Theme:      Anne Hathaway
Content:    A play on his wife's maiden name of "Hathaway" in which the author suggests it implied "hate" until it was modified with an end to literally take that implication "away". Further puns on her first name of "Anne". The only sonnet in the series that is written in tetrameter instead of iambic pentameter.

• Here the author contrasts the beauty of his lover's lips with the sound that she seems to make when she pronounces her own name. As she pronounces the "Hath" of "Hathaway" it can sound like, as well as visually resemble, "Hate".
• The key-phrase "I hate" in this first quatrain declares the phrase central to the sonnet which also gives it structure.
• The enclosure of "I hate" in quotation marks and the fact that they are words that the lady speaks clearly shows that it is something that is spoken, not felt: when her lips speak her own name it sounds like "I hate".
• Soft, alliterative opening of the sonnet with lips and love's hardens to "I hate".

• He suggests that once she realised this she chided herself for what the pronouncement of her name implied.
• Possible pun on the poet's name in "her sake" meaning he was her Shakespeare.
  

• He now comments on her modifying her name by placing an ending on it to remove the implication of hate in her name.
• Pun on her first name of "Anne" in And signifying that Ann herself modified the implication of hate in her own maiden name.
• Further phonetic and visual puns on "Anne" in anew by way of anew virtually containing the name "anne", the suggestion anew gives of "Anne knew" and the word anew representing the renewal of Anne.
• Further pun again on "Anne" in an: the sole word of "hate" was modified with a prefix of an ("Anne") and a suffix or end ("away").
• The key-phrase "I hate" is repeated again here in the 3rd. quatrain.

• The ending placed on her name is as natural and sweet as day follows night: the night signifying the initial darkness that the implication of hate in her name generated; the day signifying the relief of the ending removing that implication.

• Now we have explicit reference to his partner's full maiden name: hate away equalling "Hathaway". Hate is removed from her name by the ending away demonstrating that his partner doesn't hate him.
• A further pun on his partner's first name via And: "Anne saved my life", providing the partner's full name of Anne Hathaway.
• With the evident name-punning in this sonnet it is interesting to speculate how much of an influence Sidney's Astrophil & Stella had on Shakespeare in compiling this particular sonnet. Sidney punned on his own name and Lady Rich's too and virtually every word in this sonnet can be found in Sidney's famous sonnet series.
• The sonnet resolves on the 3rd. and final reference to the key-phrase "I hate".