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SONNET 62Sin 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:______ 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
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"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. ©1999-2021 Shakespeare Online. All Rights Reserved.