Theme: Loss of Beauty.
Content: The subject's beauty aggrandises the false company he keeps. Nature is bankrupt in only having the subject as an example of the beauty she once widely bestowed.
Ah, wherefore with infection
should
he
live
And with his presence
grace impiety,
That sin by
him
advantage
should achieve
And lace itself with his
society?
- The subject is living with those who have infection.
- The subject's piety has now become impiety.
- He now commits sin, poignantly internally rhymed with him.
- There is heavy emphasis on the subject in this sonnet as evidenced by the abundance of explicit he, him and his words plus hidden allusions to him, e.g. impiety.
Why should false
painting
imitate
his
cheek,
And steal dead seeming of his
living
hew?
Why should poor
beauty indirectly seek
Roses of shadow,
since his rose is
true?
- Others use painting (cosmetic make-up) to imitate the subject's beauty.
- Beauty is poor as represented by the subject's companions.
- Another use of Rose to identify the subject, perhaps identifying Henry WRiOtheSlEy, particularly with the return of the word hew to describe him in the same quatrain too.
Why should he
live
now nature bankrupt
is,
Beggared of blood to blush through lively veins,
For she hath no exchequer now but his,
And proud of many, lives upon his
gains?
- Nature is spent, it is bankrupt and beggared of blood.
O, him she
stores to show
what wealth she had
In days long since, before these last so bad.
- The beauty of the subject, identified by rose in Q2 is literally stored by way of anagram in stores.
Critical text © NigelDavies.home@Virgin.net