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. Sonnet 64 . (original language, but moderately updated) 01. When I have seen by time's fell hand defaced 02. The rich proud cost of outworn buried age, 03. When sometime lofty towers I see down-razed, 04. And brass eternal slave to mortal rage; 05. When I have seen the hungry Ocean gain 06. Advantage on the Kingdom of the shore, 07. And the firm soil win of the watery main, 08. Increasing store with loss, and loss with store; 09. When I have seen such interchange of state, 10. Or state itself confounded, to decay, 11. Ruin hath taught me thus to ruminate 12. That Time will come and take my love away. 13. This thought is as a death which cannot choose 14. But weep to have, that which it fears to lose. |
. Sonnet 64 . (paraphrased) 01. When I have seen taken away, by time's cruel hand, 02. The lavish, vain expense of my worn out and vanished youth; 03. (And) When I sometimes see where lofty towers have been torn down, 04. And where brass memorials have been taken, and melted down, to do service as cannons in mortal war; 05. (And) When I have seen the gluttonous ocean take, by erosion, 06. An advance against the "kingdom" of the land, 07. And then sometimes, solid ground newly extend into the sea, 08. Increasing its amount by the ocean's loss, where the land had earlier lost, by that amount, to the ocean; 09. (So) When I have seen such give and take, in the condition of things, 10. Or even a nation, itself, overthrown and left to decay, 11. The destruction I've seen has taught me to ponder, and to conclude, 12. That the time will come when my beloved friend is taken away. 13. This grievous thought is like experiencing your death, and I cannot help 14. But weep, to have a dear friend I so greatly fear to lose. |
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Sonnet 64 Gloss
L1: defaced - Literal, referring to the appearance being 'taken away.' L2: rich = lavish. L2: proud = vain. L2: cost = expense. L2: outworn = worn out. L2: buried = lost; vanished. L2: age = youth. L3: sometime = once. L3: down-razed = torn down. L4: brass eternal = brass monuments or memorials. (Note, to the right.) L4: slave = victim. L4: mortal = human. L4: rage = war. L5: hungry = (appearing to be) gluttonous. L5: Ocean - Capitalized because of viewing the Ocean as an empire, Neptune's Empire. L6: shore = land. L8: store = amount. L10: state = a nation. L10: confounded = overthrown. |
Sonnet 64 Notes
Sonnet 64 is probably by Edward de Vere, to William Shakespeare. ------- L4: brass eternal = brass monuments or memorials. Brass memorials, (also known as tables, monuments, tablets or plaques,) have been installed in churches since the Middle Ages, in honor of some person or family. They're called "brasses" for short. Such brasses were intended to be in place forever, but not many brasses from early times survive, since the brass was considered, at some point, too valuable to leave unused. So the brass was taken, and melted to make some other item (such as a cannon in wartime.) |
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