1455 spring source of water/youth
pipes veins
1457 shadow image (but also suggesting Hecuba is a shadow of her former self)
spends employs (perhaps also suggestive of weeping)
1458 beldame old woman
1459 wants … her lacks in order to match Lucrece in sorrow
1460 ban curse
1461 The … those i.e. the painter didn’t have immortal powers with which to give his painted figures the ability to speak
1471 strumpet whore, i.e. Helen (of Troy) whose abduction by Paris caused the war
1473 fond foolish/infatuated/lustful
1477 dame wife/mother
1479 moe more
1480 light alight, descend
1484 plague … general punish everyone for one person’s offense
1486 Troilus another Trojan warrior, son of Priam and Hecuba and brother to Hector
swoons faints (the rhyme is stronger with the original spelling, “sounds”)
1487 bloody channel stream of blood/gutter running with blood
1488 unadvisèd rash, unintended
1490 doting foolish, indulgent
checked curbed, restrained
1494 goes continues
1495 knell tolling of a bell to mark a person’s death
1496 set a-work once she starts
1497 pencilled … sorrow i.e. to the images in the picture
1501 a … bound the image of a miserable prisoner (Sinon, who deceived the Trojans into believing he had deserted the Greeks and convinced them to allow the wooden horse into Troy; it contained Greek soldiers and heralded Troy’s downfall)
1502 piteous … lent made the Trojan shepherds look on him with pity
1504 blunt swains rough, unpolished rustics
1507 harmless show i.e. the painting
1508 wailing still continually expressing grief/ constantly weeping
1509 unbent not furrowed or cast down
1511 guilty instance suggestion of guilt
1514 entertained a show maintained an appearance
1515 ensconced concealed
1520 workman expert craftsman
1521 enchanting spell-like, bewitching
1523 wildfire a combination of highly flammable substances used in warfare
1526 glass mirror (i.e. Troy)
1527 advisedly thoughtfully, attentively
1529 some … abused some innocent person had been wrongfully depicted as Sinon
1532 plain open, unwrinkled/honest
1533 belied false
1539 turned it changed the meaning
1540 But but that
1543 travail labor
1544 beguild beguile, deceive
1546 him i.e. Sinon
1551 falls lets fall
1554 balls … fire i.e. wildfire
1555 effects appearances
1564 senseless inanimate/unfeeling
1565 unhappy misfortune-bringing
1567 gives o’er desists
1573 in … sustaining when sorrow has to be endured
1574 heavy sorrowful/sleepy
1575 watch remain awake
1576 overslipped slipped unnoticed past
1578 from away from
1579 detriment grief, loss
1580 shows images
1583 mindful dutiful
1586 tear-distainèd tearstained
1587 streamed streamed out, were luminously visible
1588 water-galls secondary, imperfectly formed rainbows or other signs portending rain
dim element overcast sky, i.e. face
1592 sod sodden, soaked
1596 each other’s chance what had befallen the other
1598 uncouth unknown/strange
1601 attired in discontent wrapped in grief/dressed in mourning black
1604 sighs … fire i.e. as if blowing a smoldering wick prior to lighting and discharging artillery
1606 addressed prepared
1609 consorted accompanying/ associated, leagued
1612 dirge funeral song
1611 swan … ending swans were believed to sing before they died
1615 depending waiting for settlement (legal term)/hanging heavily
1619 in … of claiming, usurping
1621 wont accustomed
1626 falchion curved sword
1629 entertain receive (sexually)
1632 hard-favoured groom ugly manservant
1633 yoke thy liking submit yourself/unite your desire
1643 still … record be forever recorded in writing
1645 Th’adulterate the adulterous
1648 bloody cruel, bloodthirsty
1650 scarlet the color both of lust and of a judge’s robes
evidence to swear to present sworn testimony
1651 purloined stolen
1655 gross bodily (as opposed to spiritual)/corrupted
1658 accessary yieldings compliance
1659 closet private room or cabinet, i.e. body
1660 merchant i.e. Collatine
1661 declined lowered, drooping
1662 across folded, a conventional gesture of melancholy
1663 new-waxen newly grown
1666 What … again i.e. he tries to speak but his breath catches and he swallows his words
1669 eddy water that has had its course interrupted and runs contrary to the current
boundeth in restrains
1670 strait narrow channel of water
1672 make a saw works with a sawing motion, backward and forward
