126
O thou my lovely Boy who in thy power,
Dost hold time’s fickle glass, his sickle, hour:
Who hast by waning grown, and therein show’st,
Thy lover’s withering, as thy sweet self grow’st.
If Nature (sovereign mistress over wrack)
As thou goest onwards still will pluck thee back,
She keeps thee to this purpose, that her skill
May time disgrace, and wretched minute kill.
Yet fear her, O thou minion of her pleasure,
She may detain, but not still keep her treasure!
Her Audit (though delay’d) answer’d must be,
And her Quietus is to render thee.
Sonnet 126 is the only 12-line poem in The Sonnets. It’s also the only poem that rhymes in couplets. This gives it a sing-song quality, enhanced by the feminine endings in lines 1, 2, 9, and 10. (It’s interesting to note that the final syllables in lines 3 and 4 are suppressed to avoid overdoing the effect.) The only irregularity is the midline trochee-iamb in line 11: the Audit “ANswer’d must BE.” Everything progresses relentlessly to that audit that renders Y.M. up: “And HER QuiEtus IS to RENder THEE.” [Note: In the original, this sonnet is followed by two sets of empty parentheses indicating the missing two lines. These were undoubtedly inserted by the compositor after he realized that he had not counted on a sonnet short two lines and would have had an ugly blank space on his page without them. See Shakespeare’s Sonnets: With Three Hundred years of Controversy, 312-313.]
127
In the old age black was not counted fair,
Or if it were it bore not beauty’s name,
But now is black beauty’s successive heir,
And Beauty slander’d with a bastard shame.
For since each hand hath put on Nature’s power,
Fairing the foul with Art’s false borrow’d face,
Sweet beauty hath no name no holy bower,
But is profan’d, if not lives in disgrace.
Therefore my Mistress’ eyes are Raven black,
Her eyes so suited, and they mourners seem,
At such who not born fair no beauty lack,
Sland’ring Creation with a false esteem.
Yet so they mourn becoming of their woe,
That every tongue says beauty should look so.
The sonnet starts out so irregularly that it sounds like prose—a pyrrhic-spondee-trochee: “In the OLD AGE BLACK was not COUNTed FAIR.” But the end of the line begins a series of regular iambs that continues throughout the sonnet except for the few irregular feet that point out key phrases: the trochee-iambs in line 3 (“BEAUty’s sucCESsive HEIR”), line 6 (“FAIRing the FOUL”), and line 12 (“SLAND’ring creAtion”), and the spondee in line 6 (“with ART’S FALSE BORrow’d FACE.”)
128
How oft when thou, my music, music play’st,
Upon that blesséd wood whose motion sounds
With thy sweet fingers when thou gently sway’st,
The wiry concord that mine ear confounds,
Do I envy those Jacks that nimble leap,
To kiss the tender inward of thy hand,
Whilst my poor lips which should that harvest reap,
At the wood’s boldness by thee blushing stand.
To be so tickled they would change their state
And situation with those dancing chips,
O’er whom thy fingers walk with gentle gait,
Making dead wood more bless’d than living lips.
Since saucy jacks so happy are in this,
Give them thy fingers, me thy lips to kiss.
I read only three irregular lines in Sonnet 128. There are two trochee-iambs, one in line 5 (“Do I ENvythose JACKS”) and one in line 12 (“MAKing dead WOOD”). Other than these, we have only the boldness of the final line of the octave announcing the audacity of wood: “At the WOOD’S BOLDness by THEE BLUSHing STAND.”
129
Th’ expense of Spirit in a waste of shame
Is lust in action, and ’til action, lust
Is perjur’d, murd’rous, bloody full of blame,
Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust,
Enjoy’d no sooner but despiséd straight,
Past reason hunted, and no sooner had
Past reason hated as a swallowed bait,
On purpose laid to make the taker mad.
Mad in pursuit and in possession so,
Had, having, and in quest to have, extreme,
A bliss in proof and prov’d a very woe,
Before a joy propos’d behind a dream.
All this the world well knows yet none knows well,
To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell.
