2 unprovident careless
3 Grant admit, accept
6 stick’st hesitate
7 roof i.e. body that houses the young man’s soul/family, the house to which he belongs
9 thought intention
mind opinion (of you)
10 be fairer lodged have better lodgings
11 presence appearance, manner
kind benevolent/natural/possessed of family affection
13 another self i.e. a child
14 still always
thine or thee your descendants or yourself
1 wane decline, become older and weaker (with suggestion of “become detumescent after sex”)
2 one of thine a child of yours (or just possibly “your wife” who has become pregnant)
from … departest (which child is formed) out of that which you leave behind, i.e. youth/ semen
3 fresh blood lifeblood/semen
youngly in your youth
4 from youth convertest i.e. are old
convertest turn away/change
5 Herein i.e. in having children
increase prosperity, advancement/reproduction/children
7 minded so of your intention (not to have children)
8 threescore year sixty years
make … away bring the world to an end
9 for store to have children/to preserve
10 featureless lacking attractive features
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
&nbs
p; 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)
12 gold candles i.e. stars
13 hearsay rumor, secondhand information
14 purpose intend
1 glass mirror
2 one date the same age
3 furrows i.e. wrinkles
4 look I I expect
expiate end
6 raiment clothing
7 in … me refers to the popular poetic concept of lovers exchanging hearts
9 be … wary take good care of yourself
11 chary carefully
13 Presume … heart do not expect to receive your heart back
1 unperfect not word-perfect
2 with … part forgets his lines out of stage fright
3 replete filled
5 for … trust from lack of confidence/for fear of not being trusted
6 perfect … rite correct words that make up the rituals of love (rite puns on “right,” i.e. what is owed to a lover)
8 O’ercharged overloaded
might strength
9 books i.e. writings (the sonnets)
10 presagers indicators/announcers (to create an oxymoron with dumb)
breast heart
11 Who i.e. my books
12 that tongue i.e. the tongue of some other person
14 fine wit sharp intelligence and understanding
1 stelled portrayed, delineated
2 table flat board on which a picture is painted
3 frame picture frame, but plays on the sense of “body”
4 perspective type of painting in which the image appeared distorted (or different) until it was viewed from a particular angle
5 through i.e. in the work of/by looking into the eyes of
7 shop can mean “workshop”
still forever
8 That … eyes i.e. the young man stares into the poet’s eyes (windows), where his own are reflected
13 this cunning want lack this skill
14 know understand, see into
2 of from
3 triumph exultation
4 Unlooked for unexpectedly/overlooked, disregarded
joy … most take pleasure in what I consider most worthy of honor
5 leaves petals
6 marigold the bright orange-yellow flower was noted for opening its petals in response to the sun
7 in … burièd i.e. without the sun, their splendor is lost (shut up within petals)
8 glory magnificence/brightness
9 painful suffering pain
famousèd made famous
might the Quarto text has “worth” here, but the failure to rhyme with quite has caused most editors to emend to might (or “fight”); some retain “worth” and emend quite to “forth”
10 foiled defeated
11 razèd erased
14 remove move away (i.e. be unfaithful)
1 vassalage total service and allegiance (feudal term)
2 knit bound
3 ambassage formal message
4 witness bear witness to
wit intelligence/ingenuity
6 wanting lacking
7 some … it some clever poetic device that you think up will embellish my plain expression of duty/some favorable opinion of yours will cause you to lodge my vulnerable duty in your soul
9 moving life and fortunes
10 fair aspect favorable influence (astrological term)
14 prove me put me to the test
2 dear precious
travel plays on the sense of “travail” (hard work)
5 far i.e. far away from you
6 Intend proceed on/devote themselves toward
10 shadow image/ghost
11 Which i.e. which shadow
ghastly frightening/ghostly
14 For on account of
1 How … then the argument continues from Sonnet 27
plight state, condition
3 oppression the oppressive toil mentioned in Sonnet 27
6 shake hands make a pact
10 dost him grace i.e. by shining in the sun’s place
11 swart-complexioned black-faced
12 twire twinkle/peep out
gild’st the even make the evening glitter
1 in disgrace out of favor
2 beweep weep about
3 bootless useless
6 Featured … possessed having the looks of one man and the friends of another
7 art skill/learning
scope freedom
8 With … least least satisfied with what I have most of
10 Haply perhaps/ by good fortune (puns on “happily”)
state i.e. state of mind
12 sullen dark/melancholy
14 change exchange
1 sessions … summon the metaphor is of a law court, to which thoughts are summoned as witnesses
3 sigh sigh at
4 new wail lament anew
dear valuable (as in line 13)
5 flow i.e. weep
6 dateless endless
7 cancelled rendered invalid (another legal term)
8 th’expense the loss
9 grievances foregone past sorrows
10 heavily sorrowfully
tell o’er add up/relate
11 account financial account/narrative (the financial metaphor is maintained with pay and dear)
fore-bemoanèd moan griefs lamented in the past
1 Thy … dead i.e. the qualities and affections of dead friends live on in the young man (but there is also the suggestion that the poet has been deserted by his friends or lovers in favor of the young man)
bosom heart
endearèd with loved by/made more valuable by
2 lacking not having, missing
3 parts attributes
5 obsequious funereal, mourning
6 dear tender, heartfelt
religious reverent/conscientious
7 interest financial interest (owed to the dead)
8 removed moved elsewhere
there i.e. in the young man’s bosom
10 trophies spoils, memorials, relics
11 all … give gave all their shares in me to you
12 That due of that which was owed to
13 I loved which I loved
14 And … me and you, who are all of them, have all of me
1 my well-contented day the day of my death, which I welcome/the day when I shall pay all my debts (to nature)
2 churl base villain/miser
3 fortune chance/good fortune
4 rude unpolished
5 bett’ring … time superior work subsequently being produced
7 Reserve preserve, keep
rhyme poetic qualities
8 height i.e. height of achievement
happier more fortunate, talented
9 vouchsafe deign to bestow upon me
10 Muse inspiration/skill
11 dearer birth i.e. better literary creation
12 march … equipage a military metaphor, literally “march among ranks of better equipped soldiers”—i.e. be in the company of more sophisticated poets
4 alchemy the power to turn base metals into gold
5 Anon soon
basest lowliest/darkest
6 rack mass of clouds driven by the wind (puns on “wrack,” i.e. wreck)
7 visage face
10 all-triumphant glorious
11 out, alack alas
12 region cloud cloud of the upper air
13 no whit in no way, not at all
14 Suns … world earthly kings (but also puns on “sons of the world,” i.e. ordinary mortals)
stain become stained, lose brightness/become dishonored
1 thou i.e. the sun; continuing the theme of Sonnet 33, the young man’s deception is addressed through weather imagery
4 brav’ry splendor
rotten smoke unhealthy vapors (clouds were believed to carry disease)
7 salve soothing ointment
8 disgrace affront/ disfigurement (i.e. scar)
9 physic medicine
12 cross affliction
14 ransom pay, atone for
3 stain darken (also implying moral corruption)
4 canker cankerworm, a parasitic grub that destroys plants