SONNET 2	PARAPHRASE
When forty winters shall beseige thy brow,	Forty years from now, when your brow is wrinkled with age,
And dig deep trenches in thy beauty's field,	And you are showing all the other signs of aging,
Thy youth's proud livery, so gazed on now,	The pride and greatness of your youth, so much admired by everyone now,
Will be a tatter'd weed, of small worth held:	Will be worth as little as a tattered weed:
Then being ask'd where all thy beauty lies,	Then, when you are asked 'where is your beauty now?',
Where all the treasure of thy lusty days,	And, 'where are all the treasures you had during your days of lust?'
To say, within thine own deep-sunken eyes,	You must say only within your own eyes, now sunk deep in their sockets,
Were an all-eating shame and thriftless praise.	Where lies a shameful confession of greed and self-obsession.
How much more praise deserved thy beauty's use,	If you would have only put your beauty to a greater use,
If thou couldst answer 'This fair child of mine	If only you could have answered 'This fair child of mine
Shall sum my count and make my old excuse,'	Shall give an account of my life and prove that I made no misuse of my time on earth.'
Proving his beauty by succession thine!	Proving that his beauty, because he is your son, was once yours!
This were to be new made when thou art old,	This child would be new-made when you are old,
And see thy blood warm when thou feel'st it cold.	And you would see your own blood flow warm through him when you are cold.

ANALYSIS The theme of the necessity of procreation found in Sonnet 1 continues here. The poet's lover is clearly handsome, and much gazed upon by other men and women. But, Shakespeare stresses that this beauty will not last, and that it is selfish and foolish for his lover not to prepare for the loss of his beauty and youth. The only way he can truly prepare is to create a child (a male child in this case) so that his son can carry on his name and all his wonderful qualities, including his unsurpassed beauty. Much debate has surrounded the true identity of Shakespeare young man, but many believe he was the Earl of Southampton, the poet's close friend and patron.

SONNET 20	PARAPHRASE
A woman's face with Nature's own hand painted	A woman's face, colored by Nature's own hand
Hast thou, the master-mistress of my passion;	Have you, the master/mistress of my desire;
A woman's gentle heart, but not acquainted	You have a woman's gentle heart, but you are not prone
With shifting change, as is false women's fashion;	To fickle change, as is the way with women;
An eye more bright than theirs, less false in rolling,	You have eyes brighter than their eyes, and more sincere,
Gilding the object whereupon it gazeth;	Lighting up the very object that they look upon;
A man in hue, all 'hues' in his controlling,	You are a man in shape and form, and all men are in your control,
Much steals men's eyes and women's souls amazeth.	You catch the attention of men and amaze women's souls [hearts].
And for a woman wert thou first created;	You were originally intended to be a woman;
Till Nature, as she wrought thee, fell a-doting,	Until Nature, made a mistake in making you,
And by addition me of thee defeated,	And by adding one extra thing [Nature] defeated me,
By adding one thing to my purpose nothing.	By adding one thing she has prevented me from fully having you,
But since she prick'd thee out for women's pleasure,	But since Nature equipped you for women's pleasure,
Mine be thy love and thy love's use their treasure.	Let your body be their treasure, and let me have your love.

ANALYSIS Sonnet 20 has caused much debate. Some scholars believe that this is a clear admission of Shakespeare's homosexuality. Despite the fact that male friendships in the Renaissance were openly affectionate, the powerful emotions the poet displays here are indicative of a deep and sensual love. The poet's lover is 'the master-mistress of [his] passion'. He has the grace and features of a woman but is devoid of the guile and pretense that comes with female lovers; those wily women with eyes 'false in rolling', who change their moods and affections like chameleons. Lines 9-14 are of particular interest to critics on both sides of the homosexual debate. Some argue these lines show that, despite his love for the young man, the poet does not want to 'have' him physically. The poet proclaims that he is content to let women enjoy the 'manly gifts' that God has given his friend. He is satisfied to love the young man in a spiritual way. But others contend that Shakespeare had to include this disclaimer, due to the homophobia of the time. "The meaning is conveyed not just by what is said but by the tone. The argument may serve to clear Shakespeare of the charge of a serious offense..." (Spender, 99). Even if the poet is, in this sonnet, refraining from physical relations with the young man, the thought of such relations appears to consume and please his imagination, and "from what we soon learn about the friend, with his 'sensual fault' and lasciviousness, it seems unlikely that, to him, such a relationship would be unthinkable" (Spender, 99). Moreover, in light of later sonnets such as 56 and 57, where the poet, in essence, tells us that his friend is cheating on him, it becomes harder and harder to conclude that the "cheating" is merely of a emotional, and not physical, nature.
SONNET 116	PARAPHRASE
Let me not to the marriage of true minds	Let me not declare any reasons [impediments] why two
Admit impediments. Love is not love	True-minded people should be married. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,	Which alters when it finds an alteration in circumstances,
Or bends with the remover to remove:	Or bends from its firm stand even when the lovers are unfaithful:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark	Oh no! it is a fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;	That sees storms but it never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,	It [love] is the guiding star to every lost ship,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.	Whose value cannot be calculated, although its height can be measured.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks	Love is not at the mercy of Time, though its rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:	Come within the compass of his [Time's] sickle.
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,	Love does not alter with hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.	But, rather, it endures until the last day of life.
If this be error and upon me proved,	If I am proved wrong about these thoughts on love
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.	Then I recant all that I have written, and no man has ever [really] loved.