Only the final couplet of Sonnet 129 sounds like it belongs in a sonnet. The first ten lines are highly irregular. In six of the first seven, the third foot has a pyrrhic. Line 3 is regular and line 4 has an initial trochee-iamb and a spondee in the third foot. Line 2 also has a spondee, in the fourth foot. Line 9 has another initial trochee-iamb and line 10 starts with a spondee-pyrrhic. All of this makes this sonnet read smoothly from beginning to end in the cadence of the thoughts it expounds. It’s a blend of prose and poetry, easily readable, sensible, yet filled with the power of verse, carrying the rhyming invective: shame, blame, lust, trust, straight, bait, had, mad, so, woe, extreme, dream, well, hell.
130
My Mistress’ eyes are nothing like the Sun,
Coral is far more red, than her lips red,
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun,
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen Roses damask’d, red and white,
But no such Roses see I in her cheeks,
And in some perfumes is there more delight,
Than in the breath that from my Mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know,
That Music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go,
My Mistress when she walks treads on the ground.
And yet by heaven I think my love as rare,
As any she belied with false compare.
Sonnet 130 is mostly regular. Along with the initial trochee-iamb of line 2, there is only the midline spondee of line 4 to interrupt the iambs (“If HAIRS be WIRES BLACK WIRES grow ON her HEAD”). It sounds conspicuously like a sonnet, appropriate for a sonnet parody.
131
Thou art as tyrannous, so as thou art,
As those whose beauties proudly make them cruel;
For well thou know’st to my dear doting heart
Thou art the fairest and most precious Jewel.
Yet in good faith some say that thee behold,
Thy face hath not the power to make love groan;
To say they err, I dare not be so bold,
Although I swear it to my self alone.
And to be sure that is not false I swear:
A thousand groans but thinking on thy face,
One on another’s neck do witness bear
Thy black is fairest in my judgment’s place.
In nothing art thou black save in thy deeds,
And thence this slander as I think proceeds.
There are just a few irregular lines in Sonnet 131 that come at important moments. First, we have an unusual rhythm, a pyrrhic-trochee, for the unusual phrase, “so as THOU art” in line 1. Then there are three spondees: “to MY DEAR DOTing HEART” (line 3); “to MAKE LOVE GROAN” (line 6); and “Thy BLACK is FAIRest IN MY JUDGEment’s PLACE” (line 12). The feminine endings of lines 2 and 4 belie the seriousness of the sonnet and its final accusation in the couplet.
132
Thine eyes I love, and they as pitying me,
Knowing thy heart torment me with disdain,
Have put on black, and loving mourners be,
Looking with pretty ruth upon my pain.
And truly not the morning Sun of Heaven
Better becomes the gray cheeks of the East,
Nor that full Star that ushers in the Even
Doth half the glory to the sober West
As those two mourning eyes become thy face.
O let it then as well beseem thy heart
To mourn for me since mourning doth thee grace,
And suit thy pity like in every part.
Then will I swear beauty her self is black,
And all they foul that thy complexion lack.
There are many trochees in Sonnet 132. Are they just there to make the meter work, or do they emphasize important words? There are one each in lines 2, 4 and 6 (the last also with a spondee) and two in line 13: “KNOWing thy HEART”; “LOOKing with pretTY ruth”; “BETter be COMES the GRAY CHEEKS OF the EAST”; “THEN will i SWEAR BEAUty herSELF.” The feminine endings of lines 5 and 7 help the flow of the sonnet through those unusual five lines after the first quatrain.
133
Beshrew that heart that makes my heart to groan
For that deep wound it gives my friend and me;
Is’t not enough to torture me alone,
But slave to slavery my sweet’st friend must be?
Me from my self thy cruel eye hath taken,
And my next self thou harder hast engrossed.
Of him, my self, and thee I am forsaken,
A torment thrice three-fold thus to be crossed.
Prison my heart in thy steel bosom’s ward,
But then my friend’s heart let my poor heart bale,
Who e’er keeps me, let my heart be his guard,
Thou canst not then use rigor in my Jail.
And yet thou wilt, for I being pent in thee,
Perforce am thine and all that is in me.
Double sonnet to be read with Sonnet 134.
