Return to Shakespeare's Sonnet 102 |
3.
merchandized: commercialized. esteeming: value.
4.
publish: advertise.
6.
lays: short lyric or narrative poems intended to be sung; songs.
7.
Philomel: the nightingale. front: beginning.
10.
mournful hymns: reference to the tragic tale of Philomela (princess of Athens) in Ovid's "Metamorphoses," a tale of rape and mutilation, wherein the victim is silenced when her rapist rips out her tongue. Philomela resourcefully weaves her story into a tapestry and sends it to her rapist's wife. Eventually the Olympian gods turn her into a nightingale.
11.
wild: unrestrained; profuse. burthens: burdens; loads, overloads.
12.
sweets: candy, desserts. common: i.e., eaten too often.
13.
hold my tongue: Perhaps this a black humor reference to Philomela's mutilation.
14.
dull: satiate; bore.