1 The first seventeen sonnets argue that the youth should marry and have children in order to preserve his physical beauty through children. increase, procreation, offspring. riper the elder, the parent. contracted betrothed. self-substantial from your own substance. content, (1) contents, (2) contentment. niggarding. paradoxically, wasting by saving (himself from marriage). thee. to devour the offspring the world deserves, by choosing a childless death. field, create wrinkles in his brow. livery, attractive clothes (and, metaphorically, youthful flesh). use investment. excuse," justify my accounting, and excuse my age. succession through inheritance. glass, mirror. repair, youthful state. beguile cheat. uneared unplowed. husbandry? farming (punningly). age when you look back in your old age. legacy? The extended financial image here is of a spendthrift, failing to return Nature's bounty. frank, generous. usurer, Previously a spendthrift, the youth is now a miser, failing to pass on his wealth of beauty. traffic commerce. 5 The following two sonnets can be read as a single poem, as the second expands further on the image of flowers distilled for their perfume as a figure for greater permanence in beauty. hours the passage of time. unfair mage ugly. confounds destroys. distillation distilled perfume. pent held captive. vial; container--metaphorically for the womb. usury Laws against usury (lending money for interest) in the period were strict, though frequently ignored. Orient east. eye every earthly eye. Serving paying respects. hill, having risen to a peak at noon. hear, (you) whom it is music to hear. annoy? The paradox is that the youth is somber while listening to sweet sounds, instead of rejoicing in them. bear: The youth defeats the possibility of harmony (musical parts) by remaining a single, unaccompanied tune. ordering, sympathetic vibration: one string vibrating when another tuned to the same pitch is sounded. one, Again the paradox of harmony is that it is one sound made up of many. issueless childless. still continually. private separate, individual. it; The economic argument, very modern, is that one person's spending stimulates the economy for others. stick'st scruple. roof his body; the metaphor is of an estate. away: Sixty years would mean the end of civilization if there were no children born to carry on. seal, a stamp used to create multiple impressions or images. brave splendid. sable black. erst earlier. girded bound. bier metaphorically for the hay cart. breed, except for having children. here on earth. determination; termination, end. husbandry thriftiness (punningly). pluck, foretell my conclusions. dearths, famines. tell, forecast to the last minute. 'Pointing appointing. predict frequent prediction. store abundance (children) 15 For the first time, the writer suggests that his art might provide an alternative immortality; a proposition denied in the second sonnet of this group of two sonnets. stage the earth. checked encouraged and held back. brave handsome. conceit thought. debateth consults, competes. barren infertile. unset, unplanted, without seeds. counterfeit: portrait (in verse). skill. skill in lovemaking. numbers verses. tongue, more talkative than truthful. meter exaggerated lines (literally rhythm). 18 The hesitancy in suggesting immortality through verse of the last two sonnets is discarded in this famous and triumphant sonnet. lease the time available in summer. heaven the sun. sometime Everything beautiful declines eventually from that state of beauty. untrimmed: by bad luck, or by the natural passage of time. Phoenix a mythical, long-lived bird that was supposed to die in fire and be reborn from the ashes (here her blood). antique (1) antic or capricious, (2) old. untainted unstained, uninjured. 20 This crucial sonnet creates a wry myth of origin: the youth's beauty is such that Nature fell in love with him, and, since Nature is a woman, she turned him at the last moment into a man. The ambiguous sense of sexuality in the poem is discussed in the introduction to this section. painted natural; compare "painted" in the next sonnet. mistress both master and mistress, male and female. gazeth; The eye is imagined as giving forth beams that make the objects it sees shine. controlling, a man whose appearance (color) is superior to all others, male or female. nothing. Nature (a woman) added the one thing--a penis--that is of no use to the poet. out marked, with a pun on "prick". treasure. the poet will have his love, while women will have (treasure) his sexual activity. The pun is again on "use" as an investment; as in Sonnet 