134
So now I have confess’d that he is thine,
And I my self am mortgag’d to thy will,
My self I’ll forfeit, so that other mine,
Thou wilt restore to be my comfort still.
But thou wilt not, nor he will not be free,
For thou art covetous, and he is kind,
He learn’d but surety-like to write for me,
Under that bond that him as fast doth bind.
The statute of thy beauty thou wilt take,
Thou usurer that put’st forth all to use,
And sue a friend, came debtor for my sake,
So him I lose through my unkind abuse.
Him have I lost, thou hast both him and me,
He pays the whole, and yet I am not free.
There are few irregular lines in this sonnet pair. Lines 5 and 9 in Sonnet 133 start with trochee-iambs and the flowing sound these produce along with the feminine endings in lines 5 and 7 help give this sonnet its sense of lightness. Sonnet 134 has only initial trochee-iambs in lines 8 and 13. There is a great variety of rhythm in the sonnet, though, due to differences in syllable length. The sonnet moves quickly to its forlorn conclusion.
Sonnet 134 has an unusual a structure: 4-4-3-3. Instead of a couplet, the last three lines make up a complete thought. Two lines are not enough to express his loss.
135
Who ever hath her wish, thou hast thy Will,
And Will to boot, and Will in over-plus,
More than enough am I that vex thee still,
To thy sweet will making addition thus.
Wilt thou whose will is large and spacious,
Not once vouchsafe to hide my will in thine?
Shall will in others seem right gracious,
And in my will no fair acceptance shine?
The sea all water, yet receives rain still,
And in abundance addeth to his store,
So thou being rich in Will add to thy Will,
One will of mine to make thy large Will more.
Let no unkind, no fair beseechers kill,
Think all but one, and me in that one Will.
There is an incessant pressure to the verse in this sonnet that mirrors the pressure of the sexual request it makes. It seems to will the reader to press on. The only irregularities in Sonnet 135 are two trochee-iambs that correspond to an interesting alliteration linking lines 2 and 3: “MORE than eNOUGH am I that VEX thee STILL / To THY sweet WILL MAKing adDItion THUS.” [Note: In lines 5 and 7, spacious and gracious are both pronounced with three syllables (otherwise the lines would only have nine syllables).]
136
If thy soul check thee that I come so near,
Swear to thy blind soul that I was thy Will,
And will, thy soul knows, is admitted there,
Thus far for love, my love-suit sweet fulfill.
Will, will fulfill the treasure of thy love,
I fill it full with wills, and my will one,
In things of great receipt with ease we prove,
Among a number one is reckon’d none.
Then in the number let me pass untold,
Though in thy store’s account I one must be,
For nothing hold me so it please thee hold,
That nothing me, a some-thing sweet to thee.
Make but my name thy love, and love that still,
And then thou lovest me for my name is Will.
There are a lot of emphatics in the beginning of Sonnet 136 just as there is a lot of alliteration. Lots of “s” and “w” sounds. The three trochees of line 2, the initial trochee-iamb of line 5, and the midline spondees of lines 3 and 4 enhance the power of the alliteration. Listen to the sounds of lines 2-5:
SWEAR to thy BLIND SOUL that I was thy WILL,
And WILL, thy SOUL KNOWS, IS adMITted THERE,
Thus FAR for LOVE, my LOVE-SUIT SWEET fulFILL.
WILL, will fulFILL the TREAsure OF thy LOVE,
Line 6 is regular, but is so alliterative, it needs no help from the meter. After all this swearing, souls, and wills, we are left with regular iambs to the very last Will
137
Thou blind fool love, what dost thou to mine eyes,
That they behold and see not what they see?
They know what beauty is, see where it lies,
Yet what the best is, take the worst to be.
If eyes corrupt by over-partial looks
Be anchor’d in the bay where all men ride,
Why of falsehood hast thou forgéd hooks,
Whereto the judgment of my heart is tied?
Why should my heart think that a several plot,
Which my heart knows the wide world’s common place?
Or mine eyes seeing this, say ‘this is not’
To put fair truth upon so foul a face.
