁸
shade
imagined image (plays on the sense of “darkness” to generate an oxymoron in
shade shines
)   

¹⁰
living
full of life and activity   

¹¹
imperfect
incomplete, because only an image (
fair imperfect
is oxymoronic)   

¹³
are … see
appear like night   

¹
dull
heavy, inactive, spiritless   

²
Injurious
harmful, malicious   

³
despite
in spite   

⁴
limits
regions   

where
to where   

⁵
No matter
it would not matter   

¹¹
so … wrought
made so completely out of earth and water (the body was thought to be composed of earth, water, fire, and air)   

¹²
attend time’s leisure
wait for time to pass (the image is of a lowly petitioner waiting for a great man)   

¹⁴
heavy
sorrowful/weighty   

badges … woe
signs of the sorrows of each of these elements (earth being heavy and water wet)   

¹
two
i.e. two elements (the theme continues from Sonnet 44)   

slight
insubstantial   

purging
purifying   

³
the first
i.e. air   

the other
i.e. fire   

⁴
present-absent
both with the poet and not with him   

⁵
quicker
speedier/more lively   

⁶
In tender embassy
to deliver an affectionate message (
tender
also implies the greater delicacy of the
quicker elements
)   

⁷
two alone
i.e. only earth and water   

⁸
Sinks … melancholy
the oppressive nature of melancholy is emphasized by the extra syllable in the line   

⁹
life’s … recured
bodily balance is restored   

¹¹
even but now
just this moment   

¹³
joy
rejoice   

¹⁴
straight
straightaway   

¹
mortal
deadly   

²
conquest … sight
spoils of war (the sight of you)   

³
Mine … bar
my eyes want to ban my heart from seeing you   

⁴
freedom … right
liberty to exercise that right   

⁵
plead
urge the claim (legal term)   

⁶
closet
cabinet, but also used for the pericardium, the membranous sac around the heart   

⁷
defendant
i.e. the eye, the opponent in the lawsuit   

⁹
’cide
decide   

title
claim, entitlement   

empanellèd
enrolled as a jury   

¹⁰
quest
jury   

tenants
i.e. and therefore loyal to their landlord   

¹¹
determinèd
decided/adjudged   

¹²
moiety
share   

¹³
As thus
as follows   

outward part
external appearance   

¹
league
alliance (in contrast to the
mortal war
of Sonnet 46)   

³
When that
when   

⁴
Or heart
or when my heart   

himself
itself   

⁵
With
on   

⁶
bids
invites   

¹²
still
always   

¹
took my way
set out on a journey   

²
under truest bars
firmly under lock and key   

³
to my use
ready for my use   

⁴
From … falsehood
safe from thieving hands   

sure
secure   

wards
protection/guards/parts of locks’ mechanisms   

⁵
to whom
compared to whom/in whose eyes   

⁷
care
responsibility/preoccupation/cause of anxiety