129 to the Dark Woman, orgasm is seen as "spending." Muse, poet. painted artificial. rehearse, compares his loved one to every kind of beauty; compare Sonnet 130 to the dark woman. rondure sphere (world). air: stars. hearsay gossip; what today we would call advertising. glass mirror. date; so long as you remain youthful. expiate. end. me; Your beauty is the decorous clothing of my heart, which is enclosed in your breast, as yours is in mine. will, i will care for myself for your sake. chary carefully. again. the first warning of imperfect love: the youth should not expect to get his heart back if the writer's heart is "slain" (by loss of love or betrayal). part; who gets stage fright. heart; a wild animal whose fury weakens its heart. trust, mistrusting myself. books possibly the narrative poems Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece. presagers silent messengers. steeled engraved upon a tablet. want lack. for unexpectedly. painful painstaking. razèd erased. 26 This poem is often taken as evidence that the youth was an aristocrat, since it can be read as requesting patronage. On the other hand, Shakespeare was good at metaphors. vassalage allegiance. embassage letter. conceit good opinions. it. place my poor (naked) verse in your inner thoughts. aspect, astrological favor. me. put me to the test. 27 This sonnet and the next form a double sonnet. travel The word means "travail" (hard work) as well. oppressed, the day disturbed by lack of sleep, and sleep by the activities of the day. one day; the other is night. swart-complexioned dark-colored. even; When the stars do not twinkle the youth's beauty makes the evening golden. bootless useless. Featured like him, with the same (good) looks. scope, range (of power or learning). enjoy most possess. Haply by chance. Haply perhaps. sessions the sittings of a court; in the next line, witnesses are summoned. waste; re-hash old woes, lamenting time wasted. flow, unused to weeping. dateless endless. th'expense loss. o'er retell. hearts beloved by all. parts, qualities. obsequious mourning. trophies memorials. 32 This is the first poem that mentions the possibility of rival poets. fortune by chance. time, improvements in poetic style. height greater eloquence. birth better creation (poem). equipage; better equipped (the metaphor is of an army). 33 These next three sonnets form the arc of a disagreement, where the Youth has apparently injured the Poet in some way. eye-- the sun, gold in the morning. alchemy-- The alchemists sought to convert base metals to gold. rack bank of clouds. sun my loved one (the youth). region of the upper air. smoke? unwholesome vapors. physic medicine; following the image of the salve two lines earlier. cross. the original reads loss. canker budworm. compare, rationalizing his behavior through comparison. sense; reason. advocate, in the legal sense: defense lawyer. The metaphor continues in the following lines. 36 This sonnet may form the first part of a double sonnet with 39. twain, separate (two). blots defects, perhaps of honor. respect, attitude. effect, effect of creating one sole (soul) person. report. Since we are one, your good reputation becomes mine. This couplet is repeated in Sonnet 96. decrepit aged and infirm. lame handicapped. parts, given nobility by your qualities. store: abundance. substance The concept is given reality; Shakespeare is using Platonic terminology. want lack. argument, topic, subject. invention the creative urge. Muse, In Greek mythology there were nine Muses, daughters of Apollo, god of music and poetry. numbers verses. for because of. deceive. cover, ameliorate. 40 This group of three sonnets suggests that the youth has seduced someone loved by the writer, possibly the dark woman; the poems are almost masochistic in their rationalization of the youth's behavior. my love receivest, playing on the love the writer feels for the Youth, and the Poet's mistress, or lover. usest; you use my loved one sexually. injury. It is harder to accept injury from someone we love than from someone we hate. liberty licentiousness. she The original reads "he"; possibly it means that no man will leave until he has had sex with such a woman. seat place (here his mistress). abuse wrong. approve test; try her out sexually. 