In things right true my heart and eyes have erred,
And to this false plague are they now transferred.
There are many spondees in Sonnet 137, five in all. All of them except one have the usual pattern that occurs when following an iamb: three stressed syllables in a row (te-DUM-DUM-DUM). The outlier is in line 7 where it follows an initial trochee, so the two stressed syllables stand alone (DUM-te-DUM-DUM-te): “WHY of EYES’ FALSEhood.” The others are: “Thou BLIND FOOL LOVE” (line 1), “where ALL MEN RIDE” (line 6), “the WIDE WORLD’S COMmon PLACE” (line 10). The only other irregularity is the initial trochee-iamb in line 9: “WHY should my HEART.”
138
When my love swears that she is made of truth,
I do believe her though I know she lies,
That she might think me some untutor’d youth,
Unlearnéd in the world’s false subtleties.
Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young,
Although she knows my days are past the best,
Simply I credit her false speaking tongue,
On both sides thus is simple truth suppress’d.
But wherefore says she not she is unjust?
And wherefore say not I that I am old?
O love’s best habit is in seeming trust,
And age in love, loves not to have years told.
Therefore I lie with her, and she with me,
And in our faults by lies we flattered be.
The only irregularity occurs in the middle of Sonnet 138, at line 7. It has an initial trochee-iamb and a spondee near the end: “SIMply i CREdit HER FALSE SPEAKing TONGUE.” The sonnet’s regular iambs have been moving quickly with its playful tone and this line slows them down. Line 9 picks up the tempo again until we find ourselves prancing through those last two lines as we laugh at the joke.
139
O call me not to justify the wrong
That thy unkindness lays upon my heart,
Wound me not with thine eye but with thy tongue,
Use power with power, and slay me not by Art.
Tell me thou lov’st elsewhere, but in my sight,
Dear heart, forbear to glance thine eye aside;
What needst thou wound with cunning when thy might
Is more than my o’er-press’d defense can bide?
Let me excuse thee: ‘ah my love well knows,
Her pretty looks have been mine enemies,
And therefore from my face she turns my foes,
That they elsewhere might dart their injuries.’
Yet do not so, but since I am near slain,
Kill me outright with looks, and rid my pain.
Even without the irregular stresses scattered throughout Sonnet 139, we would find a rhythm that varies with different syllable lengths and midline breaks that move around throughout the lines. This gives a darting quality to the verse, as if W. is blurting out ideas one after another as they come to him. The stresses add to the urgency of his voice, starting with the double trochee in line 3: “WOUND me NOT with thine EYE.” Lines 5 and 6 start with a trochee-iamb and a spondee, respectively: “TELL me thou LOV’ST elseWHERE”; “DEAR HEART forBEAR.” The most abrupt change in rhythm is in line 9, which starts with a trochee-iamb-spondee: “LET me exCUSE THEE: AH my LOVE well KNOWS.” The last two irregularities are adjacent feet—a spondee at the end of line 13 and a trochee at the start of line 14. This gives four stressed syllables in a row: “but SINCE i AM NEAR SLAIN, / KILL me out-RIGHT with LOOKS and RID my PAIN.”
140
Be wise as thou are cruel, do not press
My tongue-tied patience with too much disdain,
Lest sorrow lend me words and words express
The manner of my pity wanting pain.
If I might teach thee wit better it were,
Though not to love, yet love to tell me so,
As testy sick-men when their deaths be near,
No news but health from their Physicians know.
For if I should despair I should grow mad,
And in my madness might speak ill of thee,
Now this ill wresting world is grown so bad,
Mad slanderers by mad ears believéd be.
That I may not be so, nor thou belied,
Bear thine eyes straight, though thy proud heart go wide.
The rhythm is more affected by the placement of pauses than by the meter in this sonnet. There’s a strong pause after the comma following cruel in line 1. The next pause doesn’t occur until the end of the next line, the tempo barely slowing for the pyrrhic-spondee: “DO not PRESS / My TOUNGE tied PAtience with TOO MUCH dis DAIN.” The pattern of a strong midline pause followed by a string of syllables without a pause until the following line is repeated in lines 3 and 4 (the pause in line 4 occurring after the first words). A similar pattern occurs again in lines 5 and 6, this time with the pause after wit heightened by the following trochee-iamb (“BETter it WERE”). Regular lines then follow, all with pauses at the end, until line 14. This unexpected line has an unexpected meter: “BEAR thy eyes STRAIGHT though thy PROUD HEART go WIDE.”
