Notes for Shakespeare's Sonnet 15


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Shakespeare's
Sonnet
15

2. Holds: stays, remains, as in "hold still," or "hold the course."

3. this huge stage: i.e., the world

4. comment: contrive, devise (especially something harmful).

6. Cheered and check'd: urged forward and held back; nurtured and retarded; applauded and booed.

7. Vaunt: exult.  sap: vigor.  at height decrease: i.e., begin to wither at the very moment full growth is reached.

8. brave: splendid. out of memory: until forgotten (that it ever was "brave").

9. conceit: conception, idea.  inconstant stay: steady state of flux. —This is an oxymoron.

11. debateth: fights. —Time and Decay quarrel over which of them can do the most to destroy "your day of youth."

12. sullied: soiled, blackened.

14. 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.