43 The following three sonnets can be read as a triple sonnet; they all explore absence from the loved one. wink, sleep. unrespected, of no interest. directed. in the darkness of night; directed towards the brightness of the loved one. bright, thou whose shadowy dream-self makes bright the shadows of night. shade again, his dream-self. substance heavy matter (the elements of earth and water, referred to later in the sonnet). leisure wait for time to move in a leisurely fashion. two, the other two elements, (light) air and fire. present-absent, The paradox is explained in the following lines. melancholy, The elements each represented a characteristic personality; melancholy was associated with earth and winter, hence with death. composition The ideal was a balance between the four elements 46 The next two sonnets form a pair exploring the duality of eye and heart. bar, The syntax is inverted: the eye would bar the sight of the loved one from the heart. defendant the eye; the metaphor of a trial continues in the following lines where thoughts are empanelled as a jury. 'cide decide. moiety, share (literally, half). league pact. them, I am always with my thoughts. truest strongest wards prison cells. part; come and go. Against in preparation for. sum, made a final accounting; the metaphor continues in the next line. respects; careful thoughts. gravity; find rationalizations (something Shakespeare's dramatic lovers are very good at). ensconce fortify. desert, merit. 50 The next two sonnets explore similar imagery as the writer travels away from the object of his love. heavy sadly. posting haste. extremity an extreme of speed. weigh The original reads "neigh," which makes a kind of sense. jade: an old horse. For to avoid. carcanet. or principal jewels in the necklace. you (1) holds you, (2) watches over you. shadows shades of the past: the mythical figures mentioned later in the poem. shade, here the literal shadow cast by the sun. Helen's helen of Troy, whose fabled beauty instigated the Trojan war. The writer uses both masculine (Adonis) and feminine ideals of beauty to describe the youth. foison abundance, harvest. blooms the dog rose, which has little scent. unrespected unnoticed. made: by distillation. vade, fade, die. stone, stone grave markers (on the floor of a church). broils wars, battles. Mars god of war. enmity enmity, that brings forgetfulness. appetite, let not love's urge be less keen than physical appetite. fullness, until eyes close with satiety. new two newly-engaged lovers. 57 this and the next sonnet explore the image of the writer's slavish acceptance of his the youth's behaviors; they are so similar that they may be reworkings of the same sonnet rather than the kind of pair we find elsewhere. tend attend. world-without-end seemingly endless. will, in your desire. Will is capitalized in the original version, emphasizing the pun on Shakespeare's name. control that I should even think of controlling. stay await. liberty, Let me suffer the effect of your absence, while you are free (and behaving with liberty, licentiousness). check, patiently suffer each rebuke you offer. list, wish. beguiled, deceived. invention, trying to be original. record historical record. done, since thoughts were first expressed in writing. mended, whether we are superior. revolution the revolving of the sun; what goes around, comes around. contend. in sequence, all struggle forward. Nativity, the new-born child. fight, The submerged metaphor here is of the span of human life compared to the sun moving across the sky. transfix pierce through; destroy. parallels wrinkles. tenor direction. Beated battered. Against in preparation for the time when. travelled also with the sense travailed, labored. 64 The next two form a powerful double sonnet on the ravages of time and the fragility of love. fell evil, destructive. cost costly aged monuments. eternal brass memorial plaques (torn down during the dissolution of the monasteries). main, The coastline of England had changed within living memory. loss, increasing abundance with famine, and vice versa. sea, This one line summarizes the previous sonnet. mortality solemn destruction. days The metaphor is of besieging a castle with a battering ram. hid? where shall the youth (Time's jewel) be hidden from the coffin (Time's chest)? these the list that follows. desert the deserving person. nothing worthlessness. forsworn, betrayed. sway ineffective leadership. doctor-like, with the authority of a teacher. simplicity, foolishness. ill: good waits on evil (its captain). 