每日一首Sonnet (35)

XXXV

1. No more be grieved atthat which thou hast done:
2. Roses have thorns, and silver fountains mud:
3. Clouds and eclipses stain both moon and sun,
4. And loathsome canker lives in sweetest bud.
5. All men make faults, and even I in this,
6. Authorizing thy trespass with compare,
7. Myself corrupting, salving thy amiss,
8. Excusing thy sins more than thy sins are;
9. For to thy sensual fault I bring in sense,
10. Thy adverse party is thy advocate,
11. And 'gainst myself a lawful plea commence:
12. Such civil war is in my love and hate,
13. That I an accessary needs must be,
14. To that sweet thief which sourly robs from me.

Commentary:
Thiscontinues the theme of the previoustwo sonnets. The sin which the youth has committed against the poet,whichpreviously appeared to be a denial of love, or a denial of commitment,hereis described also as 'a sensual fault', which implies some sin of theflesh,lust for another person perhaps, or merely a temporary lapse fromgrace.We cannot know the details of the 'amiss', since no other clues aregivenus, but it is possible that the fault is linked to that which isdescribedin 40-42, in which the youth is reproached for stealing the poet'smistress.For the denial of love which the previous two sonnets imply couldhardlybe described as 'a sensual fault', but perhaps that denial is heremergedwith the later sin of poaching a lover. It is unlikely that we willeverhave the necessary information to know what the poet was referring toasthe beloved's amiss and we must be satisfied withwhatever our imaginationscan conjure up.
The sestet of thesonnet introduces legal terminology,a break from the biblical and theological language of sin andredemptionwhich dominates the previous sonnet, and here lines 5-8.



Note:
1. No more be grieved at = Do not feel anyfurther sorrow because of;
that which thou hast done - either refers to the rejection of the loverin the previous two sonnets, or to the 'trespass' alluded to in this one, andperhaps also to the 'robbery' of 40-43. 2. This is a traditional list of the faults of beautifulthings.'No rose without a thorn' is proverbial.   3. stain - this recalls Suns of the world maystain from 33. There was a belief that clouds and mists brought pollutionand contagion. Eclipses were thought to be potentially even more dangerous,foretelling destruction to the high and mighty of the world. 4. canker = worm or disease which destroysflowers.
The canker galls the infants of the spring,
Too oft before their buttons be disclosed Ham.1.3.39-40.
This canker that eats up Love's tender spring VA.656.  5. All men make faults, and even I in this,    5. make faults = commit sins, areprone to error. May allude to the doctrine of original sin, and the belief thathuman nature is inherently sinful. 6. Authorizing - accented on the secondsyllable.
trespass = sin. As in the Lord's Prayer - forgive us our trespasses.
with compare = by making comparison(s), as in lines 1-4, the comparisonsbeing false, in that sin is an offence against God, and cannot be justified byreasoned argument. The point here made is that the poet himself is guilty ofsin in 'authorizing' his friend's trespass.    7. Myself corrupting = sc. by commiting thesin of justifying your offence. salving thy amiss = softening, smoothingover your sin. We still use the phrase 'to salve one's conscience'. amiss= fault, sin. There are 40 occurrences of amiss in Shakespeare, andmostly the use of it is adjectival or adverbal, as e.g
For never anything can be amiss,
When simpleness and duty tender it. MND.5.1.82-3.
Only here and at 151.3 do we find it used as a noun, presumably based on theidea of 'doing something amiss'.    8. Cappell emended Q's their.....theirto thy.....thy, and this has been accepted by most editors. KDJ uses these.....these.If we accept thy the meaning is that 'I use such legerdemain injustifying your sins, that it would be sufficient to excuse sins of evengreater magnitude'. GBE suggests the emendation of Excusing to Accusingand retaining their.....their.    9. In defence of your sensual sin I bring inreason (sense).
sensual fault = fault involving one of the five senses; fault of sensualityor lust.
bring in = introduce as a topic or argument, or witness. This is probablyintended in a legal sense, in view of the legal terminology which follows.There is also a pun on incense, enhancing the idea of loving anduncritical worship of the young man.
sense = reason.
10. Thy adverse party = your legal opponent;it refers both to reason (sense) in the line above, and to the poet himself,who has taken up the defence of the youth, though being himself the injuredparty.
advocate = one who pleads in a court of law, an attorney.   11. a lawful plea commence = initiate an action atlaw (to plead that your cause is just).    12. I am at war with myself, both loving andhating you. The admission of hatred is surprising, indeed somewhat disturbing,given the previous assertions of love. This is the only occasion on which it isused to refer to the poet's emotions, although by contrast the youth's feelingstowards him are often characterised as hatred, both for dramatic emphasis, andbecause it was traditional to describe the disdain of the beloved as hatred.Compare 90.1:
Then hate me when thou wilt, if ever now,
and 107.12:
But shoot not at me in your waken'd hate;    13. A continuation of the legal terminology.'I am compelled to become an accomplice'. Compare:
To both their deaths shalt thou be accessary. R3.I.2.192.
accessary - the modern spelling is 'accessory'. The distinction ofspelling used to be between the adjective and noun, a distinction now lost.(See OED.etym. under accessary).I give the Webster 1913definition below.
accessary: (Law): One who, not being present, contributes as anassistant or instigator to the commission of an offense. Accessary beforethe fact: (Law): one who commands or counsels an offense, not being presentat its commission. -- Accessary after the fact, one who, after anoffense, assists or shelters the offender, not being present at the commissionof the offense.This word, as usedin law, is spelt accessory by Blackstone and many others; but in this sense isspelt accessary by Bouvier, Burrill, Burns, Whishaw, Dane, and the PennyCyclopedia; while in other senses it is spelt accessory. In recent text-bookson criminal law the distinction is not preserved, the spelling being eitheraccessary or accessory.
Q's reading is accessary.
needs must be = am compelled to be.   14. which = who.
robs - this suggests the stealing of a lover, as in 40, 42, (or thelover who steals). On the other hand it might be used simply as the necessaryadjunct of being a thief. Or perhaps the robbery is of reason and good sense,for the poet's world has become topsy-turvy, and he enters a plea against him