ANALYSIS [Lines 1-2]* T.G. Tucker explains that the first two lines are "[a] manifest allusion to the words of the Marriage Service: 'If any of you know cause or just impediment why these two persons should not be joined together in holy matrimony'; cf. Much Ado 4.1.12. 'If either of you know any inward impediment why you should not be conjoined.' Where minds are true - in possessing love in the real sense dwelt upon in the following lines - there can be no 'impediments' through change of circumstances, outward appearance, or temporary lapses in conduct". (T.G. Tucker, ed. Sonnets of Shakespeare. Cambridge: University Press, 1924, [192]) [Line 5]* 'mark' = a beacon to warn mariners of dangerous rocks. Sonnet 116 is about love in its most ideal form. It is praising the glories of lovers who have come to each other freely, and enter into a relationship based on trust and understanding. The first four lines reveal the poet's pleasure in love that is constant and strong, and will not "alter when it alteration finds". The following lines proclaim that true love is indeed an "ever-fix'd mark" which will survive any crisis. In lines 7-8, the poet claims that we may be able to measure love to some degree, but this does not mean we fully understand it. Love's actual worth cannot be known -- it remains a mystery. The remaining lines of the third quatrain (9-12), reaffirm the perfect nature of love that is unshakeable throughout time and remains so "ev'n to the edge of doom", or death. In the final couplet, the poet declares that, if he is mistaken about the constant, unmovable nature of perfect love, then he must take back all his writings on love, truth, and faith. Moreover, he adds that, if he has in fact judged love inappropriately, no man has ever really loved, in the ideal sense that the poet professes. The details of Sonnet 116 are best described by Tucker Brooke in his acclaimed edition of Shakespeare's poems: [In Sonnet 116] the chief pause in sense is after the twelfth line. Seventy-five per cent of the words are monosyllables; only three contain more syllables than two; none belong in any degree to the vocabulary of 'poetic' diction. There is nothing recondite, exotic, or metaphysical in the thought. There are three run-on lines, one pair of double-endings. There is nothing to remark about the rhyming except the happy blending of open and closed vowels, and of liquids, nasals, and stops; nothing to say about the harmony except to point out how the fluttering accents in the quatrains give place in the couplet to the emphatic march of the almost unrelieved iambic feet. In short, the poet has employed one hundred and ten of the simplest words in the language and the two simplest rhyme-schemes to produce a poem which has about it no strangeness whatever except the strangeness of perfection. (Brooke, ed. The Sonnets. London: Oxford UP: 1936, 234)

SONNET 130	PARAPHRASE
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;	My mistress's eyes are not at all like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;	Coral is much more red than her lips;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;	If snow is white, then her breasts are certainly not white as snow;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.	If hairs can be compared to wires, hers are black and not golden.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,	I have seen roses colored a combination of red and white (thus pink),
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;	But I do not see such colors in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight	And some perfumes give more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.	Than the breath of my mistress.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know	I love to hear her speak, but I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;	That music has a more pleasing sound than her voice;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;	I also never saw a goddess walk;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:	But I know that my mistress walks only on the ground.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare	And yet I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.	As any woman who has had poetic untruths told about her beauty with false comparisons.

ANALYSIS Sonnet 130 is Shakespeare's rather lackluster tribute to his Lady, commonly referred to as the dark lady because she seems to be non-white (black wires for hair, etc). The dark lady, who ultimately betrays the poet by loving other men, appears in sonnets 127 to 154. Sonnet 130 is clearly a parody of the conventional and traditional love sonnet, made popular by Petrarch and, in particular, made popular in England by Sidney's use of the Petrarchan form in his epic poem "Astrophel and Stella." If you compare any of the stanzas of that poem with Shakespeare's sonnet 130, you will see exactly what elements of the conventional love sonnet Shakespeare is light-heartedly mocking. In sonnet 130, there is no use of grandiose metaphor or allusion -- he does not compare his love to Venus; there is no evocation to Morpheus, etc. The ordinary beauty and humanity of his lover are what is important to Shakespeare in this sonnet, and he deliberately uses typical love poetry metaphors against themselves. In Sidney's work, for example, the features of the poet's lover are as beautiful and, at times, more beautiful than the finest pearls, diamonds, rubies, and silk. In sonnet 130, the references to such objects of perfection are indeed present, but they are there to illustrate that his lover is not as beautiful -- a total rejection of Petrarch form and content. Shakespeare utilizes a new structure, through which the straightforward theme of his lover�s simplicity can be developed in the three quatrains and neatly concluded in the final couplet. Thus, Shakespeare is using all the techniques available, including the sonnet structure itself, to enhance his parody of the traditional Petrarchan sonnet typified by Sidney�s work. But Shakespeare ends the sonnet by proclaiming his love for his mistress despite her lack of adornment, so he does finally embrace the fundamental theme in Petrarch's sonnets -- total and consuming love. One final note: Shakespeare's reference to hair as 'wires' confuses modern readers because we assume it to mean our current definition of wire -- a thread of metal -- which is hardly a fitting word in the context of the poem. However, to a Renaissance reader, wire would refer to the finely-spun gold threads woven into fancy hair nets. Many poets of the time used this term as a benchmark of beauty, including Spenser: "Her long loose yellow locks like golden wire" (Epithal).