67 This, and the next sonnet, explore a conflict between art and nature in the expression of beauty. wherefore why. achieve, sin will gain advantage by his presence. lace adorn. shadow, inferior beauty seeks false (shadow) roses (in its cheeks). exchequer treasury (Nature has spent all on the youth). stores, preserves. bad. The writer looks back to "the good old days" as being superior. fair artificial looks (makeup). dead, hair from those who had died was used to make wigs for the living. sepulchres, tombs. hours again, the ideal earlier days. Want lack. commend; Even enemies have to admit the truth of the youth's beauty. Thy outward exterior beauty. confound, contradict. deeds; they judge your mind through your actions. soil blemish. fair; slander always targets the beautiful. time; so long as you are virtuous, slander makes you more admirable, as time will prove your innocence. vice slander is compared to the canker worm. prime. youth (prime of life). days, the temptations of youth. ill some suspicion of evil. owe. own. 71 In the next two sonnets, the writer imagines the effect his death might have on the youth. bell the tocsin, the church bell that tolls when someone has died. clay, mingled with earth. rehearse, repeat. task require. untrue, that your love make you lie in order to speak well of me. forth, presumably this poem. 73 This most moving sonnet where the writer sees himself on the very brink of death is followed by one that attempts to find a positive resolution. late recently. seals closes. expire, The fire dies on the ashes created by its own earlier (youthful) burning. fell dreaded. line this poem. still always. his its. life, as food is to existence (essential). you the peace to be found in loving you. counting (1) counting on, depending on, (2) counting as a miser counts money. bettered pleased better. away. all (food taken) away. pride? new fashions (in writing poetry). strange? strange new poetic inventions. weed, clothing. still constantly. glass mirror. leaves pages (of a book or journal). children the creations written on the blank pages. offices, duties. 78 Several of the next sonnets compare the writer's verse with another writer (the rival poet), often unfavorably. use, every other writer has my inspiration. disperse. circulate. grace excellence compile, my own verses. numbers melodious verses. place. give way to another writer. argument the Youth as an attractive subject. spirit the rival poet. bark, small boat. main ocean. soundless bottomless. building, solid construction. Or either. hence (1) this poem, (2) the world. virtue power. 82 The following two sonnets can be read together, with the image of painting continued between them. attaint dishonor. words devoted words (punning on a poet's dedication of his work to a patron). praise, exceeding the limits of my ability to praise. days. modern days, improving on earlier times. sympathized expressed. painting description, punning on the use of makeup. fair your beauty. tender worthless offer (the metaphor is of money). extant, alive. tomb. My silence does not damage your beauty, whereas others, in trying to bring it to life, fail, and bury it. more the most excessive praise can say no more. store in you the abundance is contained (walled in). penury poverty. wit, Such an equivalent shall make his wit famous. fond on doting on. character preserve your qualities. filed. polished. unlettered uneducated. praise the highest praise. his thought's (his here means its). his the rival poet's prize as in a pirate's prize, taking a ship captive. inhearse, place in a coffin. night the evil spirits that are assisting the rival poet. intelligence, deceives him with ideas. line, when your face provided the inspiration for his lines. estimate; value. The sustained metaphor in this sonnet is of legal contracts concerning property. charter contract, privilege. determinate. ended, terminated. wanting, lacking. patent right (of possession). misprision misunderstanding. light treat me lightly. part taking your side. attainted, dishonored. 89 The next group of sonnets contains some pairs that are ideally read together, as creating a kind of dialogue. halt, limp. change, to rationalize a change you desire. strange, I will stifle our friendship and pretend not to know you. haply accidentally. after-loss. wait to add to my loss. woe; come after I have recovered from sorrow. out to protract. ill, though they are ugly new fashions. 92 This sonnet should be read together with number 93. them the loss of friendship, seemingly a lesser problem. humor whims. lie. since my life depends (will end) when you revolt (deny my love). supposing believing. place. the consistent contrast between the eye, which sees only the surface, and the heart, which holds the true feeling. 