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
14 th'executor one who ensures that the provisions of a will are carried out (i.e. the child who will maintain the father's beauty) 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 happies 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
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 p
attern 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 Cheered 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 stretched 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
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 expres
sion 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 ... buried i.e. without the sun, their splendor is lost (shut up within petals) 8 glory magnificence/brightness
9 painful suffering pain
famoused 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 razed 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