The Place 2 Be: Shakespeare's Sonnets

Critique of Sonnet 101

SHAKESPEARE’S SONNETS

Theme: Truth and Beauty.
Content: A call to the poet's muse to return to inspire him to write verse to represent the subject's Truth and Beauty.

O truant muse, what shall be thy amends
For thy neglect of truth in beauty dyed?
Both truth and beauty on my love depends;
So dost thou too, and therein dignified.

Truth is present in the truant muse.

Beauty is present in be thy.

truth and beauty are then explicitly represented in lines 2 and 3.

Truth and Beauty are equally represented, and in order: 3 sets of truth then beauty.

The word muse is pivotal to both truth and beauty as all share the long-u.

The concept of Truth and Beauty anticipates the "Fair, Kind and True" maxim that the author says "is all my argument" in Sonnet 105 and which itself represents the Platonic Triad in which the virtues of Truth, Beauty and Goodness were said by Plato to collectively lead the intellect up to the vision of God. In effect, the author is deifying the subject.

Make answer, muse. Wilt thou not haply say
"Truth needs no colour with his colour fixed,
Beauty no pencil beauty's truth to lay,
But best is best if never intermixed"?

Truth and Beauty are again evenly represented in this quatrain too.

But is embedded in Beauty.

The third element of Plato's Triad, Goodness, is not explicitly represented in the sonnet but best may be the intended substitute as the superlative of "good", i.e. good, better, best.

Conversely, best may refer to the condition where Truth and Beauty are never mixed.

Because he needs no praise wilt thou be dumb?
Excuse not silence so, for 't lies in thee
To make him much outlive a gilded tomb,
And to be praised of ages yet to be.

Only remnants of Truth and Beauty are now present in this quatrain reflecting the muse's silence: Be represents the trace of Beauty and To represents the trace of Truth.

Even these remnants are equally represented, and in order: 2 Be's (one embedded and one explicit); 2 To's (one explicit and one embedded); then 2 explicit to be's.

Although the word muse is literally missing from this quatrain (whilst being present in the other quatrains and the couplet) the muse is silent but still present, as evidenced by traces of the word muse in: Because, dumb, Excuse, make, him, much and tomb.

Then do thy office, muse; I teach thee how
To make him seem long hence as he shows now.

A trace of Truth is provided in To pending the muse's return and Beauty is represented by the subject which he shows now.