Return to Shakespeare's Sonnet 124 |
1.
dear love: intense feeling of love. but: merely. child of state: child of rank or power; child of circumstance (which is constantly changing).
2.
for Fortune's bastard be unfather'd: i.e., to have no parent but Fortune, consequently to be solely under Fortune's control.
4.
Weeds . . . gather'd: worthless or precious, as chance dictates.
5.
accident: effects of chance events.
6.
suffers: alters.
7.
the blow of thralled discontent: the blows of Fortune which make one a slave to discontent.
8.
Whereto . . . calls: to which (both "smiling pomp" and, in turn "thralled discontent") the present time summons us to accommodate our condition.
9.
policy, that heretic: prudent or expedient conduct or action; i.e., the sort of prudence that has no true faith; material self-interest.
10.
works on leases of short-number'd hours: i.e., operates with a view to immediate gains.
11.
hugely politic: i.e., prudent in the largest sense, since not vulnerable to chance.
12.
heat: sunshine; good fortune.
13.
fools: victims; playthings.