Theme:     Ill with Love
Content:   A more complex follow-on from 118 where illness substitutes sickness in a sonnet possibly centred on the Platonic definition of Sirens.

• Sirens were mythical half-woman/half-bird creatures.
• The Siren tears are the tears of his mistress which he has been fooled by as she is really foul as hell  within.
• As opposed to the sickness of 118, this sonnet plays on illness, both explicitly and embedded in words such as Distilled and Still.
• Phonetic allusions to ill also in hell and myself.
• Pun on Still meaning a liquid still (re: potions and Distilled) as well as "continuing to".
• Possible hidden allusion to sin in losing.

• Embedded and phonetic allusions to ill continue in Whilst and itself.
• spheres phonetically echoes Q1's fears and then leads to fever.
• been fitted (spelled bene fitted in the Quarto) anticipates Q3's benefit.

• The exclamatory self-criticism of the first 2 quatrains which searched for the cause of his condition, also represented by the hidden references to ill, now gives way to the explicit finding of ill and a bettering of the author's condition.
• As well as ill now explicitly being referred to for the first time there are still embedded allusions in evil, still and built.
• Sonnet 105's emphasis on the qualities of "fair, kind and true" are alluded to here in "find true...fairer".
• Q2's madding now morphs to made.
• fairer reduces to first which in turn reduces to far whilst the comparatives stay constant via fairer, more strong and greater.

• Plato said there were 3 kinds of Sirens: the cathartic, the celestial and the generative, which appear to be alluded to here in thrice, as well as thrice referring to Q3's fairer, more strong and far greater.
• These 3 Sirens also appear to be represented by each of the 3 quatrains: Q1 as the cathartic via ...hell...; Q2 as the celestial via ...blessed...; Q3 as the generative via ...grows....
• The last 3 lines of this sonnet count up with first...to...thrice.