Summary The poet abruptly returns to the subject of the young man and renews his apology and appeal. Whereas Sonnet 116 indicates that the relationship has stabilized, this sonnet stresses the poet’s self-rebuke using legal terminology: “Accuse me thus, that I have scanted all / Wherein I should your great […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Sonnet 117Summary and Analysis Sonnet 116
Summary Despite the confessional tone in this sonnet, there is no direct reference to the youth. The general context, however, makes it clear that the poet’s temporary alienation refers to the youth’s inconstancy and betrayal, not the poet’s, although coming as it does on the heels of the previous sonnet, […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Sonnet 116Summary and Analysis Sonnet 115
Summary The poet now admits that his believing that his love for the youth was as great as it could ever be was wrong: He can love the young man even more fully than he has done in the past. Comparing how things change over time to his newfound knowledge […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Sonnet 115Summary and Analysis Sonnet 114
Summary Continuing the dichotomy between the eye and the mind, the poet presents two alternative possibilities — indicated by the phrase “Or whether” — for how the eye and mind work. Either the mind controls the poet’s seeing and is susceptible to flattery, or his eye is the master of […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Sonnet 114Summary and Analysis Sonnet 113
Summary More from a sense of duty than a meaningful expression of emotion, the poet professes to see the young man in everything while he is away from the youth. The eye-mind dichotomy presented in the first line — “Since I left you, mine eye is in my mind” — […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Sonnet 113Summary and Analysis Sonnet 112
Summary The first two lines recall the “brand” and the “pity” that the poet discussed in the previous sonnet: “Your love and pity doth th’ impression fill / Which vulgar scandal stamped upon my brow.” Exactly what caused this “vulgar scandal” is unclear, although many critics surmise that the poet […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Sonnet 112Summary and Analysis Sonnet 111
Summary Sonnet 111 focuses particularly on the poet’s laments about his misfortunes. He resents that circumstances have forced him to behave as he has because fortune provided so meanly for his birth and “did not better for my life provide / Than public means which public manners breeds.” Other than […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Sonnet 111Summary and Analysis Sonnet 110
Summary The poet deeply regrets his lapse of attention to the young man and wishes to show his disgust and self-reproach. He lists his faults and expresses resentment at being bound to his “motley” course and for selling “cheap what is most dear” — his love for the young man. […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Sonnet 110Summary and Analysis Sonnet 109
Summary Sonnet 109 begins a sequence of apologetic sonnets using the image of travel as a metaphor for the poet’s reduction of the attention he gives to the young man. He defends his absence against charges of infidelity and indifference. Beneath his apologetic manner, one detects an assertion of independence […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Sonnet 109Summary and Analysis Sonnet 108
Summary Admitting that he risks running out of new ideas and “must each day say o’er the very same” about the young man, the poet replaces newly imagined creation with ritual; redundant love finds new meaning in repetition “So that eternal love in love’s fresh case / Weighs not the […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Sonnet 108