Shakespeare's Sonnets: Was it the proud full sail of his great verse

Shakespeare's Sonnets: Was it the proud full sail of his great verse

Sonnet 86

Original Text
SHAKE-SPEARES SONNETS (London: G. Eld for T. T. and sold by William Aspley, 1609): f2v-f3r.
1Was it the proud full sail of his great verse,
2Bound for the prize of (all too precious) you,
3That did my ripe thoughts in my brain inhearse,
4Making their tomb the womb wherein they grew?
5Was it his spirit, by spirits taught to write,
6Above a mortal pitch, that struck me dead?
7No, neither he, nor his compeers by night
8Giving him aid, my verse astonishèd.
9He nor that affable familiar ghost
10Which nightly gulls him with intelligence
11As victors of my silence cannot boast.
12I was not sick of any fear from thence.
13    But when your countenance fill'd up his line,
14    Then lack't I matter, that enfeebled mine.

Notes

1] his] the rival poet. Back to Line
3] inhearse] a word first used by Shakespeare. Back to Line
5] spirit] pronounced as a single syllable (cf. OED, "sprite"). by spirits taught to write] George Chapman claimed to be inspired by several dead poets, Christopher Marlowe (whose Hero and Leander Chapman finished in 1598) and Homer (whose Iliad he translated in 1598 and 1608-09). Back to Line
6] Above a mortal pitch] To an apex higher than mortals (can ascend). Back to Line
7] compeers by night] associates in the so-called "School of Night" among whom Chapman was one. Back to Line
9] familiar ghost] guardian spirit, or spirit over which the poet has some control. Back to Line
10] gulls: deceives. Back to Line
11] victors of my silence] those who conquered and silenced me (as compared to the ghost). Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1609
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2008
Rhyme
ababcdcdefefgg
Form
sonnet