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SONNET 66Tir'd with all these, for restful death I cry,As, to behold desert a beggar born, And needy nothing trimm'd in jollity, And purest faith unhappily forsworn, And guilded honour shamefully misplaced, And maiden virtue rudely strumpeted, And right perfection wrongfully disgraced, And strength by limping sway disabled, And art made tongue-tied by authority, And folly (doctor-like) controlling skill, And simple truth miscall'd simplicity, And captive good attending captain ill: Tired with all these, from these would I be gone, Save that, to die, I leave my love alone. NOTES LXVI. The tone of melancholy, which has been previously heard, especially since lix., now attains a greater intensity, and we have a pessimism which has been compared to that of Hamlet. The poet sees in the world and the arrangements of society so many things abnormal and awry, that, in his weariness and loathing, he cries out for death, though unwilling to leave his friend. 1. Tir'd with all these, i.e., such things as those which follow. 2. As. As, for example. Desert a beggar born. Real merit and worth suffering the disqualification of an abjectly mean origin, and restrained by penury. 3. This line probably refers to what is commonly described as "keeping up an appearance." 4. Unhappily forsworn. Through the pressure of circumstances (as seems likely) in an evil world. 5. Gilded honour shamefully misplaced. Cf. Ecclesiastes x. 5, 6, "There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, as an error which proceedeth from the ruler. Folly is set in great dignity." &c. 6. Rudely. Either of physical force, or of the recklessness of slander; but the latter sense would seem to agree with the next line. 8. Strength by limping sway disabled. Describes the injury inflicted by an incompetent and feeble government. 9, 10. In these lines there seem to be allusions to universities and their technical phraseology. This view accords with the use of doctor-like, and line 9 (where art will denote "learning") may be taken to refer to opinions obnoxious to those in authority being forbidden to be expressed and published. 12. This is a climax. Evil is a victorious captain, with Good as a captive attending to grace his triumph. 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 Publishing in Elizabethan England Shakespeare's Audience 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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