1674 attendeth observes
1675 untimely frenzy ill-timed madness
1677 Another power added strength
1678 sensible capable of feeling, painful
1680 on in
1682 attend pay attention to
1683 suddenly immediately
1684 Thine … own i.e. his actions have made Tarquin enemy to Collatine, Lucrece, and himself
1690 plight … faiths take an oath on your honors
1691 venge avenge
1697 imposition the task she imposed
1698 bewrayed exposed, accused
1699 said completed
1700 protestation declarations, avowals
1702 quality nature
1704 with … dispense be exonerated from the sinful deed
1705 advance raise up
1706 terms arguments
chance misfortune
1714 no … giving no woman who comes after will be able to cite my being excused as reason for her to be excused
1720 Untimely ill-timed, irregular
assays attempts (to speak)
1725 bail liberate, release
1726 prison i.e. her body
1728 sprite spirit, soul
1729 Life’s … destiny eternal life, which escapes the mortal life she has ended
1731 crew companions
1734 Brutus 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
1736 held … chase followed, came after it
1740 late-sacked recently plundered
vastly desolate, empty
1745 wat’ry rigol ring or circle of watery fluid (the blood-serum that separates from clotting blood)
1751 Lucretius Lucrece’s father
1756 predecease progenitors die before their parents
1758 glass mirror, in which her father saw himself young again
1763 shivered shattered
1766 surcease cease
1773 place precedence
1774 key-cold i.e. cold as metal
1776 counterfeits appears, seems
1779 vexation distress, torment
1784 so thick come coming in such a rush or so incomprehensibly
1790 At … o’er i.e. sighs and speech finally give way to tears
1791 strife pain, distress/contention
1797 interest enti
tlement/share
1803 owed owned
1805 dispersed a transferred epithet; it is the clamors that are scattered through the air
1807 Brutus 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
1808 emulation rivalry
1809 wit intellect
1810 folly’s show pretense of stupidity
1814 habit guise/accustomed manner
1815 deep policy farseeing strategy
1819 unsounded untested/not uttered
1825 humour mood, behavior
1826 wretched unhappy
1828 steep drench
1829 relenting softening, weakening
1831 invocations prayers for aid
1832 suffer allow
1835 Capitol hill in Rome, site of the great temple of Jupiter
1837 fat fertile
1844 protestation declared resolution
1845 wond’ring marveling
allow approve, accept
1849 advisèd doom considered judgment
1851 thorough throughout
1854 plausibly approvingly
1371 conceited 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
1 increase reproduction/offspring
2 That so that
4 tender young/loving
bear his memory be a reminder of him
5 thou 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”
6 Feed’st … fuel i.e. like a candle, the young man feeds his flame (i.e. his life) with his own body
9 fresh young, lively, blooming
10 herald messenger (announcing the approach of spring)
gaudy bright (without connotations of vulgarity)
11 bud an image of youth, also of virginity; may additionally refer to the glans of the penis
content happiness/contents (i.e. potential children)
12 tender churl a paradox: he is both loving/sensitive (tender) and mean/boorish (a churl)
mak’st waste wastes/lays waste, destroys
niggarding being mean, stingy; another paradox—he wastes by being sparing
14 the world’s due what he owes the world (children)
by … thee i.e. his potential children are eaten twice: by his self-absorption and by the grave that will bury him
1 forty often used to mean “many”
2 field meadow/battlefield: the fresh meadow of the young man’s beauty will become a battlefield full of trenches (wrinkles)
3 proud livery splendid uniform (of a nobleman’s servant or a soldier)
4 weed garment/wild plant
6 treasure may play on the sense of “semen”
lusty vigorous/sexually desirous
8 all-eating shame gluttonous shame that totally consumes one
thriftless unprofitable
9 deserved … use would the active employment of your beauty deserve (use incorporates the senses of “money lending at interest” and “sexual employment”)
10 answer quibbles on the sense of “pay back, meet a financial obligation”
11 sum my count add up my accounts, make up the balance sheet (of my life)
make … excuse justify me when I am old/be plentiful reparation
12 succession inheritance
