HAKESPEARE'S ONNETS
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OMMENTARY
SONNET 136 CXXXVI
CXXXVI 1. If thy soul check thee that I come so near, 2. Swear to thy blind soul that I was thy Will, 3. And will, thy soul knows, is admitted there; 4. Thus far for love, my love-suit, sweet, fulfil. 5. Will, will fulfil the treasure of thy love, 6. Ay, fill it full with wills, and my will one. 7. In things of great receipt with ease we prove 8. Among a number one is reckoned none: 9. Then in the number let me pass untold, 10. Though in thy store's account I one must be; 11. For nothing hold me, so it please thee hold 12. That nothing me, a something sweet to thee: 13. Make but my name thy love, and love that still, 14. And then thou lovest me for my name is 'Will.' |
This sonnet continues the play on the word 'Will' begun in the previous sonnet, and expands it further into various puns on 'something' and 'nothing'. As before, it is impossible to say how many Williams are involved, whether as lovers, or as husband, or when the poet himself is intended, except for the fairly unambiguous final line. HV thinks that the poem, as many others, arises from a distinct antecedent situation, in this case a rebuttal of his sexual advances which the woman has recently made. Her soul rejects him physically, and this is his answer to that rejection, a request for her to consider him as being but a small item, a nothingness in the context of the many men she already enjoys. He is only a name, and a name has many meanings, all of which in this case coincide with her wishes and her secret sexual longings. She only therefore has to love his name and both he and she as a result will be fully satisfied. |
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THE 1609 QUARTO VERSION
Thus farre for loue, my loue-ſute ſweet fullfill. Will, will fulfill the treaſure of thy loue, I fill it full with wils,and my will one, In things of great receit with eaſe we prooue, Among a number one is reckon'd none. Then in the number let me paſſe vntold, Though in thy ſtores account I one muſt be, For nothing hold me,ſo it pleaſe thee hold, That nothing me,a ſome-thing ſweet to thee. Make but my name thy loue,and loue that ſtill, And then thou loueſt me for my name is Will. |
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1. If thy soul check thee that I come so near,
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1. thy
soul = your inner self. Probably
not intended here to have any distinct spiritual significance, as it
does
in the later sonnet 146: In thy soul's thought, all naked, will bestow it; 26 Save that my soul's imaginary sight 27 And all my soul and all my every part; 62 Not mine own
fears, nor the prophetic soul As easy
might I from myself depart ...a true
soul The word 'soul' is
almost equivalent to 'mind'
or 'intellect', or 'inner self', or perhaps 'conscience', but it has
the
advantage of sounding more weighty and philosophical than any of these.
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2. Swear to thy blind soul that I was thy Will,
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2. thy
blind soul = your soul which
is (perhaps deliberately) not seeing what is going on. No entirely
satisfactory
explanation of the use of this phrase has been given. It links in with
the
idea that Cupid is traditionally thought to be blind, and with the
blindness
through infatuation of those who love, as in the next sonnet: Marvel I do not, though thou dost not see My griefs and martyrs; which I still sustain. For thou, the Mole of Love dost seem to me; But if a Mole, th'art only to my pain. How comes it then that, seeing thou art blind, Thou me consum'st, as if thou had'st thy sight? Why, as thy nature by instinct doth bind, Stayest not below? Pack hence, and leave this light! Either those eyes still shut, not me to grieve; Or under ground, in darkness, always live! The Mole of Love was
evidently something with which
Elizabethans were familiar, but we are not, but it seems to be symbolic
of something which undermines the persona. |
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3. And will, thy soul knows, is admitted there;
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3.
will = wish, desire, lust, penis,
William. is admitted = is acknowledged as a fact; is allowed, is permitted (to enter). there = in that place where I came too near, in your soul. The line has an obvious bawdy meaning. |
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4. Thus far for love, my love-suit, sweet, fulfil.