141
In faith I do not love thee with mine eyes,
For they in thee a thousand errors note,
But ’tis my heart that loves what they despise,
Who in despite of view is pleas’d to dote.
Nor are mine ears with thy tongue’s tune delighted,
Nor tender feeling to base touches prone,
Nor taste, nor smell, desire to be invited
To any sensual feast with thee alone.
But my five wits, nor my five senses can
Dissuade one foolish heart from serving thee,
Who leaves unsway’d the likeness of a man,
Thy proud heart’s slave and vassal wretch to be.
Only my plague thus far I count my gain,
That she that makes me sin, awards me pain.
Sonnet 141 is all about double intensifiers. There are six feet with spondees, three of them in successive lines in identical positions (the fourth foot). The intensification is unmistakable in lines 5-7:
Nor ARE mine EARS with THY TONGUE’S TUNE deLIGHTed,
Nor TENder FEELing TO BASE TOUCHes PRONE,
Nor TASTE, nor SMELL, deSIRE TO BE inVITed
Those spondees have the effect of emphasizing all the stressed syllables in those lines and especially the alliteration on the lettert. The feminine endings in lines 5 and 7 help keep the lines from feeling too sluggish. The two spondees in line 9 are even more emphatic: “But MY FIVE WITS, nor MY FIVE SENses CAN.” The following regular lines lead to the final spondee in line 12: “Thy PROUD HEART’S SLAVE.” The couplet starts with a trochee-iamb. It’s the only irregularity in this sonnet that is not a spondee and it sounds more resounding as a result: “ONly my PLAGUE thus FAR i COUNT my GAIN.”
142
Love is my sin, and thy dear virtue hate,
Hate of my sin, grounded on sinful loving,
O but with mine, compare thou thine own state,
And thou shalt find it merits not reproving.
Or if it do, not from those lips of thine,
That have profan’d their scarlet ornaments,
And seal’d false bonds of love as oft as mine,
Robb’d others’ beds’ revenues of their rents.
Be it lawful I love thee as thou lov’st those,
Whom thine eyes woo as mine importune thee,
Root pity in thy heart that when it grows,
Thy pity may deserve to pitied be.
If thou dost seek to have what thou dost hide,
By self example may’st thou be denied.
Sonnet 142 is very irregular, although six lines are written with five regular iambs (5, 6, and 11-14). It reads as two sentences, lines 1-8 and 9-14, with the underlying rhythm and rhyme of the verse supporting them underneath. The irregular stresses of lines 1-2 support the mirror image structure of the opening lines:
LOVE is my SIN, and THY DEAR VIRtue HATE,
HATE of my SIN, GROUNded on SINful LOVing
The theme is emphasized by the final spondee in line 3: “thine OWN STATE.” The feminine endings in lines 2 and 4 impart a gentleness that belie the intent of the sonnet. All of the remaining irregular stresses have import: “And SEAL’D FALSE BONDS” (line 7); “ROBB’D OTHers’ BEDS REvenues OF their RENTS” (line 8); “BE’T LAWful i LOVE THEE as THOU LOV’ST THOSE” (line 9); “Whom THINE EYES WOO” (line 10). [Note: As I have indicated here,Be itis pronounced as one syllable (“Be’t”). I did not indicate this in the modernized text as I was concerned it would be difficult to understand.]
143
Lo, as a careful huswife runs to catch
One of her feathered creatures broke away,
Sets down her babe and makes all swift dispatch
In púrsuit of the thing she would have stay,
Whilst her neglected child holds her in chase,
Cries to catch her whose busy care is bent
To follow that which flies before her face,
Not prizing her poor infant’s discontent;
So runst thou after that which flies from thee,
Whilst I, thy babe, chase thee afar behind,
But if thou catch thy hope, turn back to me,
And play the mother’s part, kiss me, be kind.
