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. Sonnet 54 . (original language, but moderately updated) 01. Oh how much more doth beauty beauteous seem, 02. By that sweet ornament which truth doth give; 03. The Rose looks fair, but fairer we it deem 04. For that sweet odor, which doth in it live; 05. The Canker blooms have full as deep a dye, 06. As the perfumed tincture of the Roses, 07. Hang on such thorns, and play as wantonly 08. When summer's breath their masked buds discloses; 09. But for their virtue only is their show, 10. They live unwoo'd, and unrespected fade, 11. Die to themselves. Sweet Roses do not so, 12. Of their sweet deaths, are sweetest odors made; 13. And so of you, beauteous and lovely youth, 14. When that shall vade, by verse distills your truth. |
. Sonnet 54 . (paraphrased) 01. Oh, how much more beautiful does a beauty seem 02. With the pleasant adornment which its essence adds; 03. The cultivated rose looks lovely, but we think it even better, 04. Because of the good smell which is found in it; 05. The wild rose blossoms have a color fully as natural and inherent to them, 06. As the perfumed coloration of the domesticated roses, 07. And the wild ones grow on the same kind of thorny stems, and wave as lively, 08. When the warm summer breeze causes their buds to open; 09. But the goodness of the wild rose is only displayed for itself; 10. Those roses live uncultivated, and they fade away, unregarded by man, and 11. Their deaths are of concern only to themselves. For cultivated roses, it's different; 12. From their poignant deaths, men make sweet perfumes; 13. And so, for you, beauteous and lovely "rose" of youth, 14. When you become a "withered rose," a faded beauty, someday, your youthful essence shall be distilled, by verse, as your adornment. |
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Sonnet 54 Gloss
L2: ornament = embellishment; adornment. (Also, a keepsake.) L2: truth = essence; inner truth. (Note, to the right.) L2: give = add. L3: fair = lovely. L4: sweet = "friendly" to the human nose. L4: live = abide (to be found.) The concept of something being 'at home.' L5: Canker = "canker rose"; dog rose. The Rosa canina plant which grows wild. L5: deep = sincere. Real; natural. (Note, to the right.) Not superficial, not "painted" on. L7: wantonly = in a lively way. Refers to blossoms "dancing" in the summer breeze. Can also be read "luxuriantly." However, double meaning. Flower blossoms are sexually immodest in that they will accept any insect that can pollinate them. There is, therefore, a suggestion of sexual promiscuity, among "wild" roses, so "wantonly" can also be read as 'promiscuously.' L7: summer's breath = summer's warm breeze. L8: masked = covered. L8: discloses = opens. L9: virtue = goodness. Wild roses are only "good" on their own terms. Cultivated roses must "be good" in human terms. L9: show = display. L10: unwoo'd = "unhusbanded." Unmanaged. Men do not "court" the wild rose, as they do the cultivated ones. Analogy to man wooing woman. L10: unrespected = unregarded. L10: fade = fade away; disappear. L11: Die to themselves - When they die they're the only ones who care. L11: Sweet = "friendly" (to man,) i.e. domesticated; cultivated. Cultured. "Civilized," not wild. L12: sweet = poignant. Again "sweet" means "friendly" in a way, in the sense of the cultivated rose's death being a "friendly favor" to man since it leads to extraction of the rose's essence, which men enjoy. L12: odors = perfumes (for human enjoyment.) L14: vade = fade (but not only in appearance, also life - wither.) L14: by - Is correct as originally printed. (Note, to the right.) L14: truth = essence. Essential nature. |
Sonnet 54 Notes
Sonnet 54 is probably about William Herbert, the "fair youth" of Sonnets #1 to 17. So, this "Rose," of Sonnet 54, is the same "Rose" of Sonnet 1, where the word is capitalized and in italics. William Shakespeare probably wrote Sonnet 54 under the patronage of Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke, and it's possible this Sonnet is for her son William's 18th birthday, in 1598, when he was still unmarried. William Herbert didn't marry until 1604. This Sonnet is still on the point of the fair youth's "essence," and there's a suggestion of "husbandry," but it's more subtle here than in Sonnets 1 to 17. ------- L2: truth = essence; inner truth. (Not implying outer appearance is necessarily untrue.) Reference is to the essential "truth" of something, as to what it has within, apart from appearances. The point being, not the "show," but what's inside. Compare Hamlet Scene 2 (Act 1 scene 2.) ~ Hamlet: "Seems," Madam? Nay, it is; I know not "seems." ... But I have that within which passes show... ~~~ Hamlet is speaking of his "truth" = "that within." Not a "show." (He is not, however, implying that his appearance is in any way insincere.) L5: deep = sincere. Real; natural. Not superficial, not "painted" on. It means the Rosa canina's color is as inherent, or intrinsic, as that of the cultivated rose, and is not a "put on" color. The point is that the dog rose is not disfavored because of being "artificially colored." The color is real enough, as far as that goes. The word "deep," here, does not mean "dark." The Poet used "deep" often in this same way, for example, several times in Richard III, such as Act 3 scene 1. ~ Clarence: ... O God ! if my deep prayers cannot appease thee... ~~~ He's not making "dark" prayers to God, but rather deeply sincere prayers, earnest ones. Of course the Poet well knew of cultivated roses that did not have a dark red color, since the white rose was the symbol of the House of York in the English "War of the Roses." The Tudor Rose, combining the red and white roses, was the emblem of England during the Tudor era, and is still, for some uses, a symbol of England. The "Pelican Portrait," c. 1575, of Queen Elizabeth I has a crowned Tudor Rose in the upper left corner. The fact of dog roses being only pink, not dark red, is not relevant here. L14: by - Is correct as originally printed. This word is not "my," which is only an incompetent editorial substitution that appears in many modern reprints. The word "by" refers to how the youth's truth will be distilled, that being by, or through, the use of verse. The word "by" here in line 14 links back to the "By" which begins line 2. Line 2 - By ... truth. Line 14 - ... by ... truth. Shakespeare certainly never wrote "my" in line 14. The correct word is obviously "by," exactly as originally printed. One looks back to "ornament" in line 2. Line 14 is saying, that by verse distilling the youth's loveliness, his faded beauty, in his old age, will be "ornamented." He'll gain an adornment, for his unattractive old age, from the verse that captures the essence of his youthful beauty, in other words. The Poet is talking about what can be done "by verse," which is: ornamentation. So line 14 goes directly back to line 2. (As mentioned in an earlier Sonnet note, general readers need to be wary of editorial fraud, deceptive practice, that is, in purporting to present "Shakespeare" that actually isn't, in reprints of both plays and poetry. Modern Shakespeare reprints are not trustworthy, because of editorial incompetence of long standing. One would think a professional editor would notice a repetition of "by...truth" in this Sonnet, but such reasonable expectation is apparently too much to ask of some individuals, even if they've managed, somehow, to rise to the level of being a Shakespeare editor. The general public, as a class, should be disgusted by such habitual editorial misconduct, that robs them of part of their cultural heritage.) |
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