Theme: Cupid
Content: A conventional poem inspired by epigrams of the Palatine Anthology that were re-discovered in the early 17th. Century. A variation on the theme of Sonnet 153 and strikingly different from the rest of the sonnets which have a personal dimension. This sonnet is perhaps an early one of Shakespeare's as an exercise in the form and is placed to end the Sonnet series on a softer tone especially as it doesn't fit well anywhere else in the series.
The little love-god
lying once asleep
Laid by his side his heart-inflaming
brand,
Whilst many nymphs that vowed chaste life to
keep
Came tripping by; but in her maiden hand
- As in Sonnet 153, Cupid lays his brand by his side and falls asleep.
- Unlike Sonnet 153, several virgin nymphs come by instead of just one maid.
The fairest votary took up that fire
Which many legions of true hearts had warmed,
And so the general
of hot desire
Was sleeping by a virgin hand disarmed.
- As in Sonnet 153, the maiden steals Cupid's brand and the general of hot desire is disarmed by a nymph, the usual object of his intentions.
- love is not present in this quatrain as it has been stolen by the nymph.
- fire was introduced in inflaming and is now explicitly present in each quatrain and the couplet.
This brand she quenched in a cool well by,
Which from love's
fire took heat
perpetual,
Growing a bath and healthful remedy
For men diseased; but I, my mistress' thrall,
- As in Sonnet 153, the nymph attempts to put out Cupid's fire by dousing it in cold water which creates a bath of hot water that also can cure maladies.
Came there for cure; and this by that I prove:
Love's fire
heats water, water cools not love.
- As in Sonnet 153, love's fire cannot be put out by the cold water.
- Unlike Sonnet 154, the mistress's eyes are not the source and drive for recharging Cupid's brand.
Critical text © NigelDavies.home@Virgin.net