So will I pray that thou mayst have thy Will,
If thou turn back and my loud crying still.
I read nine irregular lines in Sonnet 143. Lines 1 and 2 have initial trochee-iambs that set off the start of the allegory. The other irregularities emphasize important phrases: “In purSUIT OF the THING” (line 4); “HOLDS her inCHASE” (line 5); “CRIES to CATCH HER” (line 6); “her POOR INfant’s” (line 8); “TURN BACK” (line 11); “KISS ME, BE KIND” (line 12); “and MY LOUD CRYing STILL” (line 14).
144
Two loves I have of comfort and despair,
Which like two spirits do suggest me still,
The better angel is a man right fair,
The worser spirit a woman color’d ill.
To win me soon to hell my female evil
Tempteth my better angel from my side,
And would corrupt my saint to be a devil,
Wooing his purity with her foul pride.
And whether that my angel be turn’d fiend,
Suspect I may, yet not directly tell,
But being both from me both to each friend,
I guess one angel in another’s hell.
Yet this shall I ne’er know but live in doubt,
’Til my bad angel fire my good one out.
There are only a few irregularities in Sonnet 144. Feminine endings in lines 5 and 7, initial trochee-iambs in lines 6 and 8 and a final spondee in line 8. The irregularities do stress Tempteth, Wooing, and foul pride, but mostly this seems to be a sonnet with a regular flowing rhythm that doesn’t allow much to get in the way of the allegory.
145
Those lips that Love’s own hand did make,
Breath’d forth the sound that said ‘I hate,’
To me that languish’d for her sake.
But when she saw my woeful state,
Straight in her heart did mercy come,
Chiding that tongue that ever sweet,
Was us’d in giving gentle doom,
And thought it thus anew to greet:
‘I hate’ she alter’d with an end,
That follow’d it as gentle day
Doth follow night who like a fiend
From heaven to hell is flown away.
‘I hate,’ from hate away she threw,
And sav’d my life saying ‘not you.’
Sonnet 145’s tetrameter verse gives it even more of a sing-song quality than feminine endings would. The only feet that are not iambs are the first feet of lines 5 and 6 and the third foot on line 14 (all trochees). Also of note is the lack of pause at the end of line 10. All of these work with the flow of the poem and the readability of the sentences.
146
Poor soul, the center of my sinful earth,
My sinful earth these rebel powers array,
Why dost thou pine within and suffer dearth
Painting thy outward walls so costly gay?
Why so large cost having so short a lease,
Dost thou upon thy fading mansion spend?
Shall worms, inheritors of this excess,
Eat up thy charge? is this thy body’s end?
Then soul live thou upon thy servant’s loss,
And let that pine to aggravate thy store;
Buy terms divine in selling hours of dross,
Within be fed, without be rich no more.
So shalt thou feed on death, that feeds on men,
And death, once dead, there’s no more dying then.
The meter of Sonnet 146 is rich with spondees. The only other irregularities are two trochees in line 5 surrounding a spondee, making a line that starts with 4 out of 6 stressed syllables “WHY so LARGE COST HAVing so SHORT a LEASE” and an initial trochee-iamb in line 4. There are an unusual five initial spondees (lines 1, 3, 8, 9, and 11) and two spondees in a row at the beginning of line 13: “SO SHALT THOU FEED on DEATH that FEEDS on MEN.” I get chills just writing that. [Note: In the original, line 2 has “that thee” inserted before the last word, “array,” giving the line at least 12 syllables, an obvious misprint. Most editors assume the repetition of “My sinful earth” at the beginning of the line is the culprit, delete it, and either leave it blank or replace it with some two-syllable phrase to regularize the line. I have adopted Massey’s emendation, assuming with him that the compositor was confused by the grammar, thinking that the “sinful earth” was the subject and the “rebel powers” the object of the verb “array,” instead of the other way around. The compositor thought he was helping by providing the extra words but instead just muddied things up. Reading the line as the powers arraying the earth (i.e., dressing them) makes sense when we read line 4. “That thee” looks like the error. See discussion in Shakespeare’s Sonnets: With Three Hundred Years of Controversy, 358.]
