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. Sonnet 4 . (original language, but moderately updated) 01. Unthrifty loveliness why dost thou spend, 02. Upon thyself thy beauty's legacy? 03. Nature's bequest gives nothing but doth lend, 04. And being frank she lends to those are free; 05. Then beauteous niggard why dost thou abuse, 06. The bounteous largess given thee to give? 07. Profitless usurer why dost thou use 08. So great a sum of sums yet canst not live? 09. For having traffic with thyself alone, 10. Thou of thyself thy sweet self dost deceive, 11. Then how when nature calls thee to be gone, 12. What acceptable Audit canst thou leave? 13. Thy unus'd beauty must be tomb'd with thee, 14. Which used lives th' executor to be. |
. Sonnet 4 . (paraphrased) 01. Fair but prodigal loved one, why do you waste 02. All your gift of beauty upon yourself? 03. Nature's bequest of beauty to you was not given forever, but only lent, 04. And Nature, since She is free and generous, She lends to those who are, themselves, generous, (or expected to be.) 05. So then, beauteous miser of beauty, why do you misuse 06. The bounteous largess that was given you to pass along? 07. Gainless banker, why do you hoard 08. So great a grand total of lovely features, yet you have nobody to leave your wealth of beauty to? 09. By doing the business of beauty with yourself, alone, 10. Your are only robbing your sweet self, of yourself. 11. Then what's the price, when nature calls you to be gone? -- (All your beauty.) 12. What satisfactory accounting can you leave, if there's no living "plus" to balance your "minus?" 13. Your unlent beauty would be buried with you, 14. Which, if it were lent to an heir, would live on, to represent your "estate of beauty" to the world. |
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Sonnet 4 Gloss
L1: Unthrifty = prodigal. (Note, to the right.) L1: loveliness = beautiful person; and also 'loved one.' (Double meaning.) L1: spend = waste. Consume; exhaust. L4: frank = generous; and also, 'free.' (Double meaning.) L4: free = generous. (Note, to the right.) L5: beauteous niggard = beautiful miser of beauty. The word "beauteous" applies in two different ways. L7: Profitless usurer = gainless banker. (Note, to the right.) L8: live = live forever. (Note, to the right.) L9: traffic = business. Refers to the addressee keeping his "business" of beauty to himself. L10: deceive = rob. Refers to the addressee "stealing" from himself by not having an heir. Secondarily, means the addressee is fooling himself, by not having an heir. L11: how = what's the price? (Note, to the right.) L12: Audit - (Note, to the right.) L13: unused = unlent (in the terms of the poem.) The idea being, with no heir, the addressee's beauty will just be buried with him. L14: used = lent. (Note, to the right.) |
Sonnet 4 Notes
L1: Unthrifty = prodigal. "Prodigal" is probably the best equivalent, because of the "son" idea that runs through this group of seventeen Sonnets. The Biblical "prodigal son" is well known, and Shakespeare's familiarity with the Bible is an established fact. L4: free = generous. A "free" person is not compelled, so any giving he does is generosity. This goes along with it being the addressee's own decision whether to have an heir. L7: Profitless usurer = gainless banker. The idea is that the addressee is "banking" his beauty within himself, not "lending" it to an heir. If he "lent" his beauty to an heir, it would result in a gain, or "profit" of beauty, by increasing the total amount of beauty. L8: live = live forever. First, there is the idea that no amount of beauty can "buy" immortality for a person. Then, "live" is a Middle English spelling of "leave," which was still in use in the Poet's lifetime. So, there is a secondary meaning of the addressee being asked, why can't he "leave" his beauty to an heir? L11: how = what's the price? See, for example, Henry IV Part 2 Act 3 scene 2. ~=~ SHALLOW. ... How a score of ewes now? SILENCE. ... a score of good ewes may be worth ten pounds. =~=~=~= When Shallow says "how" he is asking "what's the price," or "what's the cost?" In the terms of the Sonnet, if the addressee leaves no heir, the price to him will be "all his beauty." Line 11 by itself is a question. Since line 12 is also a question, a comma was placed after line 11, and the question mark, for both questions, was placed at the end of line 12. This kind of punctuation is fairly common in the original Shakespeare publications, that two questions in a row will be separated by a comma, with one question mark at the end. Modern punctuation requires a question mark at the end of line 11 in this Sonnet. L12: Audit The word is capitalized and in italics in the original printing. The reason for that is unclear. "Audit" can be understood as "final accounting," or "final hearing." The phrase "acceptable audit" means one that shows the "books are balanced," i.e. there's a beauty "plus" for each beauty "minus." If the addressee does not have an heir, when he dies there will be a "minus" with no "plus." But an heir would be a "plus" to balance his "minus." L14: used = lent. If the addressee's beauty is "lent" to an heir, the heir will live to respresent his "estate of beauty" on earth. Overall, in the Sonnet, there is the idea that if the addressee does not have an heir, he will "take it with him" as far as his "wealth of beauty" is concerned. |
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