The amazing web site of Shakespeare's Sonnets. Commentary. Sonnet 6.
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OMMENTARY
SONNET 6 VI
VI 1. Then let not winter's
ragged hand deface, |
The theme of the previous sonnet, that summer's beauty must be distilled and preserved, is here continued. The youth is encouraged to defeat the threatened ravages of winter by having children. Ten children would increase his happiness tenfold, since there would be ten faces to mirror his. Death therefore would be defeated, since he would live for ever through his posterity, even if he should himself die. He is much too beautiful to be merely food for worms, and must be encouraged not to be selfish, but to outwit death and death's conquering hand. | |
THE 1609 QUARTO VERSION
With beauties treaſure ere it be ſelfe kil'd: That vſe is not forbidden vſery, Which happies thoſe that pay the willing lone; That's for thy ſelfe to breed an other thee, Or ten times happier be it ten for one, Ten times thy ſelfe were happier then thou art, If ten of thine ten times refigur'd thee, Then what could death doe if thou ſhould'ſt depart, Leauing thee liuing in poſterity? Be not ſelfe-wild for thou art much too faire, To be deaths conqueſt and make wormes thine heire. |
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1. Then let not winter's ragged hand deface,
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1. winter's
ragged hand: winter was often
depicted as wearing rags. Also, being destructive, it would make the
things
it touched look ragged. See also the further commentary on SonnetLXIV |
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2. In thee thy summer, ere thou
be distilled: |
2. Spring and summer
seem to refer interchangeably
to the youth at his best. ere thou be distill'd = before a distillation is made of your essence. Before you have children. The petals of flowers were boiled and distilled to extract the perfume. The distillate was stored to be used in cosmetics and in the making of confectionery. |
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3. Make sweet some vial; treasure
thou some place |
3. vial = phial, a small vessel for liquids, usually made of glass. treasure thou some place = enrich some place, some maiden's womb with your treasure (seed, children). | |
4. With beauty's treasure ere it be self-killed.
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4. beauty's treasure = the treasure of your own beauty. Also, semen. ere = before. His beauty would be self-killed by his refusing to have children, and his seed would be destroyed if it were not placed in a womb. The man's seed was considered to be the essential substance for the generation of new life. Women's function in the reproductive process was not understood. The woman was thought to be no more than the vehicle for carrying the man's progeny. | |
5. That use is not forbidden usury, |
5. A return to the
money lending imagery of Sonnet
4. 7-8. use in the technical sense of usufruct,interest, making money by lending it out. Usury was considered sinful, but a ten percent return on money was legally permitted. The usurers performed the function of modern day banks. See GBE, p.120 Note on VI.5. |
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6. Which happies those that pay the willing loan;
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6. happies
= makes happy. those refers
to the borrowers. the willing loan = a loan given (and taken?) willingly. The implication is that beauty could be lent out and repaid with interest, by the mother and by the children she bore to the man. |
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7. That's for thy self to breed another thee, | 7. That's for thy self = which would be the case if you bred a copy of yourself, (as the usurers breed copies of their money). | |
8. Or ten times happier, be it ten for one; | 8. happier
= more fortunate, as well as happier.
be it ten for one = should you have ten children rather than one. |
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9. Ten times thy self were happier
than thou art, |
9. Having ten children would make you ten times happier than if you only had one child, or certainly happier than you are in your present childless situation. | |
10. If ten of thine ten times
refigured thee: |
10. If ten children of yours existed, making ten images of you. But with a suggestion that the ten children could also breed, thus 'refiguring' him still further with grandchildren. | |
11. Then what could death do if thou shouldst depart,
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11. Evidently this line has biblical overtones. 'Oh death where is thy sting? Oh grave thy victory?' if thou shouldst depart = if you should die. |
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12. Leaving thee living in posterity? |
12.Since you would still be alive hereafter. Leave has the meanings of depart, die, and bequeath. So that the youth would bequeath himself to posterity through his children. Posterity also had the meaning of perpetuity. | |
13. Be not self-willed, for thou art much too fair
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13. self-will'd = obstinate, but it also echoes self-killed of line 4. There is a sexual innuendo derived from will (= sexual desire, passion; see 135, 136). Hence ' do not devote yourself to self-pleasure, masturbation'. | |
14. To be death's conquest
and make worms thine heir.
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14. death's
conquest = that which
is conquered, overthrown, by death. One who dies (or who has an
orgasm).
Also apparently there is a legal meaning of conquest:
(OED.6) - property
acquired by means other than inheritance (usually by force of arms). make worms thine heir: instead of leaving an heir in the normal way, he would leave worms breeding from his corpse. Only worms would profit from his death. |
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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 |
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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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