SONNET 73

That time of year thou mayst in me behold

When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang

Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,

Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.

In me thou seest the twilight of such day

As after sunset fadeth in the west,

Which by and by black night doth take away,

Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.

In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire

That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,

As the death-bed whereon it must expire

Consumed with that which it was nourish'd by.

This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong,

To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

SONNET 144	PARAPHRASE
Two loves I have of comfort and despair,	Two loves I have, one comforting, the other despairing;
Which like two spirits do suggest me still:*	Which like two spirits do urge me on:
The better angel is a man right fair,	The better angel is a beautiful man,
The worser spirit a woman colour'd ill.	The worser spirit [angel] is a woman of dark complexion.
To win me soon to hell*, my female evil	With what would soon send me to hell, my female lover
Tempteth my better angel from my side,	Tempts my better lover away from me,
And would corrupt my saint to be a devil,	And wants to corrupt him and turn him into a devil,
Wooing his purity with her foul pride.	Seducing him and his purity with her dark pride.
And whether that my angel be turn'd fiend	And whether my angel be turned into a fiend,
Suspect I may, but not directly tell;	I cannot say for sure, although I suspect as much;
But being both from me, both to each friend,	But both being away from me, and each friendly toward the other,
I guess one angel in another's hell:	I guess one angel is in the other's hell:
Yet this shall I ne'er know, but live in doubt,	But this I'll never know, and I'll live in doubt,
Till my bad angel fire my good one out.*	Until my bad angel drives away my good angel.

ANALYSIS [Line 2-3]* As G. Blakemore Evans points out in his edition of the Sonnets: "Shakespeare here is clearly thinking in terms of the morality play or psychomachia tradition, in which Mankind, as the central character, is subjected to the promptings of personified Virtues and Vices, a tradition that received its most famous development in Marlowe's Dr. Faustus (c. 1592), in which (1.2.etc.) a 'Good Angel' and an 'Evil Angel' try to influence Faustus's thought and action . . ." (The Sonnets. Cambridge: University Press, 1996 [262]). [Line 5]* The poet does not mean 'hell' in the literal sense. Hell for the poet is the mental anguish he suffers due to his divided loyalties and the strange new development in his sordid love triangle. [Line 14]* Some scholars argue that 'fire' in this line specifically refers to venereal disease. They claim that the poet is saying his mistress will give his male lover the 'fire' or 'infection'. This interpretation is quite possibly the right one -- venereal disease was rampant in Tudor society. Although Sonnets 143 and 144 both discuss the interwoven relationship amongst Shakespeare, his male friend, and the 'Dark Lady', the somber tone in Sonnet 144 is much different from the playful humorous tone found in the previous Sonnet. The poet clearly favours the love and companionship of his male lover over that of his mistress, and he places all the blame for the affair between the Dark Lady and the Friend squarely on the shoulders of the Lady. Shakespeare's depiction of them as angels, one good and one bad, shows the unique roles they played in Shakespeare life. His affair with his male friend, most likely the Earl of Southampton, was 'nourishment for his soul', and reached beyond lust and physical comfort -- the bases of the affair with his mistress -- to fulfill his spiritual and cerebral needs.

 CXLVII 147

1. My love is as a fever longing still,
2. For that which longer nurseth the disease;
3. Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill,
4. The uncertain sickly appetite to please.
5. My reason, the physician to my love,
6. Angry that his prescriptions are not kept,
7. Hath left me, and I desperate now approve
8. Desire is death, which physic did except.
9. Past cure I am, now Reason is past care,
10. And frantic-mad with evermore unrest;
11. My thoughts and my discourse as madmen's are,
12. At random from the truth vainly expressed;
13. For I have sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright,
14. Who art as black as hell, as dark as night.

Perhaps as a natural continuation of the renunciation of the previous sonnet, or perhaps independently of it, the poet here reflects on his woeful state. He is like a patient in a fever who has been declared by the physician to be past cure. All his thoughts and words are like those of madmen, and everything is uttered at random, without any coherence. His fever lends him words, and although he cannot explain his infatuation, he feels it to be wrong, and yet he is compelled to continue drinking and eating the same noxious food which brought on his disease in the first place. Hence there is no escape for him, and he sees himself trapped in the black vortex of hell in which his mistress resides, and there is no release from the darkness.

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