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. Sonnet 19 . (original language, but moderately updated) 01. Devouring time, blunt thou the Lion's paws, 02. And make the earth devour her own sweet brood; 03. Pluck the keen teeth from the fierce Tiger's jaws, 04. And burn the long lived Phoenix in her blood; 05. Make glad and sorry seasons as thou fleet'st, 06. And do what e'er thou wilt, swift-footed time 07. To the wide world and all her fading sweets: 08. But I forbid thee one most heinous crime, 09. O carve not with thy hours my love's fair brow, 10. Nor draw no lines there with thine antique pen, 11. Him in thy course untainted do allow, 12. For beauty's pattern to succeeding men. 13. Yet do thy worst old Time, despite thy wrong, 14. My love shall in my verse ever live young. |
. Sonnet 19 . (paraphrased) 01. All-consuming time, you may make dull the lion's claws, 02. And make Mother Earth swallow up her own sweet children, in death and decay, and you may 03. Pull the sharp teeth from the fierce tiger's jaws, 04. And burn the long-lived Phoenix in her own fever and passion; 05. You may cause cheerful, or sorrowful, times as you go swiftly by, 06. And do whatever else you wish, fast running time, 07. To the world in general, and all her flowers that fade, 08. But I forbid you to commit one particular, hateful crime: 09. O do not carve my cherished friend's fair brow, with sweeps of your sickle, 10. And do not draw lines there, with your ancient pen; 11. Allow him to remain unblemished, as you run your course, 12. As a model of beauty for men of the future. 13. Yet even if you do your worst, old Time, despite your wrongdoing, 14. My love shall, in my writing, be young forever. |
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Sonnet 19 Gloss
L1: Devouring = all-consuming. L1: blunt = dull, unsharpen. L1: paws - (Note, to the right.) L2: devour = swallow up, with death and decay. Bury. L2: her - The feminine is used because of 'Mother Earth.' L2: brood = children. All living creatures are "children" of the earth. L3: Pluck = pull. The word usage implies that Time, personified, can pull fangs as easily as a person picks flowers, figuratively speaking. L4: Phoenix - (Note, to the right.) L1 to L4: Lion, Tiger, Phoenix - (Note, to the right.) L4: blood - (Note, to the right.) L5: glad and sorry - cheerful and sorrowful. In addition, the "glad and sorry seasons" can be understood as spring and winter, the seasons of birth and death, because the Poet often used reference to the seasons in that way. Generally, it's reference to glad times, and sad times, as time goes by. L7: wide world = the world at large. L7: sweets = flowers. L8: heinous = hateful, odious. May also be read 'pitiless' from the way the Poet used "heinous" elsewhere. See Titus Andronicus Act 5 scene 3: ~ Lucius: ... As for that heinous tiger, Tamora ... Her life was beast-like, and devoid of pity, And, being so, shall have like want of pity. ~~~ L9: carve = make 'cuts' in, with reference to deep lines in the skin. Time, personified, (the Grim Reaper,) is depicted as wielding a sickle, which is a cutting tool. L9: hours = sweeps of Time's sickle. The poetic concept is that, hour by hour, Time's sickle sweeps back and forth. L9: love's = cherished friend's. L10: antique = ancient. L11: untainted = unblemished. Also 'untouched' by signs of old age. May also be read 'undyed,' giving an implicit pun with 'undied,' not dead, leading to the "forever young" idea in line 14. L12: pattern = model. L12: succeeding = future. Successive generations, into the indefinite future. L13: wrong = wrongdoing. L14: love = cherished friend. Further, implies 'expression of love.' "Love" can mean more than one thing. It can mean a loved person, or an expression of love. For the secondary meaning, the Poet says his "statement of love," in his verse, will always be young and fresh, a "living" statement of love, no matter how time treats the addressee. L14: my verse = my writing. The Poet's verse, expressing love for his addressee, is not necessarily confined to this one Sonnet, so it is better not to take "verse" as equivalent to "this Sonnet." |
Sonnet 19 Notes
The addressee of Sonnet 19 is unclear, except that he is young, and a highly valued friend of the Poet. ------- L1: paws The Shakespeare plays contain two mentions of lion's claws, and four of lion's paws. The Poet apparently had a preference for "paws," rather than 'claws,' of a lion. The word usage could relate to his interest in heraldry. Paw position is significant in heraldic depiction of the lion: "rampant" is with both forepaws raised, "passant" is with one forepaw raised, and "sejant" is with both forepaws on the ground. So, for heraldic lions, the paws are the things to observe. L4: Phoenix Reference to the mythical bird that lives for hundreds of years, then burns itself in its nest, to rise again from the ashes; or, its offspring rises from the ashes, depending on who's telling the story. The use of the word "her" in the line inevitably suggests some allusion to Queen Elizabeth I, which tends to place this Sonnet after the death of the Queen. Ovid's "Metamorphoses," the Golding translation, accepted as one of Shakespeare's sources, uses 'his' and 'he' for the phoenix. "Her" is something to ponder, since it's a departure from a known Shakespeare source. Allusion to the death of Elizabeth I would account for "her." Interpretation should not be carried too far. According to myth, there is only one Phoenix in the world at a time, and there is only one British monarch at a time, thus allowing an analogy to that extent. The analogy, or allusion, if intended, may consist of little more than that. Elizabeth I was certainly "long-lived" as monarch of England. So - again, if allusion is intended - the analogy to the Phoenix would be that England has one monarch at a time, and Elizabeth I was unusually long-lived. L1 to L4: Lion, Tiger, Phoenix Since the lion is of Africa, the tiger of Asia, and the phoenix is associated with Arabia, reference to those three goes along with "wide world" in line 7. The Poet may have mentioned those three because of the geographic range. L4: blood Beyond the literal, Shakespeare often used the word to refer to passion. Ambiguity is probably intended. The phoenix's behavior, in igniting itself, could be understood, in Shakespearean terms, as an act of "burning" passion. Compare Hamlet Scene 3 (Act 1 scene 3): ~ Polonius: Aye, springs to catch woodcocks; I do know, When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul Lends the tongue vows; these blazes, daughter... ~~~ Polonius expressly speaks of passion being a 'burning' of the 'blood,' and he does so just after mentioning a bird. The similarity is suggestive, of why the Poet associated "blood" and "burn" in this Sonnet. Compare also, from Venus and Adonis: ~ As burning fevers, agues pale and faint, Life-poisoning pestilence and frenzies wood, The marrow-eating sickness, whose attaint Disorder breeds by heating of the blood ~~~ Also of interest for this concept, Merry Wives of Windsor Act 5 scene 5: ~ Hostess Quickly: Lust is but a bloody fire... ~~~ Then, Richard II Act 1 scene 2: ~ Duchess of Gloucester: Hath love in thy old blood no living fire? ~~~ Also Tempest Act 4 scene 1: ~ Prospero: ... the strongest oaths are straw To the fire i' the blood ... ~~~ The original, ancient sources on the phoenix don't associate its burning with its blood, in particular, so apparently the Poet applied his own theory, that the phoenix burned because of extreme emotion, or fever, in the blood. He used the "burning blood" concept widely in his writing. |
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