Theme: Deceit
Content: A sonnet of mutual deceit between the author and his female subject. She is unfaithful but he pretends to believe she is faithful; he is no longer young but pretends that she thinks of him as being young.
- Paradox between the truth and dishonesty of the female subject: she lies by saying she is made of truth.
- untutored and Unlearned allude again to the lowly perception contemporaries could have of the author as referred to in Sonnet 78's "As high as learning my rude ignorance".
- Possible pun on "time" in line 3 in relation to the reference to youth and might being the phonetic reversal of time, used extensively elsewhere in other sonnets.
- The duality of the author's and subject's deceit with each other is represented by several word pairings: my/my, truth/truth, lies/lies, best/best, wherefore/wherefore, love/love, love's/loves.
Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young,
Although she knows my
days are past the best,
Simply I credit her false-speaking tongue;
On both sides thus is simple truth
suppressed.
But wherefore
says she not she is unjust,
And wherefore
say not I that I am old?
O, love's best
habit is in seeming trust,
And age in love
loves not to have years told.
- she is unjust and I am old are the essence of the truth - they both pretend these statements are not the case by their lies but they are in fact the reality.
Therefore I lie
with her, and she with
me,
And in our faults
by lies we
flattered be.
- Pun on I lie with her as in the author tells untruths with the female subject and he sleeps with her.
- truth or trust appears in each quatrain but in the concluding couplet all that is left is lies.
- The word flattered almost contains the words fault and false.
- The subject and author have always been referred to separately in the quatrains (I, me, she, her ) but in the couplet they finally come together as we.
Alternative version of this sonnet that appeared in The Passionate Pilgrim, differences highlighted:
When my love swears that she is made of truth
I do believe her (though
I know she lies),
That she might think me some untutored youth
Unskilled in the
world's false forgeries.
Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young,
Although I know
my years be past
the best,
I smiling credit
her false-speaking tongue;
Outfacing faults in love, with love's ill rest.
But wherefore says
my
love that she is young?
And wherefore say not I that I am old?
O, love's best habit in a soothing
tongue,
And age in love loves not to have years told.
Therefore I lie with love,
and love with
me,
Since in our faults
in
love thus smothered
be.
Critical text © NigelDavies.home@Virgin.net