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. Sonnet 5 . (original language, but moderately updated) 01. Those hours that with gentle work did frame, 02. The lovely gaze where every eye doth dwell 03. Will play the tyrants to the very same, 04. And that unfair which fairly doth excel: 05. For never resting time leads Summer on, 06. To hideous winter and confounds him there, 07. Sap checked with frost and lusty leaves quite gone, 08. Beauty o'er-snowed and bareness everywhere, 09. Then were not summer's distillation left 10. A liquid prisoner pent in walls of glass, 11. Beauty's effect with beauty were bereft, 12. Nor it nor no remembrance what it was. 13. But flowers distill'd though they with winter meet, 14. Leese but their show, their substance still lives sweet. |
. Sonnet 5 . (paraphrased) 01. Time personified, that with kind, noble work did make 02. The lovely face that everyone admires, 03. Will destroy that face, 04. And make ugly, that exceedingly fair appearance. 05. For, Time never rests, and summer 06. Is defeated by ugly, dreadful winter, when 07. The flow of life is frozen, and liveliness is gone, 08. Beauty is hidden, and plainness is everywhere. 09. Then, were not the essence of summer left, 10. Retained, so that it can be seen, 11. The property of beauty, along with beauty, itself, would be lost, 12. Leaving neither beauty, nor any memento of what it was. 13. But flowers preserved, though they die in winter, 14. Give up only their show; their essence still lives sweetly. |
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Sonnet 5 Gloss
L1: Those hours - A personification of Time. (Note, to the right.) L1: frame = make; construct. There's an implication of "display," since a framed picture is displayed. L2: lovely gaze - A synecdoche for "face." The gaze of the eyes is part of the face, here, the salient part for poetic purposes. L3: play the tyrant = kill. Raze, destroy. Tyrants are murderous and destructive. Nature giveth, Nature taketh away, is the concept. L4: fairly doth excel = excels in fairness; also, excels fairly. (Double meaning.) L6: hideous - Essentially, "ugly" in this usage. Also, dreadful; fearful. L6: confounds = defeats; overthrows. L7: checked = stopped. L7: lusty = lively. Leaves are "lively" in the summer breeze, they "dance." "Lusty" can also be understood as 'vigorous.' L8: o'er-snowed - Refers to white hair on the head. Further means beauty covered, concealed, no longer visible. L8: bareness = nakedness (in the poetic sense.) Refers to plainness, lack of beauty, "the skull beneath the skin." L9: distillation = essence; extraction; spirit. "Distillation" contains "still" = always. It basically means a "preserve," something preserved. L10: liquid = flowing. A contrast to "sap checked with frost." L10: prisoner = a thing held, retained, that won't escape and be lost. L10: walls of glass - So that it can be seen, like the addressee's loveliness now. L11: effect - Basically "property." A distillation of beauty would be beauty's "property." L11: bereft = lost. Implies bereavement, a sad deprivation. L12: remembrance = keepsake; memento. A tangible reminder. L14: Leese = lose. There's wordplay with "lease" - something leased is given up for one's own use. L14: substance = essential nature. (Note, to the right.) |
Sonnet 5 Notes
L1: Those hours - A personification of Time. In the 1609 publication of the Sonnets, the original spelling of "hours" is "howers." There is a Middle English verb 'howen' which means "to care" or "to mind." From that, a "hower" would be a carer or a minder. L14: substance = essential nature. The word "substance" is from Latin 'sub + stare' which means literally "under+stand," but is used to mean "be present" or "hold out." So the use of the word "substance" in the Sonnet implies that the addressee's beauty, if he has an heir, will still be "understood" in the future, where it will still "hold out," and "be present." |
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