147
My love is as a fever longing still
For that which longer nurseth the disease,
Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill,
Th’ uncertain sickly appetite to please.
My reason, the Physician to my love,
Angry that his prescriptions are not kept,
Hath left me, and I desperate now approve,
Desire is death, which Physic did except.
Past cure I am, now Reason is past care,
And frantic mad with ever-more unrest,
My thoughts and my discourse as mad men’s are,
At random from the truth vainly express’d.
For I have sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright,
Who art as black as hell, as dark as night.
Although there are only a few irregular lines in Sonnet 147, the rhythm is very varied. The lines read smoothly with the thoughts. The alliteration is more prominent than the meter (fever/for/feeding; uncertain/sickly; desperate/desire/death; mad/mad/men’s). The initial trochee-iambs of lines 3 and 6, the final spondee of line 11 and the trochee-iamb in the next-to-last foot of line 12 are barely noticeable variations that keep the poem’s balance to the end.
148
O me! what eyes hath love put in my head,
Which have no correspondence with true sight,
Or if they have, where is my judgment fled,
That censures falsely what they see aright?
If that be fair whereon my false eyes dote,
What means the world to say it is not so?
If it be not, then love doth well denote,
Love’s eye is not as true as all men’s: no,
How can it? O how can love’s eye be true,
That is so vex’d with watching and with tears?
No marvel then though I mistake my view,
The sun it self sees not, ’til heaven clears.
O cunning love, with tears thou keepst me blind,
Lest eyes well seeing thy foul faults should find.
The midline break varies widely in Sonnet 148. In line 1, it’s after the second syllable. The very unusual pattern of lines 8-9, with a pause after the ninth syllable in line 8 and the third syllable of line 9, manages to work without losing the sense of verse. There’s a staccato rhythm to the lines. If it weren’t for the rhymes, it would be hard to recognize this as a poem, let alone a sonnet. Spondees are the only irregularity, most dramatically in line 9: “How CAN IT? O how CAN LOVE’S EYE be TRUE.” The others are: “my FALSE EYES DOTE” (line 5); “as ALL MEN’S: NO” (line 8); and “thy FOUL FAULTS” (line 14).
149
Canst thou, O cruel, say I love thee not,
When I against my self with thee partake?
Do I not think on thee when I forgot
Am of my self, all tyrant for thy sake?
Who hateth thee that I do call my friend,
On whom frown’st thou that I do fawn upon?
Nay if thou lour’st on me do I not spend
Revenge upon my self with present moan?
What merit do I in my self respect,
That is so proud thy service to despise,
When all my best doth worship thy defect,
Commanded by the motion of thine eyes?
But love hate on for now I know thy mind,
Those that can see thou lov’st, and I am blind.
The rhythm of Sonnet 149 is dominated by the verse pauses. Two lines (1 and 4) have two midline pauses and two lines (3 and 7) have no end-line pauses. The other lines have pauses that vary between the fourth and seventh feet. This is all about reading the questions W. poses, one after another. The meter and the rhyme are there as a supporting structure. The only irregularity is the initial trochee-iamb in the last line that delivers the final statement: “THOSE that can SEE thou LOV’ST, and I am BLIND.”
150
Oh from what power hast thou this powerful might,
With insufficiency my heart to sway,
To make me give the lie to my true sight,
And swear that brightness doth not grace the day?
Whence hast thou this becoming of things ill,
That in the very refuse of thy deeds,
There is such strength and warrantise of skill,
That in my mind thy worst all best exceeds?
Who taught thee how to make me love thee more,
The more I hear and see just cause of hate,
Oh though I love what others do abhor,
With others thou shouldst not abhor my state.
If thy unworthiness rais’d love in me,
More worthy I to be belov’d of thee.
Sonnet 150 is written in 14 lines of regular iambic pentameter. All the lines have a pause at the end and the midline pauses vary little in position. The variation in this sonnet is all in the syllable length. There are no word inversions. Everything works out perfectly. It’s a calm statement in the midst of a tumultuous relationship.