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4. Thus
far for love = to that extent,
for the sake of love. I.e. permit me to be admitted there, for the sake
of my love for you, or your love for me, or for the sake of love in
general,
for the sake of Cupid. Well, Love,
since this demur our suit will stay,
Sidney,
A&S.52. |
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5. Will, will fulfil the treasure of thy love,
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5. Will
= William; my penis; desire
and its satisfaction. Priam's
six-gated city, Also, from the same: Nor debarred
from beauty's treasure, |
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6. Ay, fill it full with wills, and my will one.
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6.
See note above. Ay = indeed; yes, certainly. and my will one = and (let) my will, desire, lust, penis, be one among the many which fill you up, occupy your mind totally, fill your vagina. Note also that the Q spelling of Ay is 'I', giving momentarily the meaning 'I alone am capable of shafting you to your satisfaction'. The Renaissance spelling of I for aye was usual and context decided the meaning. Compare: I! I! O I may say that she is mine. Sidney A&S.69. where the meaning 'Aye' is also intended for the first two Is. |
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7. In things of great receipt with ease we prove | 7.
things of great receipt = matters
of great moment, stores of great quantity, sexual organs of great
capacity.
The bawdy innuendo continues, leading to the play on something and
nothing
in the third quatrain. we prove = we demonstrate mathematically, we know by experience. |
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8.
Since numbers were plurals, the number one
could not be considered to be a number. Alternatively, where large
numbers
were concerned, adding one to a great heap made effectively no
difference.
The idea is ultimately traceable back to Aristotle. KDJ quotes One is no number, maids are nothing then, Without the sweet society of men. Marlowe, H&L.255-6. reckoned = counted as, considered to be. |
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9. Then in the number let me pass untold,
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9.
in the number = in the list of all
those wills which (or whom) you entertain. let me pass untold = let me be unnoticed and uncounted. Do not pick me out (so as to reject me). untold refers to 'telling' meaning both counting and relating a story, possibly also to the tolling of a bell. As in : So is my love still telling what is told. 76 |
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10. Though in thy store's account I one must be;
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10.
in thy store's account = in the strict
account and record of what your storeroom holds, i.e. in the list of
those
you accept. I one must be = I would have to be counted as an object, my presence would have to be recorded. There is possible a visual pun intended here, viz. '1 one must be', i.e. one must be equal to one, (since the letter I looks so much like the number 1). |
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11. For nothing hold me, so it please thee hold
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11. 11 and 12. Nothing and something were slang terms for sexual organs, both male and female. These two lines, 11 and 12, also play on the dual meaning of hold, to think or consider (that such and such is so) and to take physically into one's hands. Hence there are at least two concurrent meanings 'Consider me to be of no value, a worthless thing, so long as you also take pleasure in thinking me to be a sweet thing in your company', and 'Take me to be a mere sexual object, and hold my dick, letting it be a sweet experience for you'. | |
12. That nothing me, a something sweet to thee: | 12.that
nothing me - see the note above.
sweet - this may also be a vocative, as in line 4. 'sweetheart' or 'my sweet one'. |
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13. Make but my name thy love, and love that still, | 13. still = always. | |
14. And then thou lov'st me for my name is 'Will.'
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14. And then thou lovest me = and then you effectively love me, the person (rather than just a name). The conclusion is hardly conclusive, and is not likely to have won the poet any sexual favours, since one assumes she new his name already, and punning on Will = William, or Will = penis, or Will = your voracious sexual appetite, would not be calculated to endear him to her. The poem may be read in several ways, as a witty sexual joke, as a dream of what he longs for, or as a last desperate throw of the dice in hoping to win more attention from her waywardness. | |
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First line index | Title page and Thorpe's Dedication | Some Introductory Notes to the Sonnets | Sonnets as plain text 1-154 | Text facsimiles | Other related texts of the period |
Picture
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Thomas Wyatt Poems | Other Authors | General notes for background details, general policies etc. | Map of the site | Valentine Poems |
London Bridge as it was in Shakespeare's day, circa 1600. | Views of London as it was in 1616. | Views of Cheapside London, from a print of 1639. | The Carrier's Cosmography. A guide to all the Carriers in London. As given by John Taylor in 1637. | Oxquarry Books Ltd | |
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