Meaning - Sonnet 3

Look in thy glass and tell the face thou vewest,

Now is the time that face should forme an other,

Whose fresh repaire if thou not renewst,

Thou doo'st beguile the world, unblesse some mother.

Rather than guide his Narcissus’ face away from the water, he demands the youth marvel at his glorious reflection. “Look at your beautiful face in the mirror and say to yourself that it is time to admit that your glory must be multiplied.” You are now in "fresh repair," or in perfect condition, but if you do not choose to renew yourself, you will "beguile" or "cheat" the world, and the woman who would bear your children. In the first two sonnets, it has been established that this man would be depriving the world if he has no children, and for a brief moment the considerations of the woman are brought into it. If he chooses to be chaste, he will “unblesse some mother.” Unbless is an interesting choice of words. Fate has already "blessed" her with his child and should he continue his stubbornness, he will rob her of that destiny. Not only is he hoarding all his worth while the rest of the world starves, but he is tampering with God’s plan. The point is not to mess with the plan.

For where is she so faire whose un-eard wombe

Distaines the tillage of thy husbandry?

Then Shakespeare goes on a strange tangent; the youth doesn't know that he can have any woman. Does he say to choose wisely someone who would match his beauty, or someone talented so the child might, with a good match, succeed his father? No. It’s, “What pretty virgin would refuse your talents in lovemaking?” "Where is she so fair whose uneared womb/ Disdains the tillage of thy husbandry?" What lady will reject you? This line is pretty magical in its overt sexual implications. The act of sex is has become the act of farming. The woman's womb is now an untilled field, waiting be “plowed” by a professional. Ploughing is a metaphor for sex. She is a virgin field and he has the abilities of a professional farmer, for “husbandry” implies a profession. Consider the meadow metaphor in Sonnet 2: "digge deep trenches in thy beauty's field" (2,2). There, digging and ploughing desecrate a beautiful surface. In sonnet 3, a woman's "uneared" womb is will not refuse a good “tilling.” Take any girl you like, none will refuse your shovel. “Digge deep” in them, and plant your seed for growing. That the sonnets might have been commissioned to encourage the young man to marry a specific granddaughter of some high ranking person seems unlikely to me, when women are treated thus in the poetry.

Or who is he so fond will be the tomb

Of his self-love to stop posterity?

Who is he that is so foolish with loving of himself, that he will die to stop the conception of his descendants? This part of the text perhaps alludes to the Biblical of Onan whose father commanded him to have sexual intercourse with his deceased brother's wife, Tamar, so to produce an heir. Onan complied, and did have sex with Tamar, but before he ejaculated inside her, he “pulled out” (as we say in modern vernacular) and to be more crude, “finished himself off,” rather masturbated himself to fruition.

"But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so whenever he lay with his brother's wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from producing offspring for his brother. What he did was wicked in the Lord's sight; so he put him to death" (Gen. 38.9-10).

I guess we found the guy who would be so foolish as to die rather than produce heirs.

"Death of Onan" Frank Lanjšček

Thou art thy mother's glasse and she in thee

Calls back the lovely Aprill of her prime,

So thou through windows of thine age shalt see,

Dispight of wrinkles this thy golden time.

Your mother gave you beauty that the world might see her youth in you. You should do the same, so that when you are old, you can remember the wrinkle-free days of your youth. This is the relentless repetition, that warns the youth to beware the perils of his impending old age.

But if thou live remembred not to be,

Die single and thine Image dies with thee.

The attitude is a little harsh here, a little passive aggressive, almost daring: "Fine. Be that way. If you decided to live with no vision or memory of your wonderful youth that is so valuable, fine. Die single then, fool, and no one will remember you."

Sonnet I

From fairest creatures we desire increase,

That thereby beauties Rose might never die,

But as the riper should by time decease,

His tender heire might beare his memory:

But thou contracted to thine own bright eyes,

Feed'st thy lights flame with selfe substantiall fewell,

Making a famine where aboundance lies,

Thy selfe thy foe, to thy sweet selfe too cruell:

Thou that art now the worlds fresh ornament,

And only herauld to the gaudy spring,

Within thine owne bud buriest thy content,

And tender chorle makest waft in niggarding:

Pitty the world, or else this glutton be,

To eate the worlds due, by the grave and thee.

Meaning and Commentary

Misspellings? Italics? Random Capitalizations?

Meaning and Commentary - Sonnet 1

My translation:

The world wants more beautiful beings to procreate

So that the perfect example of beauty will live on forever,

And as this perfection gets older and the beauty fades,

A handsome son or daughter will be a reminder of that perfection.

But you being a selfish narcissist, are married to your own face,

And service only yourself with masturbation,

Leaving the rest of the world starving while you feast and overindulge.

These actions are masochistic, you are hurting yourself too, you know.

You who are, now, the most beautiful being the world has to offer

The unique one who can bring spring out of winter,

You keep your talents all to yourself,

And, gentle boor (sweet miser), waste them in this way.

Too bad for the rest of us, because this selfish person (ahem. YOU),

Will die, and as if in cahoots with death, your talents are wasted twice.

This sonnet is about the selfishness of masturbation. Seriously. If you are going to be squeamish you should probably stay away from Shakespeare. If not, read on:

1. "Selfe substantiall fewell." Most scholar's seem confused by these words, "How a candle is self sustaining I am sure I have no idea," they proclaim and move on. A candle melts and is gone, but where did Shakespeare write candle? The line is "thy light's flame." Semen, however, is self substance and fuel for all life. The author is persuading a beautiful young man to procreate by appealing to his ego and praising his good looks. We are talking about having a child here, which can only be done by having sex (in those days), and yet this selfish boy chooses to waste his semen on himself. He is "contracted," as in married, betrothed, and in love with his own eyes. He, like Narcissus before him, stares in the mirror and masturbates, wasting his semen and thereby robbing the world of his beautiful children. Shakespeare calls this masochism: "to thy sweets self too cruel." It is a dirty joke played underneath an otherwise confusing metaphor.

2. "Within thine own bud, buriest thy content," is another masturbation metaphor, however the historians seem to agree on this. Content is a double-entendre: substance and pleasure. Not quite as exciting as the first. Shakespeare tells the youth that he is the most beautiful being ever created, with unique and priceless talents, and yet he pleasures himself alone selfishly when he should be procreating, which would be to the benefit of all.

Another Point:

It isn't nearly as exciting as sexual self satisfaction, but it is infinitely important to notice the attitude toward the possibility of immortality in the sonnets; especially the first seventeen. In Sonnet 1, he brings attention to the subject's mortality, urging him to come to terms with the inevitability of death. He alludes to death three times in a fourteen line poem: "beauty's rose might never die" (2), "but as the Riper should by time decease" (3), and "by the grave and thee" (14). The point is this: there is no immortality beyond procreation. You will die and leave nothing for us to remember you by. This is travesty given your greatness.

His mind been severely changed by Sonnet 18.