The Sonnets and Other Poems (Modern Library Classics)

  8 madding frenzied/maddening

  13 content contentment

  14 thrice three times

  1 befriends me stands me in good stead

  3 Needs must I I must of necessity

  under ... bow bow my head in shame at my wrongdoing

  6 hell of hellish

  7 no leisure taken spared no time

  8 weigh consider

  9 remembered reminded

  11 tendered offered

  12 humble salve soothing ointment of contrition

  fits suits

  13 that your trespass that trespass of yours

  14 ransoms pays for, redeems

  1 vile esteemed thought to be despicable, worthless

  2 being i.e. being vile

  3 just legitimate

  so deemed i.e. thought to be vile

  5 false deceitful/unfaithful

  adulterate impure, corrupt/adulterous

  6 Give salutation to greet (knowingly)

  sportive blood playful temperament/lust

  7 on ... spies why are my weaknesses spied on by those who are even more at fault themselves (frailty often implies succumbing to sexual temptation) 8 wills desires/sexual urges

  9 that what (I am that I am were God's words to Moses in Exodus 3:14) level guess/aim a metaphorical gun

  10 abuses misdeeds

  reckon count

  11 bevel crooked

  12 By through

  rank foul/diseased/lustful

  shown viewed, interpreted

  13 maintain assert

  14 in ... reign prosper in their badness/are supremely bad 1 tables writing tablet, notebook

  2 Full charactered completely inscribed

  3 idle rank trivial series (of writings in the notebook)/worthless type (of memorandum) 4 date limit

  6 faculty power, ability

  7 razed erased, obliterated

  9 That poor retention i.e. the tables, memorandum book 10 tallies sticks marked with notches (scored) to record a debt 11 to ... bold I dared to give them away

  12 those ... more the notebook (my memory) that holds you more completely (or "retains more of you") 13 adjunct external aid

  14 import imply

  2 pyramids obelisks (perhaps suggestive of those built in London to celebrate the coronation of King James I in 1603) newer might more recent strength/more modern skills

  4 dressings ... sight dressed-up versions of something seen before 5 dates (lives') duration

  6 foist palm off (originally a term for cheating at dice)

  7 born ... desire created for our wishes

  9 registers records

  10 wond'ring marveling

  11 thy ... lie both records of the past and what we see for ourselves are deceptive 12 Made ... haste changing in perspective and significance in accordance with the swift passage of time 14 true faithful (plays on the idea of historical validity as opposed to records and perceptions that lie) 1 my dear love the precious love I feel

  child of state product of circumstances

  2 for as

  unfathered deemed illegitimate, of no fixed identity

  4 Weeds ... gathered i.e. rejected or valued according to the whims of Time (or the times) 5 accident chance

  6 suffers ... pomp does not become corrupt as a result of being favored by the great (or "... as a result of fortune and riches")/does not suffer due to the whims of the great 7 Under ... discontent by being imprisoned for political discontent/by being enslaved to dissatisfaction 8 Whereto ... calls to which the present times draw people of our sort 9 policy political cunning, scheming

  heretic dissident

  10 works ... hours operates on a short-term basis

  11 politic prudent, wise

  12 nor ... nor neither ... nor

  13 witness as witnesses

  fools idiots/dupes/ playthings/laughingstocks

  fools of time i.e. those who allow themselves (and their love) to be subject to fashion and change 14 for goodness in the name of goodness, i.e. as martyrs or in an attempt to achieve a good reputation 1 Were't ... me would it mean anything to me if

  canopy such as would be carried over a monarch in a public procession 2 With ... honouring honoring public displays of respect with my outward appearance (or behavior) 3 bases foundations for statues or memorial monuments

  for eternity i.e. to last for eternity

  4 Which may refer either to bases or to eternity

  5 dwellers ... favour those who are preoccupied with ceremony and the favor of the great (or "... with bodily and facial appearance"); dwellers plays on the literal sense of "inhabitants"

  6 too much rent too high a price

  7 For ... savour giving up simple tastes in favor of complex or artificial sweetmeats 8 Pitiful thrivers materially prosperous but deserving of pity (or contempt)/people who prosper poorly in ... spent exhausted by their gazing (on form and favour) 9 obsequious obedient (also "dutiful in performing mourning rites," a sense that is picked up in oblation) 10 oblation offering (often in a religious context)

  11 seconds inferior material

  art skill/cunning

  12 render handing over

  13 suborned informer bribed informant (or witness)

  14 impeached accused (often, of treason)

  2 fickle glass changeable and unreliable hourglass

  sickle hour time for harvesting (i.e. death)

  3 by waning grown grown older with the passing of time/increased in beauty as you have grown older 5 wrack wreck, ruin

