Return to Shakespeare's Sonnet 125 |
1.
Were't aught to me: Would it mean anything to me if. bore the canopy: literally, carried a ceremonial canopy over a royal person; figuratively, paid homage.
2.
With . . . honoring.i.e., to honor the outward with the outward. extern: exterior; external action.
3.
laid great bases for eternity: i.e., laid foundations for lasting fame.
5.
dwellers on: those who makes much of (with the quibble on "tenants of" which suggests the figure in the next line. form and favor: (1) courtly behavior and status (2) figure and face.
6.
by paying too much rent: by overdoing their obligations. decrees: orders.
7.
For . . . savour: For the sake of obsequious flattery, foregoing actual love. i.e., for elaborate ceremony, foregoing simple sincerity.
8.
pitiful thrivers: pitiful in their gains (since what they gain is without value). gazing: courtly observance.
9.
obsequious: render devotion; pay court.
10.
oblation: offering.
11.
seconds: elements of secondary importance, adulterants; inferior parts (said of grain). art: artifice; craft.
12.
mutual render: fair exchange.
13.
suborn'd informer: paid spy. say so: rightly say.
14.
impeach'd: charged with treason.