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. Sonnet 16 . (original language, but moderately updated) 01. But wherefore do not you a mightier way 02. Make war upon this bloody tyrant time? 03. And fortify yourself in your decay 04. With means more blessed than my barren rhyme? 05. Now stand you on the top of happy hours, 06. And many maiden gardens yet unset, 07. With virtuous wish would bear your living flowers, 08. Much liker than your painted counterfeit: 09. So should the lines of life that life repair 10. Which this (Time's pencil or my pupil pen) 11. Neither in inward worth nor outward fair 12. Can make you live yourself in eyes of men, 13. To give away yourself, keeps yourself still, 14. And you must live, drawn by your own sweet skill. |
. Sonnet 16 . (paraphrased) 01. But why don't you, in a more consequential way, 02. Do battle against the killing tyranny of time? 03. And, why don't you comfort yourself, against your inevitable decline, 04. In a way more flourishing than my "childless" poetry? 05. You now stand at the peak of your happy time of life, 06. And there are many childless maidens, who 07. With praiseworthy desire, would bear your children, 08. Who would be more like you, and better liked, than any artificial imitation could be. 09. Then, in that way, the lineage of your life would restore your life, 10. While such writing as this, (whether one calls it Time's "pencil," or my own "pupil" pen,) 11. Neither with respect to your inward quality, nor your outward show of handsomeness, 12. Can make you, yourself, live forever, to be seen by the eyes of future men; 13. To give yourself away, as a husband, will preserve yourself in an enduring way, 14. And you ought to continue, reproduced through your own sweet skill, as a husband and lover. |
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Sonnet 16 Gloss
L1: mightier = more consequential. L2: bloody = killing. L3: fortify = 'man the fort'. (Note, to the right.) L3: decay = decline. Old age. L4: blessed = flourishing. 'Flourishing' is probably the best equivalent, because of the prompt mention of flowers. L4: barren = childless, sterile - literally. A poem cannot have children. L5: on the top = at the peak. L5: hours = times. L6: unset = unseeded. L7: virtuous = praiseworthy. L7: wish = desire. L8: liker = more like you, and also better liked. (Double meaning.) L8: painted = drawn, in words. (Note, to the right.) L8: counterfeit = imitation, image. (Note, to the right.) L9: lines of life = wrinkles, of the skin. Also 'lineage.' (Double meaning.) L9: that life = your life. L9: repair = restore. L10: Which = while. L10: Time's pencil - (Note, to the right.) L10: pupil pen - (Note, to the right) L11: worth = quality, character. Mettle. L11: fair = handsomeness. Can be read 'show.' L12: live - Forever. L13: give away yourself - (Note, to the right.) L13: keeps = preserves. L13: still = always, enduringly. L14: must = ought to. L14: live = continue. L14: drawn = reproduced. |
Sonnet 16 Notes
Sonnet 16 begins with "but" because it was written to follow # 15. ------- L3: "fortify" = 'man the fort'. Refers to getting more 'troops' for defense. The "troops" would be descendants, to "man the fort" of his lineage. In the general way, it means 'protect,' and can also be read as 'comfort.' The "fort" in the words 'fort-ify' and 'com-fort' are from the same root, referring to strength. L7: virtuous = praiseworthy. Having a bastard child by a bawd is most certainly not the point. A legitimate heir is the objective. L8: painted = drawn, in words. Hints of stage makeup, for a show, with an implication the Poet has made the addressee a play character. All the world's a stage, as the Poet wrote elsewhere. L8: counterfeit = imitation, image. This concept harks back to the notion of a mirror image, which is prominent in the earlier Sonnets in this group. Also, imitation is what actors do. L10: Time's pencil The figurative "pencil" of Time only adds lines, to the faces it "draws," it does not remove lines, in a way to keep a person young. Since a person is a phenomenon of Time, any person's pencil, as it writes, can be thought of as Time's pencil, poetically speaking. Your own pencil, that you use as time goes by, can be thought of as "time's pencil," in that manner of speaking. The reason for the exact word "pencil," of Time, is that a pencil is used for temporary writing that isn't intended to last. If one thinks of a person as a "drawing," done by Time's pencil, eventually the entire drawing will be erased, when the person dies. L10: pupil pen Time, personified, has been the Poet's teacher, so to speak, for how to write. In other words, he learned to write by spending a lot of time at it. In that way, his own pen has been Time's "pupil." For the Poet, himself, the word "pen" is literal. It's what he used to write the Sonnet. The overall concept that's being expressed is, Time's pencil did not draw, create, the addressee as an immortal youth, nor can the Poet's own pen do that. L13: give away yourself In the traditional wedding ceremony, the bride is "given away" by her father, while the groom "gives away" himself. So, the phrase has allusion to marriage. The Sonnet makes the paradoxical point that, by "giving himself away," in marriage, the addressee will "keep himself" by keeping his family line going. He should "give" to "keep." |
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