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COMMENTARY
1. When forty winters shall besiege thy brow,
besiege = lay siege to. A term from warfare. Forty winters (forty years) when added to the young man's
present age, would make him about 60. At such an age he would have many wrinkles, although it is
generally reckoned that in Elizabethan times, owing to dietary inadequacies and disease, people aged much
more rapidly, and even a forty year old could be deemed to have reached old age. So the poet could be
referring to the youth as he might be when he reaches forty.
2. And dig deep trenches in thy beauty's field,
dig deep trenches The besieging army would dig trenches to undermine the city's walls. But the reference
may also be to furrows dug in a field when ploughing.
3. Thy youth's proud livery so gazed on now,
livery = uniform worn by servants in a nobleman's house. It could be quite sumptuous, if the nobleman
wished to make a show of wealth.
4. Will be a totter'd weed of small worth held:
totter'd weed = a tattered garment. Tottered is an old spelling of tattered. weeds - often refers to clothing in
Shakespeare.
5. Then being asked, where all thy beauty lies,
being asked = if you were to be asked; in the future, when you might be asked.
lies = is; is buried; is hidden.
6. Where all the treasure of thy lusty days;
lusty days = the days of youthful exuberance; days of lustful behaviour. Note that treasure contains a sexual innuendo,
implying sexual parts, or semen, depending on context. Compare:
.....................treasure thou some place
With beauty's treasure, ere it be self-kill'd. 6
Will will fulfil the treasure of thy love, 136
7. To say, within thine own deep sunken eyes,
to say = to reply (to the question posed in the two lines above).
within thine own deep sunken eyes - the treasure of days long gone would show nothing surviving other than
hollow eyes, caused by the process of ageing. Possibly also a hinted reference to the supposed effect of
sexual excess (too much masturbation?).
8. Were an all-eating shame, and thriftless praise.
all-eating shame = a shame which devours all sense of right and decorum. thriftless praise = praise which produces no
result or advantage. A praise of yourself which is clearly misplaced and damaging to you.
thriftless = showing no sense of thrift, or economy.
9. How much more praise deserv'd thy beauty's use,
thy beauty's use = the use which you make of your beauty, the profit you derive from it.
6-9. Undoubtedly a sexual meaning to these lines, especially in treasure of thy lusty days, thy beauty's use. (See notes above)
The youth is accused of expending his sexual energy upon himself, with the concomitant result of shame, exhaustion, sunken
eyes and failure to point to any lasting result. See extended discussion of SonnetI
10. If thou couldst answer 'This fair child of mine
If you could reply in response to their questions, 'This child of mine, etc., etc.'