151
Love is too young to know what conscience is,
Yet who knows not conscience is born of love,
Then gentle cheater urge not my amiss,
Lest guilty of my faults thy sweet self prove.
For thou betraying me, I do betray
My nobler part to my gross body’s treason,
My soul doth tell my body that he may
Triumph in love, flesh stays no farther reason,
But rising at thy name doth point out thee,
As his triumphant prize, proud of this pride,
He is contented thy poor drudge to be
To stand in thy affairs, fall by thy side.
No want of conscience hold it that I call
Her love, for whose dear love I rise and fall.
The rhythms of Sonnet 151 are as out of sync as its logic. The sentence structure often doesn’t follow the lines and the meter doesn’t make it any easier to read them. The feminine endings in lines 6 and 8 don’t do much to ease the flow, especially as there is no pause at the end of line 7. To make it worse, line 8 starts with a trochee-iamb making it hard to pronounce those two lines smoothly—I find it takes practice. Also difficult—and unusual—is the lack of pause at the end of line 13. Instead, the pause is delayed until after the second syllable of line 14. These lines contain all iambs, but they sound irregular because of the unusual pauses. The whole sonnet is as difficult to pronounce as the logic is to understand. [Note: In addition to those mentioned, the other irregularities I read are in line 1 (initial trochee-iamb), line 2 (spondee-trochee in the second and third feet), lines 4 and 6 (final spondees), and line 10 (trochee-iamb in the fourth and fifth feet).]
152
In loving thee thou know’st I am forsworn,
But thou art twice forsworn to me love swearing,
In act thy bed-vow broke and new faith torn,
In vowing new hate after new love bearing.
But why of two oaths’ breach do I accuse thee,
When I break twenty: I am perjur’d most,
For all my vows are oaths but to misuse thee,
And all my honest faith in thee is lost.
For I have sworn deep oaths of thy deep kindness,
Oaths of thy love, thy truth, thy constancy,
And to enlighten thee gave eyes to blindness,
Or made them swear against the thing they see.
For I have sworn thee fair: more perjur’d eye,
To swear against the truth so foul a lie.
Sonnet 152 does not have nice things to say. The difficult message is softened by the four feminine endings in lines 2, 4, 9, and 11. All the feet are regular except for the initial trochee-iamb of line 10.
153
Cupid laid by his brand and fell asleep,
A maid of Dian’s this advantage found,
And his love-kindling fire did quickly steep
In a cold valley-fountain of that ground,
Which borrow’d from this holy fire of love,
A dateless lively heat still to endure,
And grew a seething bath which yet men prove,
Against strange maladies a sovereign cure.
But at my mistress’ eye love’s brand new fired,
The boy for trial needs would touch my breast,
I sick withal the help of bath desired,
And thither hied a sad distemper’d guest,
But found no cure, the bath for my help lies,
Where Cupid got new fire: my mistress’ eyes.
Lines 3 and 4 both start with pyrrhic-spondees. Line 6 has a trochee-iamb in the last two feet, and lines 7 and 9 have spondees in the last foot. These are just irregular enough to help keep the simplicity of Sonnet 153 from sounding dull.
154
The little Love-God lying once asleep,
Laid by his side his heart enflaming brand,
Whilst many Nymphs that vow’d chaste life to keep,
Came tripping by, but in her maiden hand
The fairest votary took up that fire,
Which many Legions of true hearts had warm’d,
And so the General of hot desire,
Was sleeping by a Virgin hand disarm’d.
This brand she quenchéd in a cool Well by,
Which from love’s fire took heat perpetual,
Growing a bath and healthful remedy,
For men diseas’d. But I, my Mistress’ thrall,
Came there for cure and this by that I prove:
Love’s fire heats water, water cools not love.
There are just a few irregular lines in Sonnet 154. A spondee in the next-to-last foot on line 6 (“TRUE HEARTS”), a pyrrhic-iamb-spondee at the end of line 9 (“she QHENchèd in a COOL WELL BY”), and an initial trochee-iamb in line 11 (“GROWing a BATH). But the most dramatic are the two spondees in the last line: “LOVE’S FIRE HEATS WAter.”