The Sonnets and Other Poems (57 page)

⁸
bond
legal agreement/ fetter, shackle   

fast
firmly   

⁹
statute
legal entitlement, specifically the agreement that enabled a creditor to retain the debtor’s security (lands, property) if loan repayments were not met   

¹⁰
usurer
moneylender (notorious for charging high rates of interest)   

put’st … use
lends out everything/makes herself entirely sexually available   

¹¹
sue
pursue for payment/ woo   

came debtor
who got into debt   

¹²
my unkind abuse
cruel mistreatment I have received from you/my unkindness toward him (having got him into debt)   

¹³
hast
plays on the sense of “have sex with”   

¹⁴
pays the whole
pays the whole debt/satisfies her sexually (
whole
puns on vaginal “hole”)   

¹
Will
the sonnet plays on various meanings of the word: Will Shakespeare/wishes/ sexual desire/male or female genitals   

²
to boot
in addition   

overplus
excess   

³
vex
harass (with sexual demands)   

still
yet/constantly   

⁴
To … addition
contributing to your desires with my own/filling up your vagina with my penis   

⁵
will … spacious
desire is unrestrained/ vagina is wide   

⁶
vouchsafe
condescend, agree   

will in thine
penis in your vagina   

⁷
right gracious
most attractive   

⁸
in … shine
no favor be shown to my will (all senses)   

¹¹
rich in Will
rich in your (sexual) desire/in total possession of me (or another lover called Will)   

thy Will
the man called Will whom you possess/your (sexual) desires/your vagina   

¹²
One … mine
a (sexual) desire of mine/my penis   

make … more
increase your vaginal capacity or your sexual desire/make your lover Will’s penis erect   

¹³
Let … kill
do not be unkind, do not kill courteous or attractive wooers   

¹⁴
all … Will
of all your lovers as one person and of me as your only William/only desire/only penis   

¹
check
rebuke   

come so near
implies sexual intimacy (
come
may play on the sense of “orgasm”)   

²
blind
Cupid, Roman god of love, was traditionally depicted as blind or blindfolded   

Will
this sonnet continues the wordplay on Will Shakespeare/wishes/sexual desire/genitals   

³
admitted there
acknowledged in your soul/allowed in your body   

⁴
for love
out of charity   

love-suit
loving request, request for sex   

⁵
Will
William/William’s penis   

fulfil
fill up   

treasure … love
vagina   

⁶
fill … one
i.e. have sex with as many men as you want (fill yourself up with penises) and make me one of them   

⁷
receipt
(vaginal) capacity   

⁹
untold
uncounted/unspoken of   

¹⁰
thy store’s account
the list of your possessions (i.e. lovers;
account
puns on “cunt”)   

¹¹
For … me
consider me insignificant   

hold
embrace   

so
provided   

¹²
nothing me
worthless thing that is me   

something
suggestive of “some thing,” i.e. penis   

¹³
Make but
only make   

still
always   

¹
blind
refers to Cupid, god of love, depicted as blind   

³
lies
plays on the sense of “deceives”   

⁴
what … be
think the worst is the best   

⁵
corrupt … looks
damaged by looking with too much partiality   

⁶
bay
vaginal harbor   

ride
anchor their ships/have sex   

⁹
several plot
separate, private plot of (vaginal) ground   

¹⁰
wide … place
promiscuous vagina, open to all men   

¹¹
Or
or why should   

not
not so   

¹²
To … place
so that they see beautiful virtue in such a vile appearance   

¹⁴
false plague
unfaithful disease of a woman (an image suggestive of venereal disease)   

¹
made of truth
all fidelity (
made
puns on “maid”)   

²
lies
plays on the sense of “has sex with other men”   

³
That
so that   

⁴
false subtleties
deceitful tricks   

⁵
vainly
in vain, pointlessly/foolishly/out of vanity   

⁷
Simply
foolishly, naively   

credit
believe   

⁹
wherefore
why   

unjust
unfaithful   

¹¹
habit
usual behavior/dress, guise   

seeming
apparent   

¹²
told
counted/spoken aloud   

¹³
lie
fib/have sex   

¹⁴
flattered
pleasantly deceived   

³
Wound … tongue
tell me of your infidelities, rather than demonstrating them with your wandering gaze   

