The Sonnets and Other Poems (45 page)

¹⁷³⁴Brutus
Lucius Junius Brutus, who went on to lead the overthrow of Tarquin’s father Tarquinius Superbus, an event that marked the end of Roman kingship and the establishment of the republic

¹⁷³⁶held … chase
followed, came after it

¹⁷⁴⁰late-sacked
recently plundered

vastly
desolate, empty

¹⁷⁴⁵wat’ry rigol
ring or circle of watery fluid (the blood-serum that separates from clotting blood)

¹⁷⁵¹Lucretius
Lucrece’s father

¹⁷⁵⁶predecease progenitors
die before their parents

¹⁷⁵⁸glass
mirror, in which her father saw himself young again

¹⁷⁶³shivered
shattered

¹⁷⁶⁶surcease
cease

¹⁷⁷³place
precedence

¹⁷⁷⁴key-cold
i.e. cold as metal

¹⁷⁷⁶counterfeits
appears, seems

¹⁷⁷⁹vexation
distress, torment

¹⁷⁸⁴so thick come
coming in such a rush or so incomprehensibly

¹⁷⁹⁰At … o’er
i.e. sighs and speech finally give way to tears

¹⁷⁹¹strife
pain, distress/contention

¹⁷⁹⁷interest
entitlement/share

¹⁸⁰³owed
owned

¹⁸⁰⁵dispersed
a transferred epithet; it is the
clamors
that are scattered through the air

¹⁸⁰⁷Brutus
Lucius Junius Brutus had pretended to be an idiot (Latin
brutus
) in order to escape the fate of his brother who had been murdered by Tarquin’s father

¹⁸⁰⁸emulation
rivalry

¹⁸⁰⁹wit
intellect

¹⁸¹⁰folly’s show
pretense of stupidity

¹⁸¹⁴habit
guise/accustomed manner

¹⁸¹⁵deep policy
farseeing strategy

¹⁸¹⁹unsounded
untested/not uttered

¹⁸²⁵humour
mood, behavior

¹⁸²⁶wretched
unhappy

¹⁸²⁸steep
drench

¹⁸²⁹relenting
softening, weakening

¹⁸³¹invocations
prayers for aid

¹⁸³²suffer
allow

¹⁸³⁵Capitol
hill in Rome, site of the great temple of Jupiter

¹⁸³⁷fat
fertile

¹⁸⁴⁴protestation
declared resolution

¹⁸⁴⁵wond’ring
marveling

allow
approve, accept

¹⁸⁴⁹advisèd doom
considered judgment

¹⁸⁵¹thorough
throughout

¹⁸⁵⁴plausibly
approvingly

¹³⁷¹conceited
ingenious (plays on sense of
proud
)

ARGUMENT
summary, plot outline

20
a sonnet in which each line has a feminine ending (i.e. an extra, unstressed syllable)

89
the argument continues from Sonnet 88

99
the only poem in the collection with fifteen lines

138
a version of this sonnet appears in
The Passionate Pilgrim
(1598/99)

144
a version of this sonnet also appears in
The Passionate Pilgrim
(1598/99)

145
the only poem in the collection to have lines of only eight syllables

BEGETTER
creator, father, author; could possibly mean “inspirer”

MR. W. H.
often assumed to be the young man addressed in Sonnets 1–126, he has been variously identified—the most likely candidates are Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton (to whom
Venus and Adonis
and
Lucrece
were dedicated), and William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke (to whom the First Folio was dedicated); however,
MR.
does not suggest an aristocrat, so it is possible that
W. H.
is a misprint for “W. S.,” and that this is the publisher’s dedication to the author

ETERNITY
immortality

OUR EVER-LIVING POET
Shakespeare (if a certain W. H. is the dedicatee)/God, via a pun on
poet
as “maker” (if “W. H.” should actually read “W. S.”)

ADVENTURER
one who undertakes a commercial venture (i.e. the publisher)

T. T.
Thomas Thorpe, the publisher of the sonnets

¹increase
reproduction/offspring

²That
so that

⁴tender
young/loving

bear his memory
be a reminder of him

⁵thou
in ordinary speech, “thou” was generally more intimate than “you” (like
tu
in French), but it was also the conventional pronoun for poetic address

contracted
betrothed (plays on the sense of “diminished,” i.e. by not having children)

eyes
perhaps puns on “I’S”

⁶Feed’st … fuel
i.e. like a candle, the young man feeds his
flame
(i.e. his life) with his own body

⁹fresh
young, lively, blooming

¹⁰herald
messenger (announcing the approach of
spring
)

gaudy
bright (without connotations of vulgarity)

¹¹bud
an image of youth, also of virginity; may additionally refer to the glans of the penis

content
happiness/contents (i.e. potential children)