Return to Shakespeare's Sonnet 7 |
1.
Lo: look, consider. in the orient: east. gracious: benevolent, kingly. light: i.e., the sun. Throughout the poem, the progress of the sun from rising to setting is described metaphorically as the progress of a king from youth to age.
2.
under eye: look, regard (of the king's subjects, or of creatures under the sun).
4.
Serving: worshipping (as in the phrase "divine service").
5.
steep-up: high and precipitous.
9.
highmost pitch: apogee. car: chariot (of the sun-god).
10.
reeleth: falls away, staggers.
11.
'fore: before, previously. converted: turned away.
12.
tract: track, path. look another way: i.e., look forward to the reign of the next king.
13.
thyself outgoing in thy noon: passing the zenith of your beauty.
14.
get: beget.