94 This and the following sonnet can be read as an interconnected pair. show, seem to do, are capable of doing. husband preserve. stewards servants. sport, love affairs. large unlimited (also with the sense of morally loose). wantonness; playfulness, lechery. sport; courtly amorousness. less; loved by people of high and low rank. translate! convert. report. reputation. The same final couplet is used in sonnet 36. year! i.e. the summer. teeming pregnant. prime, carrying the fruit (crops) conceived by the spring (prime). issue offspring. cheer such a melancholy mood. proud-pied gorgeously multicolored. Saturn Associated with melancholy; Saturn was also the god of agriculture and fertility, both connected with the spring. lays songs. Nor neither. figures images. shadow portrait (literal, or in words). 99 This irregular sonnet has fifteen lines. forward early-flowering, with a sense of presumptuousness. grossly excessively. nor neither. canker budworm. fury inspiration. Darkening abasing. numbers, elegant verses. lays songs. argument. subject-matter. resty restless. decay, (his muse should) mock the process of decay. dyed? truth made integral with beauty. color justification, lay, express. now. to make him seem to the future as he is now. merchandised, cheapened, as if for sale. wont to was used to. Philomel the nightingale. burdens weighs down; with a pun on burden meaning the chorus of a song. poverty poor verse. bare the subject itself, unadorned. glass, mirror. pass purpose. 104 This sonnet gives the clearest indication of the length of time over which the Sonnets were written. perceived; The dial of the clock moves, though its movement is imperceptible. stand, is unchanged. show, appear. so. focused on one person and subject; the argument is that such constancy cannot be considered wrong. change variation (in words only). one. The writer is flirting with idolatry as he denies it, since he is echoing, almost parodying, the doctrine of the Trinity. wasted past, useless. wights, people. blazon formal, heraldic description. antique old-fashioned. divining prophetic. come, the spirit of humankind, imagining the future. lease ending date. doom. imagined that there was to be a specific ending (use-by date). endured, This line is usually read as a reference to Queen Elizabeth, and may recall her death in 1603. presage; solemn prophets revise their own predictions. age. peace is assured (possibly referring to the optimism at the accession of James of Scotland to the English throne). balmy peaceful, or prosperous. subscribes, yields. spent. consumed, destroyed. character record in handwriting. figured illustrated. old; assuming nothing to be hackneyed or a cliché. page, servant. conceit thoughts. 109 In the next four sonnets, the writer attempts to make reparations for a seeming failure in friendship, possibly a scandal (see 112), or simply the writer's trade as actor and playwright. qualify; ardency of love to abate. ranged, strayed. time, exactly on time. stain; fault (leaving the loved one). blood, passions. 110 In this sonnet Shakespeare seems to be criticizing himself as a mere actor, one who dons the motley of the Fool's clothing (on stage). motley jester. Gored damaged. new. new passions. blenches flinchings or swervings, possibly deceits. essays less successful attempts. That who. breeds. Fortune has dictated that the writer must make a living in the public realm (as actor and playwright), which makes him behave like a commoner. brand, disgrace (criminals were branded). hand; the dyer's hand becomes permanently stained. eisel vinegar. th'impression wrinkle. scandal possibly another reference to his craft as actor. o'er-green cover (with new growth). else no-one else matters. steeled hardened. sense the hearing--adders (snakes) were supposed to be deaf. about the part of me that directs my actions. out; it seems to see, but is not functioning. latch; perceive. objects its living surroundings. if it the eye. untrue. my mind, being true to you, makes my perception false. whether either (connected to the same phrase two lines later). alchemy, capacity to convert the ugly to beauty, as the alchemists changed base metal to gold. indigest formless. cherubins angels. beams his "eyebeams". gust taste accidents time, which both counts and provides an ultimate reckoning, and its countless unforeseen circumstances. Tan darken, as with age, or exposure to the sun. things; Time causes even the strong-minded to change according to altered circumstances. incertainty, certain in the face of the uncertain future. babe; as figured in Cupid. impediments; allow problems; the word echoes the marriage service in the Book of Common Prayer. finds, when it finds change in the object of love. remove. the remover here is possibly disease or misfortune. bark, ship. taken. The elevation of the (North) star is known, but not its value. sickle's