Return to Shakespeare's Sonnet 15 |
Holds: stays, remains, as in "hold still," or "hold the course."
this huge stage: i.e., the world
comment: contrive, devise (especially something harmful).
Cheered and check'd: urged forward and held back; nurtured and retarded; applauded and booed.
Vaunt: exult. sap: vigor. at height decrease: i.e., begin to wither at the very moment full growth is reached.
brave: splendid. out of memory: until forgotten (that it ever was "brave").
conceit: conception, idea. inconstant stay: steady state of flux. This is an oxymoron.
debateth: fights. Time and Decay quarrel over which of them can do the most to destroy "your day of youth."
sullied: soiled, blackened.
ingraft you new: renew you by grafting. The "grafting" is usually considered to be a metaphor for writing sonnets in praise of the subject's beauty.