The Sonnets and Other Poems
Page 28
293 seeks applies, looks for support
295 heartens up encourages
servile powers inferior faculties, base instincts
powers faculties/troops
296 jocund cheerful
297 Stuff up bolster, fill out (with suggestions of penile erection)
298 pride plays on sense of “sexual arousal, erection”
300 reprobate depraved, morally corrupt
302 chamber plays on sense of “vagina”
will plays on sense of “penis”
303 retires his ward withdraws its guard
304 rate his ill reprove his wickedness (by squeaking)
305 regard caution
306 The … heard in order to have him discovered, the door makes a grating noise as it opens across the threshold
307 weasels sometimes kept by households for the purposes of rat-catching
309 portal door (along with vents and crannies continues the vaginal imagery)
311 stay stop
313 conduct guide
case matter (plays on sense of “vagina”)
317 glove … needle continuing the sexually suggestive language; both nouns were euphemisms for “vagina” (needle due to its eye)
318 rushes conventionally strewn over floors
320 who should one who might
wanton tricks sex
321 inured accustomed
322 ornaments accessories
324 consters construes, explains
denial hindrance, refusals
326 of trial designed to test him
327 bars divisions on a clock face
328 let hinder
330 attend accompany
331 threat threaten
332 a more greater
prime spring
333 sneapèd pinched with cold
334 income entrance fee/beginning
335 shelves sandbanks
338 heaven sexual bliss
thought imagination
340 thing plays on sense of “vagina”
341 from far from, unlike
wrought fashioned, made him
346 foul sinful/dirty (to contrast with fair)
compass obtain/embrace
347 And they and that the heavens
auspicious favorable
348 starts flinches, recoils
350 act deed/sexual act
354 cleared cleaned/declared legally innocent
absolution forgiveness of sins (not necessarily in a religious context)
355 hath dissolution dissolves
356 eye of heaven i.e. the moon
out extinguished, in darkness
359 knee … wide an action that anticipates the rape itself
360 fast soundly
361 works plays on sense of “copulates”
362 Who whoever
364 mortal deadly
sting phallic connotations
365 stalks walks stealthily
367 curtains bed curtains
close closed
369 high treason extreme treachery/betrayal of the sovereign, i.e. Tarquin himself
370 watchword signal to begin an attack
full very
371 draw the cloud open the bed curtains (another symbolic anticipation of the rape)
moon symbol of chastity
372 as just as, in the same way that
373 bereaves robs, deprives (us of)
375 wink close
376 bright brightly
378 enclosed closed
379 darksome prison i.e. behind his eyelids
380 period end
382 clear innocent, unsullied/bright
383 ope open
league alliance, i.e. Collatine and Lucrece’s marriage
387 Coz’ning cheating
388 in sunder in two
389 Swelling i.e. as if in anger (possible phallic connotations and suggestion of sexual frustration)
to want his at the lack of its
391 virtuous monument effigy of a virtuous wife on a tomb; such a figure was commonly presented asleep beside her husband with her head on a pillow
392 of by
lewd ignorant/lascivious/wicked
unhallowed impious, sinful
393 Without outside
397 marigolds … light these daisylike flowers close up their petals at night
402 map picture
403 life’s mortality human life
404 Each i.e. life and death
405 twain two
408 maiden chaste, faithful to her husband
409 bearing yoke i.e. weight of a man during sex
417 will lust
tired exhausted/feed greedily
419 azure bright blue
alabaster white substance used, among other things, in the making of funeral monuments
421 grim fierce, savage
423 stay linger, pause
424 qualified moderated
425 Slaked lessened
426 late a moment ago
427 uproar insurrection, outbreak of disorder
428 straggling slaves lowly, contemptible soldiers
pillage plunder, stealing from the defeated enemy
429 Obdurate hard-hearted
vassals slaves, inferiors
fell fierce, cruel
effecting carrying out
430 ravishment rape
431 Nor … nor neither … nor
respecting considering, heeding
432 pride arrogance/sexual desire; Tarquin is getting an erection
onset military/sexual assault
433 Anon at once
alarum a call to arms (signaled on a drum)
434 charge order for attack in which troops bear down on an opposing force
do their liking do as they please/have sex
435 cheers up encourages
436 commends commits, entrusts
438 make his stand take up position (prior to attack); possible quibble on sense of “penile erection”
440 scale mount, ascend/attack with ladders
442 must’ring assembling in preparation for battle
cabinet private room, i.e. mind/heart
444 beset surrounded, besieged
451 ghastly terrifying/ghostly, pale
sprite spirit
452 grim aspect stern appearance
453 taking situation/agitation
454 heedfully attentively
455 supposèd imagined
