Recorded in November 2020. Published in 1609. Reflection on the decay of even the greatest things, leads Shakespeare to fear the death of his love.
Commentary:
The magnificent things which Shakespeare perceives the decline of, are wealth, which no…
Recorded in November 2020. Published in 1609. Reflection on the decay of even the greatest things, leads Shakespeare to fear the death of his love.
Commentary:
The magnificent things which Shakespeare perceives the decline of, are wealth, which no man takes beyond the grave ("the rich proud cost of out-worn buried age"); mighty cities, when sacked ("lofty towers down-razed; eternal brass, slave to mortal rage"); both the sea and the land, as they war against each other; and civilizations ("state itself confounded to decay").
Observe that "win of," in the seventh line, simply means "win against" or "prevail over." This usage is rare, even in Shakespearean English, but I find it in Cymbeline, Act 1, Scene II. Posthumus gives his ring to Imogen, calling it "a manacle of love," and adds: "In this trifle, I win of you." (i. e., prevail over you). Only in later English does the word "win," in the phrase "win of," require an object; where we win _something_ of somebody. e. g., "I won an immense sum of money of him." The eighth line of this sonnet, "Increasing store with loss, and loss with store," is, therefore, not an object, but a participle phrase, which governs, adjectivally, both the "hungry ocean" and the "firm soil." "Store" is increased with "loss," and "loss" with "store," as the sea and land struggle against each other.
The word "state," in the ninth and tenth lines is a pun. "State" in the ninth line means conditions, or circumstances; in the tenth, it means civilizations. "When I have seen such interchange of state" means, "When I have seen powerful things change their conditions to such an extent." But "when I have seen state itself confounded to decay" means, "when I have seen civilizations themselves destroyed."