The sickle, used for reaping, is a symbol of the passage of time. scanted neglected. deserts deservings frequent familiar. Book record. accumulate; add suspicion to proof. level aim. The metaphor is from archery, as in the following line. appeal as in a legal appeal of a verdict. Like as just as. compounds sharp-flavored spices. purge; take medicines to purge (by induced vomiting or diarrhea). The medical metaphor is extended over the next lines. meetness appropriateness. policy strategy. goodness, overfed with good (health). Drugs medicines siren tempting. The Sirens sang songs so beautiful that they bewitched sailors such that they were wrecked on the neighboring rocks; there may be a suggestion of an affair. limbecks apparatus used for distillation; the beauty of the perfume distilled is contrasted with the ugliness of the still. Still continually. fitted have bulged (in the fever). befriends makes me feel better. bow, I must feel the weight of the wrong I have committed. taken have not taken the time. weigh consider. remembered reminded. tendered offered. salve medicinal ointment. trespass the earlier indiscretion. seeing. One might as well behave badly, and have the fun of doing so, if others are going to assume that you have been indiscreet. eyes the others' eyes judge by their own falseness. blood? spontaneous moods, or passions. level aim. bevel. biased. rank decaying, foul. tables, book of memorandums, journal. charactered written. rank the pages of the book (less important than the actual memories). each both heart and brain. retention the book itself. score; The metaphor is of sticks marked to keep score of money owing. import imply. might, These newer pyramids may refer to structures built in London to welcome James I in 1603. brief, life is short. thou time. registers records. love in this case, the emotion of love, not the person the poem is directed to. unfathered, it might be considered the illegitimate result of chance. pomp, comfortable luxury. discontent, the discontent of those oppressed. calls: which the current times see as fashionable. policy, pragmatic self-interest (which does not take the long view). politic, prudent. nor neither. time, those who live only for the present. aught did it matter. honoring, acknowledging external honor. bases plans. favor external forms and currying favor. rent, attention. savor, ignoring simple tastes in favor of excessive sweetness. spent? pitiful spendthrifts, bankrupted in their excessive admiration (of those they seek to impress). obsequious devoted. oblation, offering (the term is used in a religious context). seconds, is not adulterated. render, rendering, exchange. informer, bribed witness (presumably the person who accused the Poet of flattery). 126 This "sonnet" consists of six couplets, and concludes the first section, of poems presumably addressed to the Youth. glass, hourglass. grown, grown (in beauty) by getting older. wrack, decay. still continually. minion favorite. still forever. audit, the traditional reckoning at death. quietus final settlement. 127 This is the first of the poems written to the dark woman. age olden days (of traditional, Petrarchan love poetry). heir, proclaimed heir to the name of beauty. beauty previous (fair/blonde) beauty. face, the use of artificial makeup. bower, no place of refuge. esteem. bringing naturally created beauty into disrespect by their artificial good looks. they her eyes. 128 In this sonnet, the dark woman is playing on a virginal or early harpsichord. music, his mistress. wood the keyboard. concord the harmony of the strings. jacks technically, the device that plucks the string when the key is depressed; here more likely a reference to the keys themselves (see the pun in the penultimate line). chips, the keys (chips of wood). jacks punningly for cheeky knaves. 129 This deeply troubling sonnet recalls the difficult sexual world of Troilus and Cressida and Measure for Measure spirit vital spirits; the orgasm was seen as spending vital energy. 130 In this sonnet, the Poet mocks the tradition of Petrarchan verse with its ideal of fair haired beauty. dun; beige. wires, HGolden) wires. damasked, variegated. goddess go-- walk. art, just as you are: dark. but only by. neck one after another. torment to torment. ruth pity. becomes suits. beseem be appropriate for. suit dress. 133 The next two sonnets suggest that the dark woman has had an affair with a friend, possibly the youth. See also sonnet 144. Beshrew curse. slavery totally enslaved. self his friend. crossed. suffered. ward; cell. pent imprisoned. will, (1) wishes, (2) sexual appetite. mine the youth. write as in providing a bond for bail. use, to gain interest. 135 the next two sonnets make much of punning on Shakespeare's name, Will, associating it with the term will as applied to sexual desire, passion, and free will. thus. (by adding myself.) thine? As the modern slang term willy suggests, there is a sexual pun. kill; (1) let no unkind act disappoint those who seek your favors, (2) let no unkind "no" disappoint them. check rebuke. blind the soul, unreceptive to the senses. treasure fill the treasury (with sexual suggestion). receipt great capacity (suggesting that she has many like him). none. a single one is trivial; the Elizabethan saying was "one is no number". me, consider me to be nothing. Love, cupid, traditionally portrayed as blind. over-partial biased. ride, The metaphor is of a ship in a busy harbor; the suggestion is that the mistress is profligate. several separate, individual. 138 This subtle and ironic poem treats the mutual falsehoods of the writer and the dark woman with a light touch. thinking in vain; also self-deceivingly. credit foolishly I believe. wherefore why. told. counted up, totaled. lie (1) tell lies, (2) sleep with. heart; Do not ask me to rationalize your falseness. Compare the writer's ready excuses for the youth's behavior. art. Be direct, not artful. thee: so he does rationalize her behavior after all. looks at others. pity-wanting (1) unpitied, (2) pity-desiring. so, to tell me that you love me, even if you do not. testy irritable. ill-wresting twisting everything to the worst meaning possible. straight, again the image of the roving eye. dote. love foolishly. prone, nor is my sense of touch attracted to you. wits, The five wits were these: common sense, imagination, fantasy, judgment, and memory. man, (the heart) leaves him with no control, and thus only a shell of a person. hate, Her strength is to hate him--a virtue since he is sinning in loving her. ornaments, lips, but also the red seal that makes a legal document (bond) valid. rents. committed adultery with others (stealing the husbands' love--and semen--from their wives). importune beg of. deserve make you deserving. hide, the pity she is withholding. 143 one of the few comic touches in the sequence, this sonnet pictures the Poet as a crying child running after its mother. creatures hens or geese. still. soothe. 144 This deeply bitter sonnet is usually taken as confirmation of an affair between the dark woman and the youth. despair, one comforting (the youth), one creating despair (the dark woman). suggest tempt. The writer imagines the two loves like good and evil angel, each trying to win him over. fiend has fallen (as the rebellious angels fell from Heaven). me, away from. hell. with sexual suggestion of intercourse. fire The implication may be that the dark woman will pass on a sexually transmitted disease. 145 Written in shorter, octosyllabic lines, this sonnet may be from an earlier period in Shakespeare's life. There is a probable pun on Hathaway in the penultimate line: "'I hate' from 'hate' away she threw." doom, passing a mild sentence. 146 another unique sonnet, in its focus on spiritual questions. earth, body. Thrall to These words are one of a number of conjectured emendations; the original repeats the words "my sinful earth" from the previous line. gay? while there is famine (dearth) within, he dresses his body in fine clothes. mansion his short-lived, physical body. servant's the body's. dross, trade worthless hours spend on pleasure (dross) for time (terms) in heaven. Th'uncertain finicky. desperate crazed, irrational. except. forbid. correspondence accurate connection with. censures judges. watching staying awake. partake? take your side against myself. lour'st frownest. moan? immediate complaint. respect value. insufficiency shortcomings. brightness fair beauty (since she is dark, and associated with night). becoming making attractive. warrantise assurance. exceeds? Your worst exceeds all that is best. young Cupid is figured as a child. conscience guilty conscience; knowledge of sexuality and the attendant sin. part soul. rising as in an erection (the pun continues in the following lines). Proud of swollen with. forsworn, faithless. 153 The final two sonnets, to Cupid, seem to be from an earlier period in Shakespeare's career. brand, a torch (we still use the term); there is also a sexual suggestion in the image. Dian's goddess of the moon and chastity. ground, in that area. seething heated (literally boiling). sovereign highly effective. trial to test the re-lit torch. hied, hurried. votary vowed to chastity. general organizer, Cupid.