每日一首Sonnet (21)

XXI



1. So is it not with me as with that Muse,
2. Stirred by a painted beauty to his verse,
3. Who heaven itself for ornament doth use
4. And every fair with his fair doth rehearse,
5. Making a couplement of proud compare
6. With sun and moon, with earth and sea's rich gems,
7. With April's first-born flowers, and all things rare,
8. That heaven's air in this huge rondure hems.
9. O! let me, true in love, but truly write,
10. And then believe me, my love is as fair
11. As any mother's child, though not so bright
12. As those gold candles fixed in heaven's air:
13. Let them say more that like of hearsay well;
14. I will not praise that purpose not to sell.

Commentary:
The poet now begins an analysis of what he might or might not say of his beloved. He does not wish to follow the example of those poets who force comparisons with everything that is fair, beautiful, strange or rare. Instead he wishes to extol the virtue of truthfulness. Since his love is indeed beautiful, what need is there of over praise? Why not say at the outset that, quite simply, you, my love, are yourself, you outshine all praise. He who attempts to say more is like a costermonger trying to sell his wares from a barrow. But this poet will remain aloof from such gross pandering. The fact that his love is fair is enough for him, and he will not enlarge his praise by false and ludicrous comparisons.

The criticism of 'that Muse' is fairly general, but it is quite possible that it applies to an individual rather than to a style of writing. Later in the sequence sonnets 76-86 deal with the threat from a rival poet or poets and this sonnet here is a perhaps a foretaste of what is to follow later.


Note:

1. I do not follow the typical inspiration of the type of poetry which.... Muse = one of the nine goddesses of poetry. The name can stand symbolically for the poet him(her)self, or for a poem, or for a style of writing.

2. Stirred by a painted beauty = (who is) inspired by a woman who uses cosmetics; inspired by a painting of a beautiful woman? The accusation that those who inspired love sonnets were sirens disguised as beauties is unjust, since most poets of the Renaissance and earlier did not think that their womenfolk were only superficially fair, or that they covered their ugliness with cosmetics. It is more likely that the painted beauty is a reference to the extravagant and artificial conceits which the accused poets are in the habit of using in their verse (as described in the next few lines). Hence one could paraphrase it as 'Who is stirred to use artificial comparisons in his verse'.

3. Who = the poet (Muse);
for ornament doth use = makes use of to enhance his descriptions of his loved one. There is a suggestion here of blasphemy, as if the beloved is being exalted to the level of God by the irreverent accused writer.

4. every fair = every beautiful object;
doth rehearse = puts on the stage, tiresomely repeats in conjunction with his own beloved.

5. Joining the two together in a stately description. (The two things are his fair loved one and the various items which follow in the next two lines). compare = comparison.

6. In fact Shakespeare uses similar imagery in the sonnets. In 7 the beloved is the sun; in 35 he is compared to roses, a silver fountain, the moon and sun; in 52 to jewels; in 1 he is the world's fresh ornament/ And only herald to the gaudy spring; frequently he is a rose, also a lily; more extravagantly, in 53 and 68 he is the object from which all other things derive their beauty.

7. first born flowers - the first flowers of the spring are more beautiful because of their rarity, and they are always especially welcome because they herald the spring. First born children were also traditionally thought to be the most precious.
rare = precious, rarely found.

8. rondure = roundness, sphericity. A neologism probably coined by Shakespeare. The repeated 'h' sounds make the line difficult to speak, as though mimicking the hugeness of the task of enclosing all the earth's wonderful richness in the hemisphere of the surrounding air, or the sphere of the universe.

9. A declaration of truth in love, which must be matched by an equal fidelity in writing.

10. Lines 10-12 are the pay off as it were to the criticisms of 'that Muse'. This poet will not degrade his beloved with false comparisons. Instead he will speak truthfully, and doing so, he declares that his love is as fair as etc. etc.

11. any mother's child is proverbial for anyone.

12. those gold candles fix'd in heaven's air = the stars. He uses an exaggerated description as a mockery of the style of 'that Muse'.

13. Let those who love gossip and unsubstantiated (usually false) reports say more if they wish.

14. I am not a dishonest salesman, and am not going to indulge in praising that which I have no wish to part with. that refers to I at the start of the line. Hence, 'I, who have no intention of selling you, will not indulge in vacuous praise.' A salesman, then as now, was considered to be mendacious.