⁴
Use … power
employ direct force (not
cunning
)   

art
cunning, deception   

⁷
might
power   

⁸
o’erpressed
overburdened   

bide
stand, endure   

¹⁰
pretty looks
charming (or cunning) glances/attractive appearance   

¹
press
perhaps suggestive of
peine forte et dure
, the process by which a person who refused to plead guilty or innocent to a crime was pressed with heavy weights until s/he either spoke or died   

⁴
pity-wanting pain
pain that lacks (or craves) pity   

⁵
wit
wisdom   

⁷
testy
fretful   

⁸
know
hear   

¹¹
ill-wresting world
world that is prone to interpret everything in its worst sense   

¹³
so
i.e. believed when I slander you   

belied
defamed, slandered   

¹⁴
Bear … straight
look straight ahead (at me)   

go wide
i.e. wide of the mark (like a misaimed arrow)   

²
errors
moral defects   

⁴
in despite of
regardless of   

⁶
base touches
vulgar caresses   

⁸
sensual feast
banquet of erotic pleasures   

⁹
five wits
intellectual as opposed to sensory powers, defined as common sense, imagination, fantasy, estimation, memory   

¹¹
leaves … man
i.e. leaves me ungoverned, the mere appearance of a man   

¹²
vassal
servile   

¹³
plague
disease (of love; connotations of venereal infection)   

¹⁴
awards me pain
i.e. makes me suffer now (thus lessening the penitential pain I will have to suffer after death);
pain
is also erotically suggestive, however   

¹
dear
precious   

²
sinful
i.e. lustful   

⁴
merits
deserves   

⁶
profaned
committed sacrilege on   

⁷
sealed
i.e. with a kiss   

⁸
Robbed … rents
deprived others of their rightful dues in bed, i.e. through adultery   

⁹
Be it
if it is   

¹⁰
importune
beg   

¹¹
Root
plant   

¹³
hide
withhold (i.e. pity)   

¹⁴
self-example
following your own example   

¹
careful
attentive/anxious   

²
feathered creatures
i.e. hens (may imply that the men the poet’s mistress chases after are fops in plumed hats)   

broke away
that has escaped   

³
dispatch
haste   

⁵
holds … chase
chases her   

⁸
Not prizing
thinking nothing of   

¹²
kind
loving/sexually benevolent   

¹³
Will
man called Will/desire   

¹⁴
still
calm   

¹
loves
lovers/kinds of love   

²
suggest
tempt, incite   

still
constantly   

³
fair
beautiful/ pale-complexioned/virtuous   

⁴
coloured ill
of ugly complexion/of evil disposition (in terms of color, suggests dark looks—considered unattractive—or use of cosmetics)   

⁸
foul pride
ugly vanity;
pride
plays on the sense of “sexual desire” (often used of female animals)   

⁹
fiend
i.e. an inhabitant of the vaginal
hell
  

¹¹
from me
away from me   

friend
friend/lover   

¹²
hell
a slang term for the vagina   

¹⁴
fire … out
drive him out/infect him with venereal disease   

⁵
Straight
straightaway   

⁷
gentle doom
a kind judgment, lenient sentence   

¹³
hate away … And
it has been suggested that these words pun on “Hathaway” and “Anne” (the surname and first name of Shakespeare’s wife)   

[    ]
two syllables are missing here because “My sinful earth” was inadvertently repeated by the printer; many suggestions have been made about them (e.g. “Feeding,” “Fooled by,” “Spoiled by,” “Thrall to,” “Worn by”) but all are necessarily conjectural   

²
rebel powers
i.e. rebellious flesh, the body   

array
clothe/place in readiness for battle   

³
pine
starve   

dearth
famine   

⁴
gay
fine, bright   

⁶
mansion
i.e. body   

⁸
charge
expense   

⁹
thy servant
i.e. your body (subservient to the soul)   

¹⁰
aggravate
pile up, increase   

¹¹
terms divine
eternal life/favorable terms from God   

hours of dross
time devoted to worthless material pleasures