directory
home contact

SONNET 62

Sin of self-love possesseth all mine eye,
And all my soul and all my every part;
And for this sin there is no remedy,
It is so grounded inward in my heart.
Methinks no face so gracious is as mine,
No shape so true, no truth of such account;
And for myself mine own worth do define,
As I all other in all worths surmount.
But when my glass shows me myself indeed,
Beated and chopp'd with tann'd antiquity,
Mine own self-love quite contrary I read;
Self so self-loving were iniquity.
   'Tis thee, myself, that for myself I praise,
   Painting my age with beauty of thy days.

NOTES

LXII. But here again, as in xxxv., xxxvi., the poet proceeds from imputations cast on his friend to introspection and self-accusation. He is saturated and thoroughly possessed by self-esteem. But the sight of a mirror disabuses him of an overweening estimate of his own beauty. Still, incorporated as he is with his youthful friend, he may still paint his own maturer age with the beauty of youth. That indeed is what he has been doing (cf. xxii).

5. So gracious. Displaying such grace or beauty.

6. No symmetry of form equally perfect and admirable with mine.



10. Beated and chopp'd with tann'd antiquity. Meaning, probably, battered, wrinkled, and darkened, or discoloured, bronzed.

11. The poet then comes to a totally different opinion concerning his self-love. It was in reality love of thee (13).

12. It would be "iniquity" for the poet to admire and esteem his beauty after the revelation made by the mirror.


How to cite this article:
Shakespeare, William. Sonnets. Ed. Thomas Tyler. London: D. Nutt, 1890. Shakespeare Online. 28 Dec. 2013. < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/62.html >.
______

Even More...

 Stratford School Days: What Did Shakespeare Read?
 Games in Shakespeare's England [A-L]
 Games in Shakespeare's England [M-Z]
 An Elizabethan Christmas
 Clothing in Elizabethan England

 Queen Elizabeth: Shakespeare's Patron
 King James I of England: Shakespeare's Patron
 The Earl of Southampton: Shakespeare's Patron
 Going to a Play in Elizabethan London

 Ben Jonson and the Decline of the Drama
 Religion in Shakespeare's England

 Alchemy and Astrology in Shakespeare's Day
 Entertainment in Elizabethan England
 London's First Public Playhouse
 Shakespeare Hits the Big Time


More to Explore

 Introduction to Shakespeare's Sonnets
 Theories on the Intent of the Sonnets
 Shakespearean Sonnet Style
 How to Analyze a Shakespearean Sonnet
 The Rules of Shakespearean Sonnets

 Shakespeare's Sonnets: Q & A
 Are Shakespeare's Sonnets Autobiographical?
 Petrarch's Influence on Shakespeare
 Themes in Shakespeare's Sonnets



 Shakespeare's Greatest Love Poem
 Shakespeare and the Earl of Southampton
 The Order of the Sonnets
 The Date of the Sonnets

 Who was Mr. W. H.?
 Are all the Sonnets addressed to two Persons?
 Who was The Rival Poet?
 Publishing in Elizabethan England
 Shakespeare's Audience

_____


On Sonnets 55 to 66 ... "Eleven miscellaneous, loosely-linked verses, tracing the course of friendship, its dreads and jealousies. The friend has become an ideal, and in faithfulness to that ideal lies the poet's hope of immortality and that "his verse shall stand." He dreads the ravages of time, but fame will keep him ever young. In his present state of gloom and despair he would die, but death now would mean oblivion, and he cannot "leave his love alone." These Sonnets are much more allegorical than personal, and describe the poet's yearning for immortality far more than his human affection for a human being." John Cuming Walters. (The Mystery of Shakespeare's Sonnets. London: New Century Press.)

_____


 Shakespeare's Greatest Metaphors
 Shakespeare's Metaphors and Similes
 Shakespeare on Jealousy
 Shakespeare on Lawyers
 Shakespeare on Lust
 Shakespeare on Marriage

_____


Did You Know? ... "Of the countless editions of the works of Shakespeare that show a frontispiece likeness of the poet, it is a singular fact that by far the greater number favour the 'Chandos' portrait. The face and features of Shakespeare as 'imaged' in that portrait are those with which his readers are probably most familiar. It is not easy to account for this, since the Chandos Portrait is certainly not the first in point of genuineness, whatever may be its degree of artistic merit. Possibly it satisfies more fully the popular ideal of the likeness of a great creative poet than does the bust or print just referred to. Be that as it may, the 'Chandos ' portrait, for various reasons, more than justifies its being kept in the custody of the nation as a very rare and valuable relic of its greatest dramatist." Alexander Cargill. Read on....

_____


 Portraits of Shakespeare
 Shakespeare's Contemporaries
 Shakespeare's Sexuality
 Worst Diseases in Shakespeare's London
 Shakespeare on the Seasons
 Shakespeare on Sleep