458 winking with eyes closed/blinking rapidly
459 Quick-shifting rapidly moving, changing
antics grotesque figures
460 shadows illusions
forgeries fictions, inventions
462 daunts subdues, overwhelms
464 ram battering ram
465 citizen i.e. of Lucrece’s besieged body
466 Wounding … death i.e. with furious pounding against her rib cage
467 bulk body
that so that
withal with it
469 breach gap in fortifications caused by a sustained bombardment (a vaginal image)
471 parley trumpet summons to negotiation with the enemy
heartless disheartened, lacking courage
473 alarm sudden attack
474 by dumb demeanour silent expression
475 urgeth asks repeatedly
476 colour pretext/military insignia
480 loving tale tale of love
484 chide scold, rebuke
486 will purpose/sexual desire/penis
abide endure/await
488 Which refers to his will
490 newly bred revived once more (erectile connotations)
491 crosses troubles, afflictions
493 think the honey know that such sexual sweets are
494 counsel deliberation/prudence
496 Only he hath he has solely
502 ensue follow
504 infamy shame, disgrace
505 shakes brandishes
/> Roman blade phallic connotations
506 falcon puns on falchion
507 Coucheth causes to hide
508 Whose refers to the falcon
mount flies up
509 insulting insolent, scornful
falchion curved sword
511 bells attached to straps around the legs of birds that were being trained
513 deny refuse
514 destroy kill
520 mark target, object
522 blurred tainted
nameless having no legal right to a name (as the father is unknown)
523 obloquy disgrace
524 trespass sin, fault
526 rest remain
secret friend lover
529 For … enacted is deemed permissible/becomes enshrined in law
530 simple herb or plant used for medicinal purposes
compacted mixed
534 Tender my suit grant my request
535 device measure, contrivance/heraldic emblem
537 wipe mark (either from a blow or lash, or from the brand with which slaves were marked)
birth-hour’s blot a birthmark
538 descried observed
540 cockatrice basilisk (a mythical reptile whose gaze could kill); slang term for a prostitute
541 rouseth up himself with connotations of penile erection
543 hind female deer
gripe vulture or griffin (a mythological creature, part eagle, part lion); plays on sense of the verb, i.e. “grip”
544 Pleads plays on the legal sense
545 gentle noble
546 aught anything
549 doth get is created
550 pitchy black
their biding where they hang
551 their present fall i.e. the imminent storm
552 unhallowed wicked, profane
553 Pluto god of the classical underworld; he was notoriously ill-tempered but so charmed by Orpheus’ musical skill that he allowed him to retrieve his wife, Eurydice, from the underworld as long as he refrained from looking at her as they made their way back; unfortunately, as she called to him, Orpheus turned around and she was lost again
winks shuts his eyes
554 dally toy with her/delay
555 holdfast tenacious
556 vulture folly predatory madness
557 gulf stomach/appetite
558 admits allows to enter/acknowledges/concedes the validity of
559 penetrable i.e. really effective, moving
plaining lamentation, complaints
560 harden with phallic connotations
565 puts … place does not pause in the usual places
period full stop
566 accent speech
568 conjures him by appeals to him in the name of
Jove supreme Roman god
569 gentry the quality of being a gentleman
570 untimely ill-timed, inopportune
571 troth loyalty, honesty, good faith
573 borrowed i.e. guest’s
retire return/military retreat
574 stoop yield, submit
576 pretended offered
577 Mud soil, muddy (an image suggestive of staining the vaginal fountain with semen)
578 Mar spoil
thing may play on sense of “vagina”
579 aim intention/marksman’s aim
shoot plays on sense of “ejaculation”
ended completed and goal-achieving (plays on sense of “in the vagina”)
580 woodman huntsman (plays on sense of “womanizer”)
581 strike plays on sense of “have sex with/rape”
unseasonable out of season
586 heave remove
587 movèd emotionally affected/ physically displaced
590 wrack-threat’ning shipwreck-threatening
597 shape appearance
602 everything i.e. including their passions
603 be seeded ripen, mature
605 hope expectation (of being king)
outrage violence/rape
608 vassal actors lowborn who perform such deeds
609 hid in clay buried, hidden
610 for out of
611 happy fortunate
still always
feared revered, held in awe
612 With … prove you will necessarily have to put up with sinful offenders because their actions match your own
614 thy will remove change your mind/abandon your intentions
615 glass mirror
618 lectures lessons
620 warrant authorization
621 privilege grant immunity to
622 back’st support
laud praise
623 bawd pimp
624 command military authority/self-control
626 iniquity sin, injury to another
627 brood offspring (of iniquity)
628 office role and responsibilities
