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Notes
1] mightier] apparently elided.
3] Shakespeare takes sides with decay against time (15.11-12).
5] The metaphor suggests that the beloved is at the peak of his life's happiness and can look forward to less happy hours in the future.
6] unset] yet without plants (OED 5c).
9] lines of life] wrinkles, and "the thread fabled to be spun by the Fates, determining the duration of a person's life" (OED 1g, from ca. 1580, and credited to Sir Philip Sidney, late uncle to Lord Herbert and brother to his mother, Mary Sidney); or possibly one's descendents.
10] pencil] "paintbrush made with fine hair tapered to a point, esp. a small brush suitable for delicate work" (OED, "pencil," 1.a.).
Online text copyright © 2012, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.
Original text: SHAKE-SPEARES SONNETS (London: G. Eld for T. T. and sold by William Aspley, 1609): b4r.
First publication date:
1609
RPO poem editor: Ian Lancashire
RP edition: 2008
Recent editing: 1:2008/8/21
Form: sonnet
Rhyme: ababcdcdefefgg