Sonnet 1
. Sonnet 1 .
(original language, but moderately updated)
01. From fairest creatures we desire increase,
We desire more from the most beautiful people,
02. That thereby beauty's Rose might never die,
So that the "rose" of beauty will never die,
03. But as the riper should by time decease,
But as the older beauty must, with time, pass away,
04. His tender heir might bear his memory:
His young heir should carry on the reminder of his beauty.
05. But thou contracted to thine own bright eyes,
But you, like Narcissus, "married" only to what you see,
06. Feed'st thy lights flame with self substantial fuel,
Are feeding the flame of your "light" with the fuel of your own substance,
07. Making a famine where abundance lies,
Which will lead to a "famine" of beauty where it's now abundant,
(when your substance is entirely consumed.)
08. Thyself thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel:
You are your own enemy, too cruel to your friendly self.
09. Thou that art now the world's fresh ornament,
You, who are now a young "decoration" on the world,
10. And only herald to the gaudy spring,
And the first flower of the showy spring,
11. Within thine own bud buriest thy content,
Are hoarding your beauty entirely within the "bud" of yourself, alone,
12. And tender churl makest waste in niggarding:
And, mortal miser, you'll create waste with your stinginess.
13. Pity the world, or else this glutton be,
Take pity on the world's love of beauty, or else be the kind of glutton,
14. To eat the world's due, by the grave and thee.
Who consumes the beauty the world is owed, when it's lost to the grave, because of your own behavior.
Sonnet 1 Gloss
L1: fairest = most handsome; most attractive.
L1: we - Lovers of beauty.
L2: Rose = premier symbol.
L5: contracted = married (figuratively speaking.) (Note, to the right.)
L5: bright eyes - What he sees with his eyes. Reference to his own reflection. Eyes are reflective.
L6: thy lights flame = the "fire" of your own "delightful" beauty.
L7: famine = shortage; dearth.
L8: sweet = friendly. Implying he should be a better friend, to himself.
L9: ornament = adornment; decoration.
L10: herald = leader. Also 'primary one.' The "first flower" (of spring.)
L11: bud = self. A loose usage for 'blossom.'
L11: buriest = hoards (all to himself.) Implies his beauty being buried with him, when he dies.
L11: content = what he contains; i.e. his beauty, his quality.
L12: tender churl = young miser. (Note, to the right.)
L12: niggarding = stinginess; being miserly.
L13: this glutton = this kind of glutton.
L14: eat = consume.
Sonnet 1 Notes
L5: contracted = married (figuratively speaking.) Reference is to the marriage contract. The idea is that the addressee is "married" to his own reflection in the mirror. It's a Narcissus allusion.
L12: tender churl = young miser. "Tender" primarily means "young," but also implies "mortal." The same usage of "tender" is found in Hamlet, Scene 15 (Act 4 scene 4.)
Hamlet: Led by a delicate and tender prince.
Hamlet is speaking there of Fortinbrasse being young and mortal, like himself. (The phrase "delicate and tender" is somewhat redundant, but not exactly. It would take a while to draw the distinction between the words that the context in Hamlet indicates.)
In the use of "tender" there is also a subtle suggestion of "kind," in connection with the advice that the addressee should reproduce his own kind, by having an heir.
Overall, the Sonnet can be seen as the Poet cautioning the Addressee that he's only an "annual," not a "perennial" type of flower, so to speak, which means that if there is to be a beautiful flower in the garden next spring, he must "pollinate."
© 2015 Jeffrey Paul Jordan
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