The Sonnets and Other Poems (47 page)
Read The Sonnets and Other Poems Online
Authors: William Shakespeare
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)
