每日一首Sonnet (56)

LVI

1. Sweet love, renew thyforce; be it not said
2. Thy edge should blunter be than appetite,
3. Which but to-day by feeding is allayed,
4. To-morrow sharpened in his former might:
5. So, love, be thou, although to-day thou fill
6. Thy hungry eyes, even till they wink with fulness,
7. To-morrow see again, and do not kill
8. The spirit of love, with a perpetual dulness.
9. Let this sad interim like the ocean be
10. Which parts the shore, where two contracted new
11. Come daily to the banks, that when they see
12. Return of love, more blest may be the view;
13. As call it winter, which being full of care,
14. Makes summer's welcome, thrice more wished, more rare.

Commentary:

Perhapsthe poet now takes stock and finds thatas the weeks elapse the intensity of his love wanes. He meditates thatitis not so with hunger, which renews itself with each passing day. 'Whycannotlove be the same', he reasons. He urges himself, and the beloved friendalso, to keep alive the spirit of love. Let them consider this time ofseparationas an interlude which divides lovers on different shores, making theirreunioneven more joyful. Or let it be as the starving winter which isalleviatedat last by summer's return, a return which is all the more desired andpreciousbecause of the hardships of winter which have been endured.


Note:
1.Sweet love - an adjuration initiallyto the beloved, but the syntax soon changes the direction of the appealto the love that the poet himself feels, which he fears is in danger ofatrophying. be it not said = let it not be said.



2. . edge.. blunter - we still talkof a keen or a sharp appetite, evidently likening its action to that ofa knife. See also 52 For blunting the fine point of seldompleasure,and the note thereto.
should blunter be - couldconceivably be.
appetite - specifically it is related to foodin these three lines,but subsequently it is broadened to mean desire and sexual passion.



3. allayedand said evidentlyrhymed. allayed = quelled, overcome.



4. inhis former might - to its (appetite's)former strength or sharpness. This first quatrain urges 'love' not tobeduller than mere hunger, which daily renews itself without prompting,eventhough it is often sated.



5. In thesame way, love, must you respond.Even if today you fill your eyes, yet tomorrow (line 7), be as freshetc.This quatrain also, as the first, seems to address the youth directly,moreso than it does the spirit of love which abides in the poet's heart.Butthe links with other sonnets, especially 46 and 47, when the poet'seyesfeed on the youth in dreams and absence, suggest that the meaning 'mylovefor you', or 'the love that is within me' is just as important here.



6. wink= shut, close. The eyes wouldclose because they had had their fill of gazing.



7. seeagain - look, gaze once more.



8. Thespirit of love = the god of love;the essence of love. Also a sexual meaning, as in The expenseof spiritin a waste of shame 129.
a perpetual dulness - caused by satiety, or ageneral cooling off.



9. interim= gap of time, physical separation.But no separation has yet been mentioned, and indeed it is slightly atvariancewith the rest of the poem, in which over indulgence produces wearinessanda falling off of love. However the idea does tie in with 43-52, and iscontinuedin the following sonnet. Notice however how the interim of time isgivena physical meaning of spatial separation in the next lines.



10. Whichparts the shore = which(the ocean) divides the shore, (thus making two shores).
two contracted new - a couple, who are newlybetrothed (contracted).The image conjures up Hero and Leander separatedby the Hellespont.On the other hand an ocean is such a wide expanse that one could hardlyexpect to catch a glimpse of the beloved on the other side. Theexpectationis therefore perhaps of a ship coming in to view, the 'returnof love'which carries the loved one.



11. Eachlover visits the shore (bank) everyday in the hope of seeing the partner returning. banksare oftenconnected in Shakespeare with lovers:
No - like a bank for love to lie and play on;
Not like a corse; or if, not to be buried,
But quick and in mine arms. WT.IV.4.130-2



12. returnof love = return of the lovedone; rejuvenation of love.



13. Ascall it winter. Usually emendedto Or call it winter. The link is to line 9, andthe recommendationthat 'this sad interim be like the ocean' or 'as the winter'. We mayparaphraseit as 'Let this separation be like the ocean, .... or you may call itthewinter season'. Winter and summer, pleasure and care are often linkedtogetheras opposites, as in:
Crabbed age and youth cannot live together:
Youth is full of pleasance, age is full of care;
Youth like summer morn, age like winter weather;
Youth like summer brave, age like winter bare. PP.12
Winter was a time of shortage and near starvation for many inElizabethanEngland. Hence the care and anxieties were very real and pressing.



14. thrice- used vaguely to indicatemany times, or perhaps as a magical number, as used by the witches inMacbeth.
Thrice the brinded cat hath mewed.
Thrice and once the hedge-pig whined. Mac.IV.1.1-2
rare - rich, precious. As a rare jewel.