thine i.e. derived from you
13 were would be
14 blood actual blood/bloodline, family (may include suggestion of “sexual desire/semen”)
1 glass mirror
3 fresh repair youthful condition
4 beguile cheat
unbless some mother deprive some woman of the blessing of being a mother
5 uneared unplowed
6 tillage (sexual) plowing
husbandry agricultural cultivation (plays on the sense of “role as a husband”)
7 fond foolish/infatuated
will be that he will willingly
8 stop prevent, halt/stop up, enclose
posterity future generations
10 Calls back literally summons back/remembers
11 windows i.e. eyes
13 remembered … be to be forgotten
14 Die may play on the sense of “orgasm” (giving self-love masturbatory connotations)
1 Unthrifty unprofitable, wasteful
spend plays on the sexual sense of “ejaculate”
2 beauty’s legacy the beauty you have inherited (and should bequeath to your children)
4 frank generous
those i.e. those who
free generous/noble/sexually available
5 niggard miser
7 usurer moneylender (notorious for charging high interest rates)
use use up, spend/make use of for profit
8 live make a living/live on through descendants
9 traffic trade, business/sexual dealings (i.e. masturbation)
10 Thou … deceive you trick yourself out of enjoying the best part of yourself
12 audit final account, balance sheet
13 unused unemployed/not used for profit/sexually inactive
tombed entombed, buried
1 frame create
2 gaze that which is gazed at
dwell linger
4 unfair make ugly
fairly beautifully/justly, legitimately
5 leads guides/lures deceptively
6 confounds destroys
7 checked halted
lusty strong, healthy
8 o’ersnowed covered in snow
9 distillation essence, perfume
10 A … glass kept (like rose water) in a bottle
11 with along with
were bereft would be lost
12 Nor … was (leaving) neither itself nor any memory of what it had been
14 show appearance
still always/yet (aurally echoes distilling)
1 Then … distilled the argument continues directly from Sonnet 5
ragged rough
3 vial flask, container (i.e. womb)
treasure make rich/ejaculate into
place vaginal connotations
4 self-killed suggestive of solitary orgasm (“death”)
5 use employment/ sexual activity/money lending at interest
6 ha
ppies makes happy
pay … loan take on the loan willingly
8 ten … one ten children rather than one
10 refigured replicated (quibbles on the sense of “made a new number of”)
12 posterity your descendants
13 self-willed obstinate/one who bequeaths his assets only to himself/one who directs his sexual desire toward himself
fair beautiful/just
1 orient east
gracious light i.e. the sun
2 under earthly, mortal/lesser, lowly
5 steep-up precipitous
heavenly hill i.e. the sky
9 pitch the highest point (literally, in a falcon’s flight before it swoops to attack)
car chariot (like that of Phoebus, the classical sun god)
10 reeleth staggers
11 fore before, previously
converted turned away
12 tract course
13 thyself outgoing outstripping, exhausting yourself
noon prime, peak/state of (masturbatory) sexual arousal
14 diest plays on the sense of “orgasm”
get beget, conceive
son puns on “sun”
1 Music to hear when there is music to hear/you, whom it is music to hear
sadly gravely/sorrowfully
4 annoy vexation, pain
6 unions harmonizing chords (plays on the sense of “marriages”)
7 chide scold, rebuke
confounds destroys
8 singleness refusing to participate in musical harmony/being a bachelor
parts … bear personal qualities you should reproduce/musical part you should sing
9 Mark notice
10 Strikes … each resonates mutually (strikes plays on the sense of “has sex”)
11 sire father
13 speechless i.e. instrumental, without voices
14 ‘Thou … none’ by remaining unmarried, you will amount to nothing
3 issueless childless
hap chance
4 makeless mateless, i.e. widowed
5 still continually
6 form likeness
7 private individual
8 By by means of, by looking into her
9 Look what whatever
unthrift spendthrift, wasteful person
10 his its
the … it i.e. it remains in circulation
11 beauty’s waste the waste or consumption of beauty
12 unused plays on the sense of “virginal/not employed sexually”
user waster (with suggestion of “masturbator”)
13 bosom heart
14 murd’rous shame shameful behavior that destroys the doer (with suggestion of masturbation)
1 For shame shame on you/out of a sense of shame (some editors add an exclamation mark after this phrase)
bear’st feel