629 patterned by with the model of
636 infamies disgrace, shameful acts
637 askance turn aside
638 heaved-up raised
639 relier dependant/quality on which you depend
640 exiled majesty’s repeal the return of the dignity and greatness you have banished from yourself
641 flatt’ring false, delusory
642 respect respectful consideration/dignity
643 eyne eyes
644 state regal status/ condition
646 swells with phallic connotations
let hindrance, obstruction
650 salt sovereign i.e. the sea
655 blood nobility/bloodline
657 hearsed buried, entombed
659 these slaves i.e. the petty ills
666 vassals subordinates owing allegiance
669 coy gentle
670 despitefully cruelly/contemptuously
671 rascal groom lowborn servingman
672 doom fate
677 seized fastened its claws upon; the Latin for “to seize” is rapere, the etymology of “to rape”
678 white fleece i.e. nightclothes
controlled smothered
679 fold plays on sense of “sheep pen” (an image maintained by pens)
680 nightly linen bedclothes or perhaps a smock (though Elizabethans usually slept naked)
684 prone eager/horizontal/evilly disposed
685 could weeping if weeping could
689 league union
692 rifled plundered
694 gorgèd crammed with food
695 Unapt unready
696 balk refuse
698 surfeit-taking overindulging
701 bottomless conceit limitless imagining
702 still imagination silent thought
703 receipt what he has received
705 pride state of sexual arousal
exclamation protest
707 jade worn-out horse
710 recreant cowardly, fainthearted
712 The … proud humanity being arrogant/the penis being erect
713 there i.e. in the flesh
revels makes merry/has sex
when that decays when such pleasures subside/when the erection is lost
714 remission pardon, release from debt
717 doom judgment, sentence
721 spotted princess i.e. Tarquin’s morally blemished soul
722 subjects i.e. will and passions
724 mortal deadly/human
725 thrall a slave
727 prescience foreknowledge
controllèd still always (in theory) controlled
728 But i.e. but even
733 spoil sexual plunder (Lucrece); with connotations of damage
perplexed afflicted
734 load of lust emotional burden and repercussions of his lust/semen
739 desperate in a state of spiritual hopelessness (thought to precede suicide)
740 faintly flies flees in a cowardly manner
741 exclaiming on blaming, crying out again
st
743 heavy convertite sad penitent
744 castaway one who has been abandoned
747 scapes moral transgressions, sins
open lay disclose, reveal
749 cunning brow sly, crafty countenance
750 think not but can only think
752 would … be they wish to remain always in darkness
755 grave engrave (with connotations of death and burial)
761 close enclose
762 spite reproach, outrage
765 register record/registrar
notary recorder
766 Black stage possibly refers to an Elizabethan practice of draping the stage with black for the performance of a tragedy, although the evidence for this is fairly slight
fell savage, cruel
767 chaos the formless void from which the ordered universe emerged
blame blameworthiness, guilt
768 defame dishonor
770 close-tongued secretive/silent
773 Muster assemble for war
774 proportioned … time i.e. the regular passing of day and night (so that night may be prolonged to conceal shame)
776 wonted usual, customary
777 Knit draw closely together
778 damps fogs, mists
ravish carry off by force (the word could also, of course, mean “rape”)
780 life life-giving properties
781 arrive arrive at
noontide prick the dot of noon (marked on a sundial)
786 silver-shining queen i.e. the moon, symbol of chastity
distain defile, dishonor/cause to look dim
787 handmaids i.e. the stars
791 palmers pilgrims who had been to the Holy Land, signified by the carrying of a palm leaf
793 cross their arms a conventional posture of grief
795 pine suffer
798 wasting … moans transitory memorials to permanent grief
799 foul-reeking “reeking” meant “steaming, smoking” in the period; sense of “smelling” was not yet active
805 sepulchred entombed
806 object a sight, spectacle
811 cipher read, decipher
812 quote observe, notice
my loathsome trespass the vile shame done to me, the abhorrent breach of my person
815 deck adorn
816 couple link (plays on sense of “unite sexually”)
817 Feast-finding minstrels musicians looking for feasts at which to play and sing
tuning my defame making a song about my dishonor
818 tie oblige
819 I Collatine i.e. how I wronged Collatine
820 senseless reputation reputation for lacking sensuality
822 theme for disputation subject of debate
823 branches … root i.e. Collatine’s family tree will be destroyed (branches plays on sense of “divisions of an argument”)
825 clear innocent
attaint stain of dishonor
828 Crest-wounding damaging the family crest (may also suggest the pain of cuckoldry: the husband of an unfaithful wife was supposed to grow horns on his head)