⁷Philomel
the nightingale (in classical mythology, Philomel was raped and had her tongue cut out by her brother-in-law; she was later turned into a nightingale by the gods)

summer’s front
the beginning of summer

⁸pipe
music

in … days
i.e. as summer moves toward autumn

¹¹wild
belonging to wild birds/unrestrained

burdens
weighs down/fills with song (a “burden” can mean “a chorus”)

¹²sweets
sweet things, pleasures

¹⁴dull
bore, blunt your appetite

¹poverty
poor poetic efforts

²pride
splendid abilities/pride in the beautiful youth

³argument all bare
unadorned subject matter (i.e. the young man)

⁶glass
mirror

⁷overgoes
outdoes, surpasses

invention
creative skill

⁸Dulling
making tedious/rendering
blunt

⁹mend
improve

¹⁰mar
spoil

¹¹pass
end

¹²graces
beauties/attributes

²eye I eyed
an aural pun

⁴pride
splendor

⁸which … green
you who are still young and
fresh

⁹dial hand
the hand of a clock (as in Shakespeare’s poem “To the Queen”)

¹⁰Steal
creep away/rob

figure
(clock’s) numeral/appearance/face

pace
movement/ footstep

¹¹hue
complexion

still doth stand
remains motionless/remains yet

¹²Hath motion
does move, change

¹³age unbred
unborn future age

¹⁴Ere
before

¹idolatry
excessive devotion/worship of many gods

²show
appear/display

³Since
since in fact, in my defense (or possibly “simply because”)

⁴To … one
addressed to and about only one person

still
always

⁵Kind
loving/generous

⁹Fair
beautiful/just

true
genuine/faithful

argument
theme

¹⁰varying to
expressed in various

¹¹invention spent
creativity exhausted

¹²Three … one
the religious theme continues with the suggestion of the Christian Trinity (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost)

¹⁴kept seat
resided/were enthroned

¹chronicle
historical record

wasted
past, consumed (with suggestion of “squandered”)

²wights
people (deliberately archaic word)

⁴lovely
handsome/amorous

⁵blazon
description (literally, of a coat of arms)

⁸Even
just, exactly

master
are owner of

¹¹for
because

divining
predicting (rather than definitively knowing)

¹⁴wonder
admire

³the … control
regulate the duration of my love/restrict my right to possession of love (the person or the emotion)

⁴as … doom
subject to a fixed term

⁵The … endured
probably a reference to the death (
eclipse
) of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603; as the Virgin Queen, she was associated with the
moon
, symbol of chastity

endured
undergone

⁶augurs
prophets

presage
prediction

⁷Incertainties … assured
uncertainties are brought securely to an end (
crown
suggests the coronation of the childless Elizabeth’s successor, James I, putting to an end the uncertainties about England’s future)

⁸olives … age
the olive tree (symbol of peace) will last forever (King James regarded himself as an international peacemaker)

⁹balmy
soothing (again suggestive of coronation, at which the monarch was anointed with “balm,” i.e. holy oil)

¹⁰subscribes
surrenders

¹²insults
triumphs, exults

¹³monument
tomb or other memorial structure

¹⁴crests
heraldic devices on coats of arms

spent
gone, wasted away

¹character
write

²figured
represented

³register
record

⁸hallowed
treated as holy (with suggestion of “halloo,” i.e. call out)

⁹case
clothing/condition

¹⁰Weighs not
does not care about

¹¹gives … place
yields to the inevitable lines of old age

¹²antiquity
age

aye
ever

page
boy attendant (plays on the sense of “page of poetry”)

¹³conceit
notion, conception/poetic device, metaphor

there
i.e. in the
sweet boy
/in the poetry

¹⁴show it
make it seem

¹false of heart
disloyal, unfaithful

²my … qualify
to moderate my passion

⁵ranged
wandered, strayed

⁷Just … exchanged
punctual and not changed by time

⁸water … stain
tears to wash away my fault

¹⁰frailties
moral weaknesses

blood
temperament/sexual desire

¹¹preposterously
unnaturally (literally, “inversely, back to front”)

stained
polluted, morally tarnished

¹²for nothing
as something of no value/for no reason

¹gone
may play on the sense of “had sex”

²motley
fool (after the multicolored costume of a jester, so perhaps alluding to Shakespeare’s acting career)

³Gored
wounded/cut into triangles (resembling the diamond patches of a fool’s
motley
)

⁴Made … new
offended old friends or lovers by finding new ones/repeated former sins because of new passions/committed plenty of sins with the new objects of my affections

⁶Askance and strangely
with a side glance and in an unfriendly way

all above
i.e. heaven

⁷blenches
swervings

⁸worse essays
trying out worse loves

⁹what … end
i.e. eternal love

¹⁰appetite
implies sexual desire

grind
whet, sharpen (as a phallic knife; “to grind” could mean “to have sex”)

¹¹proof
experiments, experiences (i.e. lovers)

try
test the worth of/subject to strain, afflict

¹²confined
restricted

¹³next … best
you, who are to me the next best thing to heaven

¹⁴most most loving
i.e. supremely loving, but perhaps subverted by a slight suggestion of the young man’s own tendency to love many people