  6 goest onwards move forward in time

  8 disgrace shame (at being outwitted by Nature) minutes kill i.e. destroy the effects of time

  9 minion darling, favorite/effeminate man/one kept for sexual favors 10 keep preserve

  11 audit final account, reckoning

  answered paid

  12 quietus discharge of a payment, settling of a debt

  render hand over, pay in settlement of a debt

  13 ( ) the empty parentheses that appear here in the original 1609 Quarto edition suggest a missing final couplet, but the preceding twelve lines consist of six couplets (unlike the other sonnets), and the poem is complete syntactically; the blanks may be seen as a visual representation of the closure of the sequence addressed to the young man and possibly of his absence/death 1 the old age times past

  black this is the first of the "Dark Lady" sonnets, addressed to a dark-haired and/or dark-complexioned woman fair beautiful/pale

  2 bore ... name was not explicitly called beautiful

  3 successive legitimate

  4 beauty ... shame what was called beauty is disgraced by being termed illegitimate (or is falsely created through cosmetics) 5 put on assumed (through use of cosmetics)

  6 Fairing the foul making the ugly beautiful

  7 name good reputation/secure paternity

  8 profaned desecrated, treated with irreverence

  10 so suited the same color

  11 not ... lack despite not having been born beautiful, achieve (false) beauty through the use of cosmetics 12 Sland'ring ... esteem giving natural beauty a bad name by being praised for false beauty 13 becoming ... woe looking attractive in their black "mourning"

  1 thou, my music you, who are my music (delight, harmony)

  2 wood the wooden keys of the virginals

  sounds resounds

  3 sway'st govern/move rhythmically

  4 wiry concord harmony of strings

  confounds amazes

  5 jacks i.e. keys (in fact pieces of wood fixed to the backs of the keys, carrying the quills that pluck the strings); plays on the sense of "rascals, knaves"

  7 that harvest i.e. of kisses

  10 chips the wooden keys

  13 saucy impudent/lascivious

  1 Th'expense the using up, expenditure/the ejaculation

  spirit vital energy/semen

  waste of shame shameful waste (puns on "waist," the shameful place where the semen is emitted) 2 lust in action sexual int
ercourse

  3 perjured oath-breaking

  full of blame completely blameworthy

  4 rude brutal/coarse

  to trust to be trusted

  5 straight straightaway

  6 Past reason illogically/insanely

  11 in proof while being experienced

  proved having been tried

  12 proposed anticipated

  behind afterward

  dream i.e. a fleeting, insubstantial thing

  14 hell plays on the slang sense of "vagina"

  1 My ... sun comparing eyes to the sun was common in love poetry; the sonnet goes on to mention a number of conventional similes 3 dun gray-brown

  4 wires fine golden wires, used for ornamentation (in, for example, headdresses) 5 damasked of the damask variety/ multicolored (red and white) 8 reeks exhales (did not imply unpleasant odors at this time) 11 go walk

  14 she ... compare woman misrepresented by untrue comparisons 1 tyrannous cruel and domineering

  so ... art just as you are

  3 dear dearly

  5 in good faith truly

  6 groan with desire/with despair

  10 but merely

  11 One ... neck one following rapidly after another

  12 Thy black your black hair and/or complexion

  fairest most beautiful/palest

  in ... place to my mind

  14 this slander i.e. the claim (in line 5) that she is not beautiful enough to provoke such love 4 petty ruth small pity

  5 morning puns on "mourning"

  6 becomes befits, suits

  even evening

  8 sober subdued in color

  9 mourning plays on "morning"

  10 beseem befit, suit

  11 doth thee grace makes you more beautiful

  12 suit ... part dress your pity entirely in the same way

  14 foul ugly (plays on the sense of "dirty, black")

  1 Beshrew curse

  2 wound plays on the sense of "vagina"

  4 slave to slavery slave to tyranny, utterly enslaved

  5 eye possible vaginal connotations

  6 my next self i.e. my friend

  harder perhaps suggestive of penile erection

  engrossed bought up wholesale, monopolized/ made larger and firmer

  7 Of by

  forsaken abandoned

  8 crossed thwarted, tormented

  9 Prison imprison

  ward prison cell

  10 bail bail out, release

  11 keeps guards

  his i.e. the friend's

  12 rigour harshness/torture

  13 pent imprisoned

  14 all ... me i.e. and so is my friend, kept in my heart 1 he i.e. the friend of Sonnet 133

  2 will resolve/wishes/sexual desire

  3 so ... mine provided that my other self (the friend)

  6 kind generous/courteous/loving

  7 surety-like ... me to act as my guarantor, to underwrite my debt (and release me) 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