Summary

The poet continues to bewail his abandonment by his Muse, although he concedes that his love for the youth is stronger because of the absence: “The argument all bare is of more worth / Than when it hath my added praise beside.” In other words, the descriptions of love detract from the real emotion because the focus is more on the description of love than on love itself. He apologizes yet again that his verse is too poorly written to do justice to the young man’s beauty